What is Cover-Copy-Compare?
Cover-Copy-Compare (CCC) is an academic intervention for students to use, to learn how to master spelling or sight words. This intervention is mainly for students who struggle in writing. The student is given a sheet to practice writing words, which helps students with spelling and sight words. The student will look at and memorize the word on the sheet, cover the word, and write them down from memory. Then the student will compare the two words, and if the student spelled the word correctly, then they may move on to the next word. If the student spelled the word incorrectly, then the student will have to repeat the process and try again.
According to Intervention Central, Here are the steps for CCC for spelling or sight words:
Step 1- Teacher: The teacher will create a CCC wordlist up to about 10 spelling or sight words for the student. The teacher will write these words on the left hand side of the CCC worksheet. Then, the teacher will pre-fold the sheet on the vertical dashed line (fold line) dividing the left side of the student worksheet.
Step 2- Student: The student is trained to follow these self-directed steps for each
Step 3- Teacher: Finally, the teacher will log the items mastered by the student. The teacher should formulate an objective standard for judging that the students using the CCC sheet has mastered a particular spelling or sight word. For example, the student should be able to copy a word from memory without error on three successive occasions. The teacher can then apply this standard for mastery of items in each section.
Accommodations/ Modifications:
According to Intervention Central, Here are the steps for CCC for spelling or sight words:
Step 1- Teacher: The teacher will create a CCC wordlist up to about 10 spelling or sight words for the student. The teacher will write these words on the left hand side of the CCC worksheet. Then, the teacher will pre-fold the sheet on the vertical dashed line (fold line) dividing the left side of the student worksheet.
Step 2- Student: The student is trained to follow these self-directed steps for each
- Study the spelling or sight word (model words written by teacher) that appear in the left column of the CCC sheet.
- Fold the left side of the of the sheet over at the pre-folded vertical crease to hide the original word. This is the 'Cover' stage.
- Copy the word from memory writing it in the first response blank under the 'Student Response' section of the CCC sheet. This is the 'Copy' stage.
- Uncover the original correct model and compare it to the student response. This is the 'Compare' stage. If the student has written the spelling/sight word correctly, then the student will move to the next item on the list and repeats these procedures. If the student has written the word incorrectly, then the student draws a line through the incorrect response, studies the correct model again, copies the model again from memory, writes it again in the second response blank under the 'Student Response' section of the CCC sheet, and finally checks the correctness of the copied item.
- Continue the Cover-Copy-Compare procedure until all the words on the sheet have been copied and checked.
Step 3- Teacher: Finally, the teacher will log the items mastered by the student. The teacher should formulate an objective standard for judging that the students using the CCC sheet has mastered a particular spelling or sight word. For example, the student should be able to copy a word from memory without error on three successive occasions. The teacher can then apply this standard for mastery of items in each section.
Accommodations/ Modifications:
- This strategy can be more effective if the teacher has the student respond orally as well. This can be a modification depending on the students abilities. The student will follow the same procedure only the student will cover the word and spell the word aloud. This will be a much faster way for some students because responding orally is much faster than writing the word.
- This strategy could also be modified for ELL students. The teacher may give the student a folder. On the outside of the folder is a list with their foreign words corresponding with english words on the inside of the folder. The students follow the CCC procedure, except the student will first look at the foreign word and then study the English equivalent words, and writes the english equivalent word next to the foreign word.
Student Profile
This academic intervention could be used for a student who is having a difficult time with spelling words or sight words. In my field experience class, I have a student who is a very high leveled reader. He reads with fluency, accuracy, expression, and can comprehend what he reads. However, he has a difficult time with spelling. This intervention hopefully would help with his spelling and sight words. I would recommend this intervention for students who are similar to this student. This intervention could also be used for students who are lower-leveled readers and have a hard time recognizing sight words. This intervention would help them recognize sight words, and hopefully help with reading fluency and comprehension.
Visual Representations
Content Areas
This intervention could be adapted mainly in writing and reading. However, this could also be used for math, history, and science terms as well. which ever content area the student is struggling with spelling or sight words, this intervention could be used.