This chapter had me at "Good spellers' writing is personal." I can spell but only because I liked to read and wanted everything I wrote to be as interesting as what I was reading. I really do loathe the standardized weekly spelling lists and was pleased to read that this chapter definitely did not endorse them. Instead, it focuses more on personalized and individual spelling for students - like the method Dr. Walizer went over in RLA (spelling without a speller). The CAFE method is very interesting and I can see myself using that in the future. When I read the example, I was surprised to see the number of simple spelling errors that the "6th grader" made. This would be a quick way to run initial screenings on students. The SIP method on page 338 was interesting as well, it focused on breaking down the word into different parts to make it easier to read. Finally, I will say that I'm a very good speller because "it just looks right." Which is something this chapter focused on. Being able to generate different spellings and find the one that "looks right" is an important skill that the book emphasized. Teaching students ALL the different ways to spell different sounds, will help them generate these different spellings and help them choose the one that looks right.
I also was excited to see that the chapter did not endorse spelling the standard spelling test from the spelling book way. I also use the "looks right" method most of the time. I was not shocked at the amount of spelling errors a 6th grader makes. If they are like the 6th graders I know, they are just not interested in learning new words in the traditional way so they just learn as they want, but do not learn what they need. It is our job as teachers to find district approved, new, and inventive ways to teach spelling so we keep students interested.
Spelling was the focal point of this chapter. It mentioned that students will not start to care about their spelling until they start to care about their writing, realizing that it is important to other people. It talked about traditional weekly spelling tests, and how that is not really teaching spelling to our students. They stressed the importance of creating spelling lists that are practical for the students. They also said that merely memorizing the spelling of words doesn't teach a child to spell either. We need to teach them to recognize word patterns. There were some fun ideas listed at the end of the chapter to teach spelling, such as word searches and playing Wheel-of-Fortune.
Dr. Walizer talked about creating separate spelling lists for students, and I see value in this. It would make for more work for the teacher, but each student has different needs. I get frustrated when I see my kids' spelling lists come home and there are words on there they will never use in their vocabulary. Yet I know my kids spell more common words wrong. So I would like to see the focus more on learning to spell familiar words correctly before we branch out to memorize the spelling of unknown words.
I wondered about the Word Searches as a method of teaching spelling. I heard one teacher say a number of years ago that word searches and crossword puzzles are merely time fillers, as they have no educational value. He was specifically talking about doing them in a subject area like science, so I know that teaching spelling would be different. But do the students really pay attention to the spelling, or are just searching for the word? I guess at least they are seeing the words written again, which simply gives them more practice in seeing it spelled correctly.
I loved the idea of Wheel-of-Fortune. As with the word searches, this could be labeled a mere time waster, but I think it could be educational if done correctly. Any spelling words could be options for the word (or used in a phrase), and maybe the students would have to spell it all correctly instead of just saying the word. The kids would enjoy a more creative way of working with spelling words.
Jenny, Teaching students to recognize word patterns is so important to their success in spelling. I remember Dr. Walizer talking about this also and can see why it is a better way to meet the needs of all students. I like how you talked about starting with common words before moving on to unfamiliar words. Building confidence is always a good thing! So many of the activities mentioned in this chapter are things that I have done at home with my children and they are fun and the children enjoy learning. Most of the time they do not even realize they are learning!
I agree Kara. I wish there was a "like" button on this discussion board. :) The confidence building is definitely a very important part of the success.
I teach second grade and we do two lists. After giving the pre-test on Monday we assess how many words they missed and then give them the same list of words or a challenge list. The challenge list is the same spelling patter but harder words. It's really pretty easy to manage. On Friday I test list one and then list two or vice versa.
I agree with you about the need for spelling to be more relevant to the student. My kids too bring home spelling lists and I wonder how in the world those words were chosen. When I sat down with my students at tutoring and looked over their spelling words I asked them to use the word in a sentence and to tell me what the word meant and they had no clue...how are they supposed to learn to spell a word if they don't know what it means or how to use it.
This chapter was a very interesting read. I am not a good speller, and this is because I never cared about learning words from a boring spelling list in a boring spelling book so I just did not learn them. This chapters gives great ideas on how to make spelling new and very personalized, but I still think that the personalized spelling list that Dr. Walizer told us about in RLA. I think if my district curriculum allows it this will be the way I approach spelling.
It's been interesting to me to hear from teachers-in-training who want to do things a certain way because of the way they were taught. A teacher at our high school seldom gives the students worksheets because he hated worksheets as a high school student. For you, spelling was boring, and it sounds like it was because of the way it was taught, and so you hope to change it in your classroom. I love this privilege as a teacher - that we can take our own personal experiences and use those in our classrooms, either to change things or to do it in the same way. I was a very traditional learner and always thought that was the best way to do things. But after dealing with a dyslexic son, I realized that method just does not work for all students. It has opened my eyes to using more hands-on activities, using technology, and making adaptations for assignments and assessments. I guess this could be compared to the text-to-text connections we are encouraged to make in reading, only these are life-to-life connections we get to make from our life to our teaching. What a privilege!
Spelling was always one of my favorite subjects; it came so easily for me. The introduction to this chapter mentions that spelling is an important skill for effective writing. One child I have worked with this semester comes to mind, he has trouble reading and does not like to write. I notice that when he does write it takes him a long time and he does not like to write anything that he cannot copy from another source. I like how the author emphasizes teaching children how to spell, not what to spell. When taking reading and language arts methods Dr. Walizer talked about how creating individual spelling lists for each child can accommodate their needs. I can imagine this would be more time consuming but think it would accommodate the students better than a generic list for the whole class. Before reading this chapter I was not aware of how many different spelling stages had been developed by so many different people. The text says that the variations are not meant to confuse but I have to admit, it seemed a little confusing. I have thought about the different stage of reading and writing but not much about the stages of spelling and what each stage entails. This chapter gives a lot of information on each of the stages and what skills are shown in each one. Learning to spell is a complex process and as a future educator I need to understand this process so I can instruct my students accordingly. It was interesting to read about the different types of assessment for spelling. When I think of spelling assessments I think of getting a list each week, the teacher giving the words orally and the students writing them. I really like some of the spelling activities given at the end of this chapter. I have always enjoyed using manipulatives and can see that using these can be very effective during spelling instruction.
Kara, I truly believe that Dr. Walizer is on to something very valuable by having us realize that we need to make individual spelling lists for each of our students. We would make a great connection to their interests and I feel that the student would really benefit from individualized spelling lists. The CAFE assessment would be a great way to start by finding words that they are not getting correct when asked to write as many words as possible in a timed allotted period. Then you can start looking for patterns that are constantly missed, along with connecting the words with their guided reader or read alouds.
Well, it's hard to reply after Stacy's awesome reply!! I have to agree with your sentence about teaching students HOW to spell instead of WHAT to spell. Those are entirely different things. Also creating individual spellings lists would be tedious but I think the pay off for students would be phenomenal!!
At the beginning of the chapter, the author makes a statement that is so true and reminds me of spelling when I was a child: good spellers are not challenged because they already know the words, and poor spellers memorize the words only for the test. I was one of those good spellers. I still have a prize I won in second grade for spelling all the states correctly. I was good at phonics so sounding words out was easy for me and I was also good at being able to visualize words. I remember some of my peers who struggled with spelling and how disappointed they always were when we had spelling tests. They never got to add a sticker to their sticker collection. ☹ There are developmental stages of spelling as determined by several experts ranging anywhere from five to seven stages and then there are instructional practices for each stage of spelling. There are also strategies for ELLs for spelling development. There are patterns of spelling in the English language: orthographic and complex. When comparing good versus poor spellers, there are very distinct differences. Good spellers can recognize errors and correct them and understand the writing process. Poor spellers cannot do any of those things so helping them become good spellers means that we have to teach them to do the things that good spellers do; not just make them memorize spelling words. It is important to assess spelling ability and an informal assessment is checklists, which are a good way of identifying students’ specific weaknesses. Interventions listed in the chapter look engaging and exciting for students who are struggling: magnetic letters, foam board letters, word searches and anagrams.
Amy, I know what you mean about good spellers and how it just seems to come naturally to them. My daughter is an amazing speller, and she just does it without any effort put in. She is a lucky one, where sounding it out phonetically or able to recognize the patterns for a Latin or Greek root spelling comes easy - it is fun to watch! Unfortunately it doesn't come easy to everyone. Others need to have interventions and other strategies to help them see the patterns. I really liked the word searches and anagram suggestions for the struggling spellers.
I was one of those poor spellers... I am a little better now with the help of spell check, but back when I was younger I remember it was all about memorizing the words rather than learning how to actually spell them. I was lucky, because I was good at memorizing, and have always had pretty good study skills, but I would have for sure been classified as a poor speller, even if my grades didn't reflect it.
Both of my children excel at spelling, and I did as a child too but I can't tell you why that is. They just seem to have a knack for it. Is that the effectiveness of their early teachers and the phonemic awareness/phonics lessons they did? Or are they just strong in that area? Luckily, there are great interventions/strategies to use for those that don't spell so easily. As a teacher, we need to recognize where students are struggling and use the strategies, as well as make spelling fun, to help them succeed.
Chapter 12 discussed ways and strategies for helping students with spelling. The author stated that good spellers see the link between spelling and the role of the audience to help them be better spellers. So what can we do for the ones that don’t see that connection? By just implementing a spelling list for each week and writing projects does not guarantee you will develop good spellers. With only 46% of the English language words being capable of phonetically spelling that word, we need to come up with strategies that will help our students. I really liked the CAFE assessment example in the scenario at the beginning of the chapter. It gives the teacher an area to start with, see how many words are spelled accurately in a timed activity. Then you can look at all the misspelled words to find patterns, see complexity of words depending on syllable count, whether they know synonyms, antonyms, compound words and how solid their handwriting skills are. The most important item that I got out of this chapter was to make sure we make a connection to prior knowledge and the student’s interest to make the task of spelling particular words real to their lives. There are two activities that I found that I would love to implement into my classroom. Anagrams, on page 337, is a great way to make that connection. First they write their first and last name on a piece of paper. Then the students are to look at their name and make as many words out of their name as possible. It is a personal touch by using their name and the students will have a great time finding all the different words. The other activity would be word searches, which was discussed on page 336. Make a connection to the child by connecting it to a story they have read or of an interest/hobby that is important in their lives. Make up the word searches that have words go up, down, or diagonally. I am a true believer in the word searches and loved completing them growing up. I used to have competitions with my friends to see who could complete them the fastest. I used to use many techniques to find words, such as double letter consonants are easy to spot, so I would find those words first. Then you can find words that have letters that aren’t in a lot of words, such as z or q, by searching for the not so common letters helped me find those words too. I guess I hadn’t made the full connection that it was truly helping me learn how to spell until I read this chapter though. I love that working on a fun activity was so beneficial to me and will be to my students down the road.
I also really liked the CAFE assessment. This will give you an idea of where your students are without feeling like a test. I also like the idea of using word searches in spelling, you have to constantly spell the word or part of the word in your head while you are looking for it.
One of the first things that this chapter discusses is spelling instruction. It makes a lot of sense that as an educator we need to teach the children how to spell, not what to spell. This really made me think about all the spelling tests I took when I was growing up, how we were given a list of words at the beginning of each week and we were supposed to “learn” how to spell the words. If anyone in this class was like me, I didn’t learn how to spell the words; I memorized the letters in order. It would be simply impossible for us as educators to have students memorize every word in the English dictionary, so teaching them the correct way to spell is much more important than teaching specific spelling words. The chapter goes on to describe the different developmental stages of spelling which include emergent, alphabetic, within word pattern, syllable and affixes, and derivational relations. The chapter also talks about different assessments that can be used with spelling. Some of these strategies include spelling inventories, word writing, checklists based on state standards, and formal assessments. Of course the end of the chapter is all about different strategies and activities that will aid us as teachers going forward.
Chapter 12 discussed spelling. Good spelling instruction is teaching children how to spell, by using words that are important to them and teaching word patterns. Developmental stages of spellers include emergent, alphabetic dealing with sound relationships, within word patterns including word families, syllable and affixes where students recognize chunks within words, and derivational relations where students can spell accurately most of the time but need to double check. I really liked the CAFE assessment, allowing students to choose their own words to spell. You can an understanding of student spelling and their interests from the words they choose. I also like how the chapter compared ESOL spelling learning to English learning and showed the comparison of letter-sound relationships across both languages. The activities at the end of the chapter, along with the websites will be great resources for future use. I feel that if you can incorporate a game instead of just drill students will enjoy school more and be more willing to retain the information. I played multiple games during tutoring sessions, so that they would be more willing to learn the information and it worked great.
One of the things that surprised me with this chapter was that even if the students is a grade level reader, it does not mean they are a good speller. Only 46% of the English language is spelled phonemically. No wonder students have a hard time spelling. Teachers need to invest time leveling students and their ability, not only in reading, but spelling as well. Teaching the student how to start off small and pick out little words within a word can be a strategy all learners can use. Many times students will have what they want to write, but they are not able to sound out or spell the word, so they come up with smaller lower level words to get by. With spell check on the computers, I have noticed students trying to spell bigger words, but when they are not sure how to spell them and they check the word, they will pick the wrong word changing the meaning all together of their writing. When I read it back to them, they tell me that is not what they wanted to say. I have always broken words apart myself. Words such as Wednesday have always been difficult to spell. Once I learned to break it up, it was much easier. A game we like to play in our reading class is hangman. Students like the challenge, plus it helps with spelling
Mary. I agree with you about the 46% of the English language being spelled phonemically. English is very challenging with all of its rule exceptions and words that don't spell like they sound. I like the idea of using hangman because it seems all kids enjoy it, a little like using wheel of fortune. But it takes effective teachers teaching strategies like chunks of words, word patterns such as onset and rime, rhyming words, syllabication, and affixes.
I also was totally shocked about the amount of words that are spelled phonemically! No wonder our students struggle with spelling in more than just one way! Breaking up words is a good strategy, decoding them is good as well whether by individual sounds, or chunks. Good information Mary!
I was not shocked at all that spelling and reading are not connected. I have loved reading since the age of five. My spelling is terrible. My husband claimed he always thought that spelling was simple, and no way could an intelligent person lack the skills to spell. I proved him wrong.
This chapter was very informative and I found the information about the developmental stages of spelling interesting. After this chapter, it made me realize how important phonemic awareness and phonics are to spelling as we are supposed to teach our students to recognize beginning/ending sounds and things like within word patterns and sounds. I also liked the stage that focuses on syllable and affixes spelling because it first focuses students on recognizing root words, as well as chunks within words and prefixes and suffixes. It is amazing how reading, writing, and spelling are all so closely linked together and while success in one or two doesn't guarantee success in another, it is usually a good precursor. As always, there are some great assessment ideas, such as CAFE, and great intervention ideas such as word searches, mnemonics, and wheel of fortune. I don't understand why teachers, even newer ones that have been taught alternative ways and know the research, continue to teach spelling through the traditional generic word lists. Why is this method of teaching spelling still acceptable? We have a great resource with this text and I plan on utilizing it to the best of my ability in the classroom.
I agree with you about this text. What a great resources this has been for our tutoring; not to mention for future use in the classroom! The ideas and activities at the end of each chapter are great and give us a lot of ideas to use in our own classroom so we don't get in the rut of teaching "traditional" spelling.
Robert, I agree; there is a definite correlation between reading, writing, and spelling. The text certainly reinforces this idea, as it states, "students begin to spell correctly when they 'care about what they are writing and about how their ideas are received by readers'". I think there are many teachers who have a difficult time breaking from traditional modes of teaching and want to stick with what they know; they don't want to deviate from "how things have always been done". I am a bit of a traditionalist is some aspects of my life, so this is something I want to be very aware of. I want to adapt when necessary. I want to pay attention to what is working for my students and frequently implement creative, hands-on methods to promote cooperative learning and critical thinking, such as the suggested activities within the chapter.
Robert, you hit on a great point in your post regarding why are we still using word lists in our classrooms. You are right, the research shows that the traditional way we were all taught spelling doesn't work. Therefore, utilizing new activities, interventions and offering different approaches to integrating spelling into other content areas is essential. I agree with you, I hope use this text as well in my future classroom.
Chapter twelve focuses (on one of my greatest weaknesses) spelling. This chapter reviews the several developmental stages of spelling for the traditional students, as well as the different states an ESOL learner would progress through. Spelling is challenging because without a strong foundation in phonemic awareness, being able to identify simple and complex patterns can be next to impossible. What this text, like so many other texts that I have read during my education courses was continue to emphasize that having students memorize word lists for their weekly spelling test isn’t an effective approach to spelling instruction. Rather this text offers a number of activities and interventions that teachers can used to provide spelling instruction ranging from spelling inventories to work searches to fun games like anagrams with alphabet cereal (this would have been a great manipulative to use in my tutoring sessions). This chapter included one of my favorite quotes, “Good spelling instruction is teaching children HOW to spell, not what to spell.”
As a future educator, it would be easy to draw from my own previous experiences, regarding spelling ( and those annoying weekly spelling tests). However, to be a professional and effective educator it will be essential to continue to work on the foundational skills of spelling phonemic awareness and phonics, in addition to supporting this with spelling activities and focus on teaching students how to spell, rather than providing spelling lists.
I too have a really bad weakness in spelling. I think that the issue that I had when I was younger was my weakness in phonemic awareness, which then transferred into me having a really hard time spelling. Though the phonemic awareness is not the issue that I have now, I still am not as great of a speller as I would like to be. I was a great memorizer, and still am, and that is what got me through my spelling lists on a weekly basis. But my parents, as well as teachers, would catch me spelling words wrong that were on a list just a couple of weeks prior, proving that memorizing the words really was not effective for me. I was always good about knowing what the words mean, and could use them correctly, I just didn’t spell them right. I thought the activities that were provided were great and I would have helped me so much when I was in school. I too think that the quote about “good spelling instruction is teaching children how to spell, not what to spell” is the core to teaching student the “art” of spelling. I too plan on doing away with spelling lists in my future classroom, and would like to bring in ways for them to learn how to spell and ensure the phonemic awareness is in key before spelling gets started.
As the book discussed, the weekly spelling lists are not a good idea. This strategy isn't good for those of us who aren't good spellers or those of us who are. It doesn't challenge good spellers or help struggling ones. It is important to implement other spelling strategies in order to actually teach students HOW to spell now WHAT to spell. Phonemic awareness is important in regards to spelling, as is other elements of the BIG 5 - all relate!!
Chapter 12 is about spelling. They talk about how a reader can be effective even if they don’t spell well. they also talked about how just giving all of the students one spelling list on Monday and then testing them on Friday really does not help the speller because they might already know the words, for the good spellers, and the poor spellers just memorize the list for the test. They talked about the stages of spelling, though it is not agreed upon. There were also ways to assess the spelling as well as activities and intervention for spelling. I didn’t realize that there were so many ways that you can assess a student’s spelling. I also found the activities to be something that would be really helpful in the classroom. I think that some of them would have helped me with my spelling when I was younger. I also see why it is actually important to spell correctly if it really does not predict the effectiveness of the reader. When the chapter was talking about the poor spellers just memorizing the spelling list for the test, this was the definition of me when I was in school. Most of the time I knew what the word meant and could read it, but I have always had a hard time with spelling. As I am in my Social Studies internship this semester, I feel like I have see a very diverse group of spellers. There is one student that almost always asks how to spell something, though she knows how to spell it without help, to students that spell some really bog words and use their phonics dance rules to get the spelling correct, or very close to it. This teacher has a short spelling list that is different for each group of students as they rotate in their centers.
In my internship I also saw a wide range of spellers and there are so many kids who can spell but they just to ask for help. I think many students just don't think they can spell so they don't try. I agree I think do activities that involve spelling are good ways for students to learn how to spell and also enjoy learning.
Chapter 12 talks about spelling and how it is an important skill for effective writing. Good readers doesn't mean that you are a good speller. The traditional technique for teaching spelling was to give a list of words on Monday and test on them on Friday. The students would have to memorize the words and there was no thought to the individual needs of students because there was just one list. Teachers should assist students as they progress from what they know about spelling to what they do not know. There are many stages involved when learning how to spell. The within word pattern stage is when a teacher must help students discover patterns within the words. Good spellers understand orthography which is letters and their sequence in words. Learning how to spell is a complex developmental process and teachers need to understand the complexities to help the students master this process. This chapter also talks about assessments that can be given to assess spelling and one of these is called CAFE. This assessment evaluates students word writing ability. One question I have when it comes to spelling is that I still see many teachers that use the list on Monday and test on Friday. If this doesn't help many students to learn how to spell then why are teachers allowed to use this technique to teach spelling still? I looked at the issue of assessing a student in spelling differently. I didn't realize there was as many ways to assess a student in spelling. I like the CAFE assessment when teaching students how to spell. I realize that as a future teacher that spelling is important and that we should make sure we help students individually to help them learn to spell to the best of their ability. In my own experience I can remember do spelling tests and I would just memorize certain words just so I could pass the test and that I really didn't know how to spell them. Spelling was something that I never really struggled with but there was always those words that were tricky. I also remember spelling bees in school and how much fun it was to compete against classmates to see who was the best speller.
In my opinion, many teachers use the same old M-F spelling list because they don't know how to do anything different. Last year my son had a teacher that used this method, and he really struggled and didn't like spelling. This year, he has a younger teacher that uses a variety of strategies and he is doing much better. I think that sometimes very experienced teachers have trouble accepting new ideas and methods.
Jared I had the same question about why teachers still teach spelling the same old way. Education seems to have changed in so many other areas where research has found that it does not work, but not spelling. I have even heard debate about maybe spelling is not as important anymore because of spell check. It is like the same argument with cursive writing. I think that it is important for students to have a basic understanding of how words are structured and spelled. I think it would be like not knowing how to do basic math operations because you always did it on a calculator. Writing is important for the students to do and I think spelling is an important component of the writing process.
Chapter 12 is all about spelling. The author discussed the developmental stages of spelling. Depending on who you ask, there are 5-7 stages. They do make a point that ELL students go through the same stages of spelling development that regular students do. It goes on to discuss patterns of English spelling. We have a very hard language to learn. I remember taking the phonogram pre-test in Dr. Walizer's class. I felt like I knew NOTHING!! It really helped me realize how important it is to teach those to students. not only does it help with their reading, but their spelling as well. Assessments are discussed, and I am so glad they are getting away form the old standard of learning spelling words. I love the activities that are listed. I have used some of them before, like the magnetic letters and word searches, and mnemonics. I haven't been to all these websites, but I have been to a few. www.funbrain.com is a great site to check out!
Julia- I also agree taking the pre-test in Dr. Walizer's test was very stressful. I did feel like I knew nothing. But after the course was completed and she taught us how to teach students we were able to clarify why she did what she did. Assessments are a key to figuring out what a student knows and what they don't know. But I do feel like sometimes that is all the kids do is test and that is why I enjoy doing more of the visual and hands on learning so I can see if the students are understanding it and if they are not.
I love the comment, "good spelling instruction is teaching children how to spell, not what to spell". I think this so true. It's amazing how some children will memorize their spelling list but will miss words that have the same spelling pattern on the dictation piece of the test. This is evidence that they are not learning the spelling pattern, but memorizing the words. To me the dictation piece of our spelling test is a better indicator of their spelling skills. When they are given words that have the same pattern but weren't on their list of words, really challenges students to apply their knowledge. Also, when looking at journal entries I always pay attention to words that have the tested spelling patterns. I get frustrated when educators place a lot of emphasis on spelling tests. I would rather have my students memorize something more meaningful. Our reading series is set up to test students on spelling patterns the week after we have the phonics skill. The pre-test is a great indicator of whether or not they mastered the skills from the previous week.
Lisa- I agree about educators place a lot of emphasis on spelling tests. And those educators seem to become from the "old school" of learning. Not saying that is a bad thing, but we as educators need to learn how to change our teaching skills based on what is expected from us and what is best for the students. For example: my mother in law came from the generation where you just memorized the word, no patterns just learned how to spell them. When she quizzes me about how I am doing school wise and I try and explain to her how education has changed over the years, she just doesn't see why we can't go back to the old way and have the students memorize everything like she did. But I do feel that teaching the students these patterns in words do help them in the long run.
Chapter 12 is all about spelling. My ultimate favorite part of reading. I have always been a good speller which causes me to to prof-read everything and pick out the mistakes.
I thoroughly enjoyed this chapter and thought that the activities that were given were excellent ways to increase spelling. I personally have done some of these activities with students or have seen other teachers use them.
My only concern with spelling is this: I have always been an excellent speller, but you ask me the definition of the word and I can't tell you. I wish there was a way for us to teach spelling and its correct patterns and teach the definitions. I know that is what vocabulary words are for: but I know from personal experience if I knew exactly what the meaning of the word was I was able to spell it correctly.
I liked that you brought up the relationship between spelling and vocabulary. It doesn't make much sense to teach a child how to spell a word, but not teach them the definition as well. I know that I don't teach vocabulary without teaching the spelling aspect of it as well. I also make sure that students understand the meaning of the words on their spelling lists as well.
The first section of this chapter discusses that the traditional way of teaching spelling is to give a list at the beginning of the week, copy the words several times, and give a test at the end of the week. The text states that this method of teaching spelling does not work. Why do we still use it then? All my children have been taught that way and many of the classrooms that I have worked in have taught that way. I would be interested to see how other assessments such as the CAFÉ word writing assessment works. It is an interesting method to use when trying to determine a student’s strengths and weaknesses in spelling.
I am also amazed at how complex spelling can be in the English language. I can see how helping students to recognize constant blends, vowel diagraphs, controlled-r sounds and all the other phonograms would be an advantage in spelling. Teaching students to recognize words as parts can help them break them down in order to understand how to spell the word. Native Spanish speakers can struggle when there are differences in how the letter and letter combinations are pronounced in the two languages. ELL students need additional help understanding how to spell and a teacher needs to understand that the students will go through similar stages of spelling development as young children.
I was taught with a list of spelling words given to us at the beginning of the week and tested at the end of that same week. I honestly don't think I learned how to spell from the lists. I also think that using CAFE in the classrooms would be a great start on how to determine each students strengths and weaknesses.
I think by giving a child a spelling list at the beginning of the week and testing them on it at the end, you are not really teaching them how to spell but are teaching them sight words. Then as you get older, you are teaching them how to properly break words into smaller sections in order to figure out how to spell them. I think that a spelling list by itself is not the answer, but it does have its place within the classroom.
Chapter 12 covers the topic of Spelling. I feel that spelling is a strong point of mine, but when I went to my reading internship last semester and would try to help the first grade students with their words, I wonder how I ever became a good speller. When you look at so many of our words in the English language, they are not spelt the way that they sound. No wonder our students have spelling problems now and even later in their education. The book says "only 46 percent of English words are spelled phonetically, it is not beneficial for students to memorize the rules and the few words that fit the rule. Instead, students need to be taught to look for patterns within words." When it brings up the students need to be taught patterns, I can't help but think of the Phonics Dance that I see some classroom using with their students. I have been able to be apart of the Phonics Dance and I have loved it, their is a little jingle that goes with each card along with words that have each phoneme in them. I have heard students singing a card from the Phonics Dance in order to spell a certain word because they know what patten they are looking for. Another part of this chapter that stuck out to me was the CAFE word writing assessment. You will be able to tell you the students strengths and weaknesses when it comes to spelling. This would be great to do with a student who you know is struggling right from the beginning. You would be able to develop a learning plan for this student.
Isn't it hard to believe that only 46% of words are spelled phonetically? I used to consider myself a good speller but I don't see it the same anymore. Even as an adult on those crazy words we don't hear or read often I get mixed up because the spelling does not match the sound of the word.
Chapter 12 in our textbook covered spelling. I am always interested in reading texts that have chapters or information about teaching spelling because it was always a strong point for me as a student myself. I loved to spell! I was so interested in the information about how many words in our English language that are actually spelled phonetically, less than half! Crazy! This made me understand really quickly why so many students struggle with this topic, and why Dr. Walizer always said to never say "Sound it out" to a child! That would be nearly impossible with some words in the English language!
I liked how the book clarified that good spelling instruction is about "teaching students how to spell, not what to spell." They referred to the traditional spelling methods of assigning a word list on Monday and giving a test on Friday - this is not teaching students HOW to spell. It pointed out that with this technique - nobody wins, good spellers aren't challenged because they know the words and struggling spellers just memorize the words. The developmental stages of spelling was beneficial to read about because it allows us as future educators to see and be able to relate to where students are developmentally. I loved the activities that are provided at the end of the chapter, as always. All of the activities allowed students to be able to put together letters, forming words and thus relating the sounds to those specific letters. Great chapter!
I agree with you about the traditional spelling methods. I remember those even with my children. What I don't remember is someone teaching what the generalizations of spelling are. Students need to know the "why" behind it.
Chapter 12 was about spelling. This chapter taught us how to teach it and the developmental stages of spelling. This chapter also discusses the patterns associated with spelling. When the students use the patterns they can use that same information from one word to another. I thought it was interesting to see how founding out how many words a student can spell will easily determine the stage of development that the student is in. So a student who cannot spell any words is in the emergent stage. The student who correctly spells 1-5 is in the alphabetic stage. Within word pattern stage is obtained when the student can spell 5-10. The student reaches the syllables and affixes stage when they can correctly spell 10-15 words. Finally the student is at the derivational relations when they can spell 15-25 words.
I don’t have any questions at this time.
I really liked the traits of good and poor spellers. As I was reading this particular page I was able to quickly put faces of students I know within each of the column and it was right that particular student was either a poor speller or good speller. I think of my children. My oldest daughter, for example, has about 9 of the traits listed under good spellers and she is a great speller (she got third in the spelling bee at school.) My middle daughter has more of the traits under the poor spellers and she is terrible. It is a kind of joke in our house. My son just won the school spelling bee as a 6th grader and has about 10 of the traits listed under good spellers.
As I read I thought about all the students in the special education classroom that are terrible spellers. It seems that there is not an emphasis put on spelling after 5th grade. Yes students have to edit any writing they do and a lot of times they do it on the computer so it is mostly done for them. As a teacher I hope no matter what grade I teach that I incorporate spelling into the class. It doesn’t have to be a weekly spelling list but at the least the generalizations of spelling.
I wonder if less emphasis is put on spelling in the higher grades, because the energy is placed elsewhere. If a student has not picked up the rules and rhythms of spelling by then, and understand how to use technology to compensate for it, perhaps they should be taught in other areas.
I think that spelling should be taught through out, for sure. I understand we only have so much time, but spelling is such a basic need! I work with a number of students who can not spell. They try, but they simply do not have the skills. I noticed that the text only had suggested activities for up to 8th grade, and while it is a wonderful activity, I know one of my students would not listen or try. He may even get indignant about it!
I think it is important for us to understand the importance of spelling without the use of a computer. In a world where technology increases hourly, some of our abilities to work without such technology is diminishing. I see students in the classroom that can not spell, can not write, and can not do simple math without the help of technology. I think this is something that we must ensure does not continue.
Chapter 12 was about spelling. I found the different stages of spelling interesting. I work one on one with a student who has a diagnosis of autism. I believe he probably skipped many of these stages, as a year ago, he was not willing to hold a pencil, now we are sounding out words. I wonder what the implications of skipping some of the stages are on his overall future as a speller.
I liked the activites that were suggested. Practicing spelling words sometimes get monotinous and variety helps the students stay engaged.
I recall in RLA, Walizer stating that she gave each student a individualized spelling list. I think this is a fabulous idea. My youngest son's first grade teacher made a word bank for each student. When they wrote in their journals, they could grab their word bank, which had words they requested, to aid in spelling.
I have found that students are not engaged with spelling unless it is switched up. I like spelling menus that have different activities for students to do while working on spelling. I also mentioned Dr. Walizer individual list which is a great idea as well.
I really enjoyed this chapter because I am not a good speller. I liked how it did not focus on the typical spelling test given, but what teachers can do instead. My mentor teacher for reading used the CAFE method. It really worked on students as individual spellers and they learned how to spell. I have seen in kindergarten teachers rip apart students paper with grammatical errors-KINDERGARTEN! The stories are so sweet and come from the heart, it made me sad to see this when I subbed. I liked the spelling with out a speller like Dr. Walizer talked about. It is okay to give students their own list, because each student is on different level of vocabulary. I know it may be more work for the teacher to give out individual list- but that is something I would like to do for my students.
It is so sad when a child is not encouraged to be creative. I know for me, when I was discouraged, I withdrew. This has nothing to do with writing, but when I was very young my family and I were watching the Jerry Lewis Telethon, I wanted to donate something so bad. All I had was 10 cents, so I called and proudly told the lady "I want to give 10 cents" and she hung up on me! I never donated to them since because if they are not willing to at least humor a 6 year old, they aren't really interested. Anyway, I wanted to say something and I forgot. OH, OH, OH, One of my treasures was an activity we learned about where the student writes a story, the teacher types it exactly as it is written by the student and the student draws pictures. I love mine and my daughter was so so proud! Misspellings and all. I think it helps to encourage them, because that is when they work harder!
This was a fantastic chapter. I think that spelling is an area that most teachers spend too little time and effort on. I don't like the generic lists that are given out on a weekly basis in most classrooms. It doesn't make any sense to have children "study" words that they already know or on the other hand are not ready for. I loved Dr. Walizer's "spelling without a speller." Of course it takes a lot more work, but the student benefits far outweigh the extra work in my opinion. I was subbing in a first grade classroom this week and the phonics lesson involved going over all of the spelling rules that they had learned throughout the year. I thought that the list was great. It would seem that they really learned a lot through their phonics program, but the review didn't go so well. It was pretty sad. I have often wondered how effective this teacher was and in reviewing the spelling rules I am pretty sure she did not serve them well in that area. For me, the most valuable part of this chapter was figure 12.7. I think it does a great job of summing up good and poor spellers and the differences between the two.
Isn't spell check great? Spelling, reading, it didn't matter, I was horrible at it all. I never learned phonics and only got through grammar because I knew how to speak! Chapter 12 discusses a variety of spelling stages which I found interesting. The description on page 324 of Alphabetic spelling stage states that the students will write 'baby' as 'babe', and in the opening scenario, the student would write camp with a 'K'. I work with students like this in the Junior and Senior High school (now I am getting paranoid that I am miss spelling words) Anyway, I have one student who can only spell 2 and 3 letter words. I like the activities in the chapter that help with this, however, this particular student is in 10th grade and is very embarrassed about it. His reading is just as bad yet he will carry a thick book around that is way above his level just to show people he can read! I might be able to work with him using the activity described on page 338. SIP Spelling in parts. But truthfully, I think he would poo-poo the idea. I can use the SIP strategy with the 5th graders I work with. That would do well with them.
I can kind of relate to your situation, both my mother and grandmother worked at a middle and high school with students who were in the same boat as your student is. Every day they would come home and just wonder and think about what they needed to do next with their students to help them learn and understand how to spell. I could see just how, I guess you could say worried, about their students they were because here they were in middle and high school and no one had ever taken the time to sit down and teach them how to spell word correctly through phonics.
Chapter 12 was all about spelling and how students can be good readers without being good spellers, but to be good writers they have to be good spellers. The chapter began talking about how the most common way teachers teach spelling to their students is to give them a list on Monday and expect them to have them "learned" (memorized) by Friday. They say this isn't a very good way for students to learn how to spell and I can both, agree and disagree, with that. I see where they are coming from when they say it's not a good way to teach spelling because most students are simply going to memorize how to spell the words and then the words may also not relate to anything in their everyday life. But at the same time, I disagree because I can see how memorizing how to spell the words may not have an affect right away, but it could lead to understanding later. For example, a student may not understand how a word is put together by sounds right now, but as they continue to learn their phonics they could easily refer back to a word that they memorized before and be like, "Oh, that's why it's spelled that way." So I guess you could almost call it reflecting back on previous knowledge. Personally I learn best by memorization simply because of this reason. Plus, I also kind of disagree with giving students a list of spelling words that are used in their every day life because I feel like that limits their vocabulary. If students are constantly hearing and seeing the same words everywhere, how in the world are they ever going to learn and hear new words? This is just a couple of thoughts that arouse after reading this chapter.
The chapter continues to talk about the different stages students go through when it comes to spelling and how there are 6 different theories about spelling out here, but yet they are all a little different. Figure 12.2 in the chapter really helped clarify who's theory was what when it came to these 6 different theories. The chapter also discussed and compared English Language Learners when it comes to spelling and how different/similar their language is to spelling. I found figure 12.5 in the chapter to be kind of interesting as well because it showed the Arabic alphabet along with the Thai consonants. Really goes to show just how different other languages can be and just why students from other language could really struggle with learning English. It also talked about how English Language Learners actually go through the same spelling stages and English speaking students, it may just take them a little longer to go through each stage. But with enough effort from both the student and their teachers, the students should eventually get to the last stage just like English speaking students do. Then of course the chapter went on to discuss how to informally and formally assess students and have great examples of intervention strategies.
Chapter 12 was titled spelling. It began with spelling instruction, the developmental stages of spelling, instructional practices for each spelling stage, and instructional practices for English learner's stages of spelling development. After that patterns of English spelling was discussed and compariosons between English and Spanish spelling patterns. I really liked this section, as I think it is important for us to understand the relationship between English and Spanish spelling patterns. The chapter then went in to the activities, which I really enjoyed the magnetic letters activity. I used this with my own children growing up and they really enjoyed it and I think the benefit of using it was huge.
I also found it very interesting to see the comparisons between the Spanish and English language. It will really come in handy if I am ever put in that spot. Thanks for sharing!
I believe that the focus on spelling in most classrooms is backwards. Students are given lists to memorize and reproduce but how are those words selected? Are they selected based on what the students are reading about and learning about or just a set list that someone deemed that students should know.
I sat with the kids I was tutoring and went over their spelling lists with them. I asked them to tell me what each word meant and for the most part they had no clue. Because they didn't know what the word meant, they had no idea how to use it in a sentence. If a student doesn't know what a word means or how to use it, what is the point of giving them spelling lists. I don't know how to spell words that I have not come across before in some form of learning.
The other key to teaching spelling should be to teach students about the spelling patterns and rules of letters working together. This will help them far more in spelling then simply memorizing a list of words that they will likely forget about the following week when they are given a new list to memorize. They need contextual framework to learn the words in.
I hate when I go into a classroom and the teacher is pushing lists onto the students to memorize and to learn!! I think when teaching spelling, it is important to teach the meaning of the words and why the words are chosen for the children. Do they have any similarities? I also believe that there is no point at all for a student to know how to spell the word but they do not know the meaning. When are they going to use the word if they don't know the meaning!!??
Chapter 12 in our textbook covers, "Spelling!!" Spelling is such a fun subject to teach and this chapter offers some GREAT resources for us! Spelling is another important skill to teach and learn in order for effective writing. I like the statement in this text that says, "Good spellers' writing is personal. They learn how to spell interesting words when they encounter them in reading and when they desire to use them in writing." As an educator, I take that as a challenge. I want to teach and show my students all of the "cool" things so they want to know how to say the word and spell it. I want to teach them how to spell these words. In this chapter, we go through the different stages of writing: Emergent spelling, alphabetic spelling, within word pattern spelling, syllable and affixes spelling, and derivational relations spelling. We also learn the many different patterns in our English language that relate to spelling. I really like how this book relates spelling in English and in Spanish to one another. It really helps me see how to teach that if I am ever in that situation. At the end of this chapter, we are given so many great tools to use in our classroom when it comes to teaching spelling to our students.
This chapter focuses on the essential skill of spelling and its strong correlation to reading and writing. Someone else commented on this quote in their blog; it really jumped out at me too. It stated, "Good spelling instruction is 'teaching children how to spell, not what to spell.'" It's important that educators find methods that work to help children with how to spell. Memorizing doesn't work for all students, and identical spelling lists are not appropriate for all students. It's important that teachers consider individual needs within their classroom. During the various spelling stages, different aspects of spelling can be focused on, such as phonics, beginning and ending sounds, as well as patterns within words. I know in my children's school, the teachers are using different tests for the students; they aren't giving the same one to all the kids. I can also see that my daughter's teacher is implementing spelling words which go along with their reading lessons; I love this idea of integration. They are also discovering patterns within their spelling lists. I normally don't have trouble with spelling; I generally did not have problems with spelling in grade school either. It usually came naturally for me. However, I definitely realize it will be different for my students. It will come easier to some of them, and it will be necessary to use some creative strategies for other students. For me, it's important to keep in mind that my students are individuals. I want to use creative, hands-on activities that will reinforce how to learn to spell, not what to spell. As several of you have shared about the CAFE writing assessment, I also see this as a valuable tool. I like some of the ideas at the end of the chapter too, such as Wheel of Fortune, the Anagram activities, as well as the suggested web sites to help build spelling skills.
This chapter had me at "Good spellers' writing is personal." I can spell but only because I liked to read and wanted everything I wrote to be as interesting as what I was reading. I really do loathe the standardized weekly spelling lists and was pleased to read that this chapter definitely did not endorse them. Instead, it focuses more on personalized and individual spelling for students - like the method Dr. Walizer went over in RLA (spelling without a speller). The CAFE method is very interesting and I can see myself using that in the future. When I read the example, I was surprised to see the number of simple spelling errors that the "6th grader" made. This would be a quick way to run initial screenings on students. The SIP method on page 338 was interesting as well, it focused on breaking down the word into different parts to make it easier to read. Finally, I will say that I'm a very good speller because "it just looks right." Which is something this chapter focused on. Being able to generate different spellings and find the one that "looks right" is an important skill that the book emphasized. Teaching students ALL the different ways to spell different sounds, will help them generate these different spellings and help them choose the one that looks right.
ReplyDeleteI also was excited to see that the chapter did not endorse spelling the standard spelling test from the spelling book way. I also use the "looks right" method most of the time. I was not shocked at the amount of spelling errors a 6th grader makes. If they are like the 6th graders I know, they are just not interested in learning new words in the traditional way so they just learn as they want, but do not learn what they need. It is our job as teachers to find district approved, new, and inventive ways to teach spelling so we keep students interested.
DeleteSpelling was the focal point of this chapter. It mentioned that students will not start to care about their spelling until they start to care about their writing, realizing that it is important to other people. It talked about traditional weekly spelling tests, and how that is not really teaching spelling to our students. They stressed the importance of creating spelling lists that are practical for the students. They also said that merely memorizing the spelling of words doesn't teach a child to spell either. We need to teach them to recognize word patterns. There were some fun ideas listed at the end of the chapter to teach spelling, such as word searches and playing Wheel-of-Fortune.
ReplyDeleteDr. Walizer talked about creating separate spelling lists for students, and I see value in this. It would make for more work for the teacher, but each student has different needs. I get frustrated when I see my kids' spelling lists come home and there are words on there they will never use in their vocabulary. Yet I know my kids spell more common words wrong. So I would like to see the focus more on learning to spell familiar words correctly before we branch out to memorize the spelling of unknown words.
I wondered about the Word Searches as a method of teaching spelling. I heard one teacher say a number of years ago that word searches and crossword puzzles are merely time fillers, as they have no educational value. He was specifically talking about doing them in a subject area like science, so I know that teaching spelling would be different. But do the students really pay attention to the spelling, or are just searching for the word? I guess at least they are seeing the words written again, which simply gives them more practice in seeing it spelled correctly.
I loved the idea of Wheel-of-Fortune. As with the word searches, this could be labeled a mere time waster, but I think it could be educational if done correctly. Any spelling words could be options for the word (or used in a phrase), and maybe the students would have to spell it all correctly instead of just saying the word. The kids would enjoy a more creative way of working with spelling words.
Jenny,
DeleteTeaching students to recognize word patterns is so important to their success in spelling. I remember Dr. Walizer talking about this also and can see why it is a better way to meet the needs of all students. I like how you talked about starting with common words before moving on to unfamiliar words. Building confidence is always a good thing! So many of the activities mentioned in this chapter are things that I have done at home with my children and they are fun and the children enjoy learning. Most of the time they do not even realize they are learning!
I agree Kara. I wish there was a "like" button on this discussion board. :) The confidence building is definitely a very important part of the success.
DeleteI teach second grade and we do two lists. After giving the pre-test on Monday we assess how many words they missed and then give them the same list of words or a challenge list. The challenge list is the same spelling patter but harder words. It's really pretty easy to manage. On Friday I test list one and then list two or vice versa.
DeleteI agree with you about the need for spelling to be more relevant to the student. My kids too bring home spelling lists and I wonder how in the world those words were chosen. When I sat down with my students at tutoring and looked over their spelling words I asked them to use the word in a sentence and to tell me what the word meant and they had no clue...how are they supposed to learn to spell a word if they don't know what it means or how to use it.
DeleteThis chapter was a very interesting read. I am not a good speller, and this is because I never cared about learning words from a boring spelling list in a boring spelling book so I just did not learn them. This chapters gives great ideas on how to make spelling new and very personalized, but I still think that the personalized spelling list that Dr. Walizer told us about in RLA. I think if my district curriculum allows it this will be the way I approach spelling.
ReplyDeleteIt's been interesting to me to hear from teachers-in-training who want to do things a certain way because of the way they were taught. A teacher at our high school seldom gives the students worksheets because he hated worksheets as a high school student. For you, spelling was boring, and it sounds like it was because of the way it was taught, and so you hope to change it in your classroom. I love this privilege as a teacher - that we can take our own personal experiences and use those in our classrooms, either to change things or to do it in the same way. I was a very traditional learner and always thought that was the best way to do things. But after dealing with a dyslexic son, I realized that method just does not work for all students. It has opened my eyes to using more hands-on activities, using technology, and making adaptations for assignments and assessments. I guess this could be compared to the text-to-text connections we are encouraged to make in reading, only these are life-to-life connections we get to make from our life to our teaching. What a privilege!
DeleteSpelling was always one of my favorite subjects; it came so easily for me. The introduction to this chapter mentions that spelling is an important skill for effective writing. One child I have worked with this semester comes to mind, he has trouble reading and does not like to write. I notice that when he does write it takes him a long time and he does not like to write anything that he cannot copy from another source. I like how the author emphasizes teaching children how to spell, not what to spell. When taking reading and language arts methods Dr. Walizer talked about how creating individual spelling lists for each child can accommodate their needs. I can imagine this would be more time consuming but think it would accommodate the students better than a generic list for the whole class. Before reading this chapter I was not aware of how many different spelling stages had been developed by so many different people. The text says that the variations are not meant to confuse but I have to admit, it seemed a little confusing. I have thought about the different stage of reading and writing but not much about the stages of spelling and what each stage entails. This chapter gives a lot of information on each of the stages and what skills are shown in each one. Learning to spell is a complex process and as a future educator I need to understand this process so I can instruct my students accordingly. It was interesting to read about the different types of assessment for spelling. When I think of spelling assessments I think of getting a list each week, the teacher giving the words orally and the students writing them. I really like some of the spelling activities given at the end of this chapter. I have always enjoyed using manipulatives and can see that using these can be very effective during spelling instruction.
ReplyDeleteKara, I truly believe that Dr. Walizer is on to something very valuable by having us realize that we need to make individual spelling lists for each of our students. We would make a great connection to their interests and I feel that the student would really benefit from individualized spelling lists. The CAFE assessment would be a great way to start by finding words that they are not getting correct when asked to write as many words as possible in a timed allotted period. Then you can start looking for patterns that are constantly missed, along with connecting the words with their guided reader or read alouds.
DeleteWell, it's hard to reply after Stacy's awesome reply!! I have to agree with your sentence about teaching students HOW to spell instead of WHAT to spell. Those are entirely different things. Also creating individual spellings lists would be tedious but I think the pay off for students would be phenomenal!!
DeleteAt the beginning of the chapter, the author makes a statement that is so true and reminds me of spelling when I was a child: good spellers are not challenged because they already know the words, and poor spellers memorize the words only for the test. I was one of those good spellers. I still have a prize I won in second grade for spelling all the states correctly. I was good at phonics so sounding words out was easy for me and I was also good at being able to visualize words. I remember some of my peers who struggled with spelling and how disappointed they always were when we had spelling tests. They never got to add a sticker to their sticker collection. ☹ There are developmental stages of spelling as determined by several experts ranging anywhere from five to seven stages and then there are instructional practices for each stage of spelling. There are also strategies for ELLs for spelling development. There are patterns of spelling in the English language: orthographic and complex. When comparing good versus poor spellers, there are very distinct differences. Good spellers can recognize errors and correct them and understand the writing process. Poor spellers cannot do any of those things so helping them become good spellers means that we have to teach them to do the things that good spellers do; not just make them memorize spelling words. It is important to assess spelling ability and an informal assessment is checklists, which are a good way of identifying students’ specific weaknesses. Interventions listed in the chapter look engaging and exciting for students who are struggling: magnetic letters, foam board letters, word searches and anagrams.
ReplyDeleteAmy, I know what you mean about good spellers and how it just seems to come naturally to them. My daughter is an amazing speller, and she just does it without any effort put in. She is a lucky one, where sounding it out phonetically or able to recognize the patterns for a Latin or Greek root spelling comes easy - it is fun to watch! Unfortunately it doesn't come easy to everyone. Others need to have interventions and other strategies to help them see the patterns. I really liked the word searches and anagram suggestions for the struggling spellers.
DeleteI was one of those poor spellers... I am a little better now with the help of spell check, but back when I was younger I remember it was all about memorizing the words rather than learning how to actually spell them. I was lucky, because I was good at memorizing, and have always had pretty good study skills, but I would have for sure been classified as a poor speller, even if my grades didn't reflect it.
DeleteBoth of my children excel at spelling, and I did as a child too but I can't tell you why that is. They just seem to have a knack for it. Is that the effectiveness of their early teachers and the phonemic awareness/phonics lessons they did? Or are they just strong in that area? Luckily, there are great interventions/strategies to use for those that don't spell so easily. As a teacher, we need to recognize where students are struggling and use the strategies, as well as make spelling fun, to help them succeed.
DeleteChapter 12 discussed ways and strategies for helping students with spelling. The author stated that good spellers see the link between spelling and the role of the audience to help them be better spellers. So what can we do for the ones that don’t see that connection? By just implementing a spelling list for each week and writing projects does not guarantee you will develop good spellers. With only 46% of the English language words being capable of phonetically spelling that word, we need to come up with strategies that will help our students. I really liked the CAFE assessment example in the scenario at the beginning of the chapter. It gives the teacher an area to start with, see how many words are spelled accurately in a timed activity. Then you can look at all the misspelled words to find patterns, see complexity of words depending on syllable count, whether they know synonyms, antonyms, compound words and how solid their handwriting skills are. The most important item that I got out of this chapter was to make sure we make a connection to prior knowledge and the student’s interest to make the task of spelling particular words real to their lives. There are two activities that I found that I would love to implement into my classroom. Anagrams, on page 337, is a great way to make that connection. First they write their first and last name on a piece of paper. Then the students are to look at their name and make as many words out of their name as possible. It is a personal touch by using their name and the students will have a great time finding all the different words. The other activity would be word searches, which was discussed on page 336. Make a connection to the child by connecting it to a story they have read or of an interest/hobby that is important in their lives. Make up the word searches that have words go up, down, or diagonally. I am a true believer in the word searches and loved completing them growing up. I used to have competitions with my friends to see who could complete them the fastest. I used to use many techniques to find words, such as double letter consonants are easy to spot, so I would find those words first. Then you can find words that have letters that aren’t in a lot of words, such as z or q, by searching for the not so common letters helped me find those words too. I guess I hadn’t made the full connection that it was truly helping me learn how to spell until I read this chapter though. I love that working on a fun activity was so beneficial to me and will be to my students down the road.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked the CAFE assessment. This will give you an idea of where your students are without feeling like a test. I also like the idea of using word searches in spelling, you have to constantly spell the word or part of the word in your head while you are looking for it.
DeleteOne of the first things that this chapter discusses is spelling instruction. It makes a lot of sense that as an educator we need to teach the children how to spell, not what to spell. This really made me think about all the spelling tests I took when I was growing up, how we were given a list of words at the beginning of each week and we were supposed to “learn” how to spell the words. If anyone in this class was like me, I didn’t learn how to spell the words; I memorized the letters in order. It would be simply impossible for us as educators to have students memorize every word in the English dictionary, so teaching them the correct way to spell is much more important than teaching specific spelling words.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter goes on to describe the different developmental stages of spelling which include emergent, alphabetic, within word pattern, syllable and affixes, and derivational relations. The chapter also talks about different assessments that can be used with spelling. Some of these strategies include spelling inventories, word writing, checklists based on state standards, and formal assessments. Of course the end of the chapter is all about different strategies and activities that will aid us as teachers going forward.
Chapter 12 discussed spelling. Good spelling instruction is teaching children how to spell, by using words that are important to them and teaching word patterns. Developmental stages of spellers include emergent, alphabetic dealing with sound relationships, within word patterns including word families, syllable and affixes where students recognize chunks within words, and derivational relations where students can spell accurately most of the time but need to double check.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the CAFE assessment, allowing students to choose their own words to spell. You can an understanding of student spelling and their interests from the words they choose. I also like how the chapter compared ESOL spelling learning to English learning and showed the comparison of letter-sound relationships across both languages. The activities at the end of the chapter, along with the websites will be great resources for future use. I feel that if you can incorporate a game instead of just drill students will enjoy school more and be more willing to retain the information. I played multiple games during tutoring sessions, so that they would be more willing to learn the information and it worked great.
One of the things that surprised me with this chapter was that even if the students is a grade level reader, it does not mean they are a good speller. Only 46% of the English language is spelled phonemically. No wonder students have a hard time spelling. Teachers need to invest time leveling students and their ability, not only in reading, but spelling as well. Teaching the student how to start off small and pick out little words within a word can be a strategy all learners can use. Many times students will have what they want to write, but they are not able to sound out or spell the word, so they come up with smaller lower level words to get by. With spell check on the computers, I have noticed students trying to spell bigger words, but when they are not sure how to spell them and they check the word, they will pick the wrong word changing the meaning all together of their writing. When I read it back to them, they tell me that is not what they wanted to say. I have always broken words apart myself. Words such as Wednesday have always been difficult to spell. Once I learned to break it up, it was much easier. A game we like to play in our reading class is hangman. Students like the challenge, plus it helps with spelling
ReplyDeleteMary. I agree with you about the 46% of the English language being spelled phonemically. English is very challenging with all of its rule exceptions and words that don't spell like they sound. I like the idea of using hangman because it seems all kids enjoy it, a little like using wheel of fortune. But it takes effective teachers teaching strategies like chunks of words, word patterns such as onset and rime, rhyming words, syllabication, and affixes.
DeleteI also was totally shocked about the amount of words that are spelled phonemically! No wonder our students struggle with spelling in more than just one way! Breaking up words is a good strategy, decoding them is good as well whether by individual sounds, or chunks. Good information Mary!
DeleteI was not shocked at all that spelling and reading are not connected. I have loved reading since the age of five. My spelling is terrible. My husband claimed he always thought that spelling was simple, and no way could an intelligent person lack the skills to spell. I proved him wrong.
DeleteThis chapter was very informative and I found the information about the developmental stages of spelling interesting. After this chapter, it made me realize how important phonemic awareness and phonics are to spelling as we are supposed to teach our students to recognize beginning/ending sounds and things like within word patterns and sounds. I also liked the stage that focuses on syllable and affixes spelling because it first focuses students on recognizing root words, as well as chunks within words and prefixes and suffixes. It is amazing how reading, writing, and spelling are all so closely linked together and while success in one or two doesn't guarantee success in another, it is usually a good precursor. As always, there are some great assessment ideas, such as CAFE, and great intervention ideas such as word searches, mnemonics, and wheel of fortune. I don't understand why teachers, even newer ones that have been taught alternative ways and know the research, continue to teach spelling through the traditional generic word lists. Why is this method of teaching spelling still acceptable? We have a great resource with this text and I plan on utilizing it to the best of my ability in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about this text. What a great resources this has been for our tutoring; not to mention for future use in the classroom! The ideas and activities at the end of each chapter are great and give us a lot of ideas to use in our own classroom so we don't get in the rut of teaching "traditional" spelling.
DeleteRobert,
DeleteI agree; there is a definite correlation between reading, writing, and spelling. The text certainly reinforces this idea, as it states, "students begin to spell correctly when they 'care about what they are writing and about how their ideas are received by readers'". I think there are many teachers who have a difficult time breaking from traditional modes of teaching and want to stick with what they know; they don't want to deviate from "how things have always been done". I am a bit of a traditionalist is some aspects of my life, so this is something I want to be very aware of. I want to adapt when necessary. I want to pay attention to what is working for my students and frequently implement creative, hands-on methods to promote cooperative learning and critical thinking, such as the suggested activities within the chapter.
Robert, you hit on a great point in your post regarding why are we still using word lists in our classrooms. You are right, the research shows that the traditional way we were all taught spelling doesn't work. Therefore, utilizing new activities, interventions and offering different approaches to integrating spelling into other content areas is essential. I agree with you, I hope use this text as well in my future classroom.
ReplyDeleteChapter twelve focuses (on one of my greatest weaknesses) spelling. This chapter reviews the several developmental stages of spelling for the traditional students, as well as the different states an ESOL learner would progress through. Spelling is challenging because without a strong foundation in phonemic awareness, being able to identify simple and complex patterns can be next to impossible. What this text, like so many other texts that I have read during my education courses was continue to emphasize that having students memorize word lists for their weekly spelling test isn’t an effective approach to spelling instruction. Rather this text offers a number of activities and interventions that teachers can used to provide spelling instruction ranging from spelling inventories to work searches to fun games like anagrams with alphabet cereal (this would have been a great manipulative to use in my tutoring sessions). This chapter included one of my favorite quotes, “Good spelling instruction is teaching children HOW to spell, not what to spell.”
ReplyDeleteAs a future educator, it would be easy to draw from my own previous experiences, regarding spelling ( and those annoying weekly spelling tests). However, to be a professional and effective educator it will be essential to continue to work on the foundational skills of spelling phonemic awareness and phonics, in addition to supporting this with spelling activities and focus on teaching students how to spell, rather than providing spelling lists.
I too have a really bad weakness in spelling. I think that the issue that I had when I was younger was my weakness in phonemic awareness, which then transferred into me having a really hard time spelling. Though the phonemic awareness is not the issue that I have now, I still am not as great of a speller as I would like to be. I was a great memorizer, and still am, and that is what got me through my spelling lists on a weekly basis. But my parents, as well as teachers, would catch me spelling words wrong that were on a list just a couple of weeks prior, proving that memorizing the words really was not effective for me. I was always good about knowing what the words mean, and could use them correctly, I just didn’t spell them right. I thought the activities that were provided were great and I would have helped me so much when I was in school. I too think that the quote about “good spelling instruction is teaching children how to spell, not what to spell” is the core to teaching student the “art” of spelling. I too plan on doing away with spelling lists in my future classroom, and would like to bring in ways for them to learn how to spell and ensure the phonemic awareness is in key before spelling gets started.
DeleteAs the book discussed, the weekly spelling lists are not a good idea. This strategy isn't good for those of us who aren't good spellers or those of us who are. It doesn't challenge good spellers or help struggling ones. It is important to implement other spelling strategies in order to actually teach students HOW to spell now WHAT to spell. Phonemic awareness is important in regards to spelling, as is other elements of the BIG 5 - all relate!!
DeleteChapter 12 is about spelling. They talk about how a reader can be effective even if they don’t spell well. they also talked about how just giving all of the students one spelling list on Monday and then testing them on Friday really does not help the speller because they might already know the words, for the good spellers, and the poor spellers just memorize the list for the test. They talked about the stages of spelling, though it is not agreed upon. There were also ways to assess the spelling as well as activities and intervention for spelling.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t realize that there were so many ways that you can assess a student’s spelling. I also found the activities to be something that would be really helpful in the classroom. I think that some of them would have helped me with my spelling when I was younger. I also see why it is actually important to spell correctly if it really does not predict the effectiveness of the reader.
When the chapter was talking about the poor spellers just memorizing the spelling list for the test, this was the definition of me when I was in school. Most of the time I knew what the word meant and could read it, but I have always had a hard time with spelling. As I am in my Social Studies internship this semester, I feel like I have see a very diverse group of spellers. There is one student that almost always asks how to spell something, though she knows how to spell it without help, to students that spell some really bog words and use their phonics dance rules to get the spelling correct, or very close to it. This teacher has a short spelling list that is different for each group of students as they rotate in their centers.
In my internship I also saw a wide range of spellers and there are so many kids who can spell but they just to ask for help. I think many students just don't think they can spell so they don't try. I agree I think do activities that involve spelling are good ways for students to learn how to spell and also enjoy learning.
DeleteChapter 12 talks about spelling and how it is an important skill for effective writing. Good readers doesn't mean that you are a good speller. The traditional technique for teaching spelling was to give a list of words on Monday and test on them on Friday. The students would have to memorize the words and there was no thought to the individual needs of students because there was just one list. Teachers should assist students as they progress from what they know about spelling to what they do not know. There are many stages involved when learning how to spell. The within word pattern stage is when a teacher must help students discover patterns within the words. Good spellers understand orthography which is letters and their sequence in words. Learning how to spell is a complex developmental process and teachers need to understand the complexities to help the students master this process. This chapter also talks about assessments that can be given to assess spelling and one of these is called CAFE. This assessment evaluates students word writing ability.
ReplyDeleteOne question I have when it comes to spelling is that I still see many teachers that use the list on Monday and test on Friday. If this doesn't help many students to learn how to spell then why are teachers allowed to use this technique to teach spelling still?
I looked at the issue of assessing a student in spelling differently. I didn't realize there was as many ways to assess a student in spelling. I like the CAFE assessment when teaching students how to spell. I realize that as a future teacher that spelling is important and that we should make sure we help students individually to help them learn to spell to the best of their ability.
In my own experience I can remember do spelling tests and I would just memorize certain words just so I could pass the test and that I really didn't know how to spell them. Spelling was something that I never really struggled with but there was always those words that were tricky. I also remember spelling bees in school and how much fun it was to compete against classmates to see who was the best speller.
In my opinion, many teachers use the same old M-F spelling list because they don't know how to do anything different. Last year my son had a teacher that used this method, and he really struggled and didn't like spelling. This year, he has a younger teacher that uses a variety of strategies and he is doing much better. I think that sometimes very experienced teachers have trouble accepting new ideas and methods.
DeleteJared
DeleteI had the same question about why teachers still teach spelling the same old way. Education seems to have changed in so many other areas where research has found that it does not work, but not spelling. I have even heard debate about maybe spelling is not as important anymore because of spell check. It is like the same argument with cursive writing. I think that it is important for students to have a basic understanding of how words are structured and spelled. I think it would be like not knowing how to do basic math operations because you always did it on a calculator. Writing is important for the students to do and I think spelling is an important component of the writing process.
Chapter 12 is all about spelling. The author discussed the developmental stages of spelling. Depending on who you ask, there are 5-7 stages. They do make a point that ELL students go through the same stages of spelling development that regular students do. It goes on to discuss patterns of English spelling. We have a very hard language to learn. I remember taking the phonogram pre-test in Dr. Walizer's class. I felt like I knew NOTHING!! It really helped me realize how important it is to teach those to students. not only does it help with their reading, but their spelling as well. Assessments are discussed, and I am so glad they are getting away form the old standard of learning spelling words. I love the activities that are listed. I have used some of them before, like the magnetic letters and word searches, and mnemonics. I haven't been to all these websites, but I have been to a few. www.funbrain.com is a great site to check out!
ReplyDeleteJulia-
DeleteI also agree taking the pre-test in Dr. Walizer's test was very stressful. I did feel like I knew nothing. But after the course was completed and she taught us how to teach students we were able to clarify why she did what she did. Assessments are a key to figuring out what a student knows and what they don't know. But I do feel like sometimes that is all the kids do is test and that is why I enjoy doing more of the visual and hands on learning so I can see if the students are understanding it and if they are not.
I love the comment, "good spelling instruction is teaching children how to spell, not what to spell". I think this so true. It's amazing how some children will memorize their spelling list but will miss words that have the same spelling pattern on the dictation piece of the test. This is evidence that they are not learning the spelling pattern, but memorizing the words. To me the dictation piece of our spelling test is a better indicator of their spelling skills. When they are given words that have the same pattern but weren't on their list of words, really challenges students to apply their knowledge. Also, when looking at journal entries I always pay attention to words that have the tested spelling patterns. I get frustrated when educators place a lot of emphasis on spelling tests. I would rather have my students memorize something more meaningful. Our reading series is set up to test students on spelling patterns the week after we have the phonics skill. The pre-test is a great indicator of whether or not they mastered the skills from the previous week.
ReplyDeleteLisa-
DeleteI agree about educators place a lot of emphasis on spelling tests. And those educators seem to become from the "old school" of learning. Not saying that is a bad thing, but we as educators need to learn how to change our teaching skills based on what is expected from us and what is best for the students. For example: my mother in law came from the generation where you just memorized the word, no patterns just learned how to spell them. When she quizzes me about how I am doing school wise and I try and explain to her how education has changed over the years, she just doesn't see why we can't go back to the old way and have the students memorize everything like she did. But I do feel that teaching the students these patterns in words do help them in the long run.
Chapter 12 is all about spelling. My ultimate favorite part of reading. I have always been a good speller which causes me to to prof-read everything and pick out the mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed this chapter and thought that the activities that were given were excellent ways to increase spelling. I personally have done some of these activities with students or have seen other teachers use them.
My only concern with spelling is this: I have always been an excellent speller, but you ask me the definition of the word and I can't tell you. I wish there was a way for us to teach spelling and its correct patterns and teach the definitions. I know that is what vocabulary words are for: but I know from personal experience if I knew exactly what the meaning of the word was I was able to spell it correctly.
I liked that you brought up the relationship between spelling and vocabulary. It doesn't make much sense to teach a child how to spell a word, but not teach them the definition as well. I know that I don't teach vocabulary without teaching the spelling aspect of it as well. I also make sure that students understand the meaning of the words on their spelling lists as well.
DeleteThe first section of this chapter discusses that the traditional way of teaching spelling is to give a list at the beginning of the week, copy the words several times, and give a test at the end of the week. The text states that this method of teaching spelling does not work. Why do we still use it then? All my children have been taught that way and many of the classrooms that I have worked in have taught that way. I would be interested to see how other assessments such as the CAFÉ word writing assessment works. It is an interesting method to use when trying to determine a student’s strengths and weaknesses in spelling.
ReplyDeleteI am also amazed at how complex spelling can be in the English language. I can see how helping students to recognize constant blends, vowel diagraphs, controlled-r sounds and all the other phonograms would be an advantage in spelling. Teaching students to recognize words as parts can help them break them down in order to understand how to spell the word. Native Spanish speakers can struggle when there are differences in how the letter and letter combinations are pronounced in the two languages. ELL students need additional help understanding how to spell and a teacher needs to understand that the students will go through similar stages of spelling development as young children.
I was taught with a list of spelling words given to us at the beginning of the week and tested at the end of that same week. I honestly don't think I learned how to spell from the lists. I also think that using CAFE in the classrooms would be a great start on how to determine each students strengths and weaknesses.
DeleteI think by giving a child a spelling list at the beginning of the week and testing them on it at the end, you are not really teaching them how to spell but are teaching them sight words. Then as you get older, you are teaching them how to properly break words into smaller sections in order to figure out how to spell them. I think that a spelling list by itself is not the answer, but it does have its place within the classroom.
Deletethanks,
Julie Copeland
Chapter 12 covers the topic of Spelling. I feel that spelling is a strong point of mine, but when I went to my reading internship last semester and would try to help the first grade students with their words, I wonder how I ever became a good speller. When you look at so many of our words in the English language, they are not spelt the way that they sound. No wonder our students have spelling problems now and even later in their education. The book says "only 46 percent of English words are spelled phonetically, it is not beneficial for students to memorize the rules and the few words that fit the rule. Instead, students need to be taught to look for patterns within words." When it brings up the students need to be taught patterns, I can't help but think of the Phonics Dance that I see some classroom using with their students. I have been able to be apart of the Phonics Dance and I have loved it, their is a little jingle that goes with each card along with words that have each phoneme in them. I have heard students singing a card from the Phonics Dance in order to spell a certain word because they know what patten they are looking for. Another part of this chapter that stuck out to me was the CAFE word writing assessment. You will be able to tell you the students strengths and weaknesses when it comes to spelling. This would be great to do with a student who you know is struggling right from the beginning. You would be able to develop a learning plan for this student.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it hard to believe that only 46% of words are spelled phonetically? I used to consider myself a good speller but I don't see it the same anymore. Even as an adult on those crazy words we don't hear or read often I get mixed up because the spelling does not match the sound of the word.
DeleteChapter 12 in our textbook covered spelling. I am always interested in reading texts that have chapters or information about teaching spelling because it was always a strong point for me as a student myself. I loved to spell! I was so interested in the information about how many words in our English language that are actually spelled phonetically, less than half! Crazy! This made me understand really quickly why so many students struggle with this topic, and why Dr. Walizer always said to never say "Sound it out" to a child! That would be nearly impossible with some words in the English language!
ReplyDeleteI liked how the book clarified that good spelling instruction is about "teaching students how to spell, not what to spell." They referred to the traditional spelling methods of assigning a word list on Monday and giving a test on Friday - this is not teaching students HOW to spell. It pointed out that with this technique - nobody wins, good spellers aren't challenged because they know the words and struggling spellers just memorize the words. The developmental stages of spelling was beneficial to read about because it allows us as future educators to see and be able to relate to where students are developmentally. I loved the activities that are provided at the end of the chapter, as always. All of the activities allowed students to be able to put together letters, forming words and thus relating the sounds to those specific letters. Great chapter!
I agree with you about the traditional spelling methods. I remember those even with my children. What I don't remember is someone teaching what the generalizations of spelling are. Students need to know the "why" behind it.
DeleteChapter 12 was about spelling. This chapter taught us how to teach it and the developmental stages of spelling. This chapter also discusses the patterns associated with spelling. When the students use the patterns they can use that same information from one word to another. I thought it was interesting to see how founding out how many words a student can spell will easily determine the stage of development that the student is in. So a student who cannot spell any words is in the emergent stage. The student who correctly spells 1-5 is in the alphabetic stage. Within word pattern stage is obtained when the student can spell 5-10. The student reaches the syllables and affixes stage when they can correctly spell 10-15 words. Finally the student is at the derivational relations when they can spell 15-25 words.
ReplyDeleteI don’t have any questions at this time.
I really liked the traits of good and poor spellers. As I was reading this particular page I was able to quickly put faces of students I know within each of the column and it was right that particular student was either a poor speller or good speller. I think of my children. My oldest daughter, for example, has about 9 of the traits listed under good spellers and she is a great speller (she got third in the spelling bee at school.) My middle daughter has more of the traits under the poor spellers and she is terrible. It is a kind of joke in our house. My son just won the school spelling bee as a 6th grader and has about 10 of the traits listed under good spellers.
As I read I thought about all the students in the special education classroom that are terrible spellers. It seems that there is not an emphasis put on spelling after 5th grade. Yes students have to edit any writing they do and a lot of times they do it on the computer so it is mostly done for them. As a teacher I hope no matter what grade I teach that I incorporate spelling into the class. It doesn’t have to be a weekly spelling list but at the least the generalizations of spelling.
I wonder if less emphasis is put on spelling in the higher grades, because the energy is placed elsewhere. If a student has not picked up the rules and rhythms of spelling by then, and understand how to use technology to compensate for it, perhaps they should be taught in other areas.
DeleteI think that spelling should be taught through out, for sure. I understand we only have so much time, but spelling is such a basic need! I work with a number of students who can not spell. They try, but they simply do not have the skills. I noticed that the text only had suggested activities for up to 8th grade, and while it is a wonderful activity, I know one of my students would not listen or try. He may even get indignant about it!
DeleteI think it is important for us to understand the importance of spelling without the use of a computer. In a world where technology increases hourly, some of our abilities to work without such technology is diminishing. I see students in the classroom that can not spell, can not write, and can not do simple math without the help of technology. I think this is something that we must ensure does not continue.
Deletethanks,
Julie Copeland
Chapter 12 was about spelling. I found the different stages of spelling interesting. I work one on one with a student who has a diagnosis of autism. I believe he probably skipped many of these stages, as a year ago, he was not willing to hold a pencil, now we are sounding out words. I wonder what the implications of skipping some of the stages are on his overall future as a speller.
ReplyDeleteI liked the activites that were suggested. Practicing spelling words sometimes get monotinous and variety helps the students stay engaged.
I recall in RLA, Walizer stating that she gave each student a individualized spelling list. I think this is a fabulous idea. My youngest son's first grade teacher made a word bank for each student. When they wrote in their journals, they could grab their word bank, which had words they requested, to aid in spelling.
I have found that students are not engaged with spelling unless it is switched up. I like spelling menus that have different activities for students to do while working on spelling. I also mentioned Dr. Walizer individual list which is a great idea as well.
DeleteI really enjoyed this chapter because I am not a good speller. I liked how it did not focus on the typical spelling test given, but what teachers can do instead. My mentor teacher for reading used the CAFE method. It really worked on students as individual spellers and they learned how to spell. I have seen in kindergarten teachers rip apart students paper with grammatical errors-KINDERGARTEN! The stories are so sweet and come from the heart, it made me sad to see this when I subbed. I liked the spelling with out a speller like Dr. Walizer talked about. It is okay to give students their own list, because each student is on different level of vocabulary. I know it may be more work for the teacher to give out individual list- but that is something I would like to do for my students.
ReplyDeleteIt is so sad when a child is not encouraged to be creative. I know for me, when I was discouraged, I withdrew. This has nothing to do with writing, but when I was very young my family and I were watching the Jerry Lewis Telethon, I wanted to donate something so bad. All I had was 10 cents, so I called and proudly told the lady "I want to give 10 cents" and she hung up on me!
DeleteI never donated to them since because if they are not willing to at least humor a 6 year old, they aren't really interested. Anyway, I wanted to say something and I forgot. OH, OH, OH, One of my treasures was an activity we learned about where the student writes a story, the teacher types it exactly as it is written by the student and the student draws pictures. I love mine and my daughter was so so proud! Misspellings and all.
I think it helps to encourage them, because that is when they work harder!
This was a fantastic chapter. I think that spelling is an area that most teachers spend too little time and effort on. I don't like the generic lists that are given out on a weekly basis in most classrooms. It doesn't make any sense to have children "study" words that they already know or on the other hand are not ready for. I loved Dr. Walizer's "spelling without a speller." Of course it takes a lot more work, but the student benefits far outweigh the extra work in my opinion. I was subbing in a first grade classroom this week and the phonics lesson involved going over all of the spelling rules that they had learned throughout the year. I thought that the list was great. It would seem that they really learned a lot through their phonics program, but the review didn't go so well. It was pretty sad. I have often wondered how effective this teacher was and in reviewing the spelling rules I am pretty sure she did not serve them well in that area. For me, the most valuable part of this chapter was figure 12.7. I think it does a great job of summing up good and poor spellers and the differences between the two.
ReplyDeleteIsn't spell check great? Spelling, reading, it didn't matter, I was horrible at it all. I never learned phonics and only got through grammar because I knew how to speak! Chapter 12 discusses a variety of spelling stages which I found interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe description on page 324 of Alphabetic spelling stage states that the students will write 'baby' as 'babe', and in the opening scenario, the student would write camp with a 'K'. I work with students like this in the Junior and Senior High school (now I am getting paranoid that I am miss spelling words) Anyway, I have one student who can only spell 2 and 3 letter words. I like the activities in the chapter that help with this, however, this particular student is in 10th grade and is very embarrassed about it. His reading is just as bad yet he will carry a thick book around that is way above his level just to show people he can read!
I might be able to work with him using the activity described on page 338. SIP Spelling in parts. But truthfully, I think he would poo-poo the idea.
I can use the SIP strategy with the 5th graders I work with. That would do well with them.
I can kind of relate to your situation, both my mother and grandmother worked at a middle and high school with students who were in the same boat as your student is. Every day they would come home and just wonder and think about what they needed to do next with their students to help them learn and understand how to spell. I could see just how, I guess you could say worried, about their students they were because here they were in middle and high school and no one had ever taken the time to sit down and teach them how to spell word correctly through phonics.
DeleteChapter 12 was all about spelling and how students can be good readers without being good spellers, but to be good writers they have to be good spellers. The chapter began talking about how the most common way teachers teach spelling to their students is to give them a list on Monday and expect them to have them "learned" (memorized) by Friday. They say this isn't a very good way for students to learn how to spell and I can both, agree and disagree, with that. I see where they are coming from when they say it's not a good way to teach spelling because most students are simply going to memorize how to spell the words and then the words may also not relate to anything in their everyday life. But at the same time, I disagree because I can see how memorizing how to spell the words may not have an affect right away, but it could lead to understanding later. For example, a student may not understand how a word is put together by sounds right now, but as they continue to learn their phonics they could easily refer back to a word that they memorized before and be like, "Oh, that's why it's spelled that way." So I guess you could almost call it reflecting back on previous knowledge. Personally I learn best by memorization simply because of this reason. Plus, I also kind of disagree with giving students a list of spelling words that are used in their every day life because I feel like that limits their vocabulary. If students are constantly hearing and seeing the same words everywhere, how in the world are they ever going to learn and hear new words? This is just a couple of thoughts that arouse after reading this chapter.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter continues to talk about the different stages students go through when it comes to spelling and how there are 6 different theories about spelling out here, but yet they are all a little different. Figure 12.2 in the chapter really helped clarify who's theory was what when it came to these 6 different theories. The chapter also discussed and compared English Language Learners when it comes to spelling and how different/similar their language is to spelling. I found figure 12.5 in the chapter to be kind of interesting as well because it showed the Arabic alphabet along with the Thai consonants. Really goes to show just how different other languages can be and just why students from other language could really struggle with learning English. It also talked about how English Language Learners actually go through the same spelling stages and English speaking students, it may just take them a little longer to go through each stage. But with enough effort from both the student and their teachers, the students should eventually get to the last stage just like English speaking students do. Then of course the chapter went on to discuss how to informally and formally assess students and have great examples of intervention strategies.
Chapter 12 was titled spelling. It began with spelling instruction, the developmental stages of spelling, instructional practices for each spelling stage, and instructional practices for English learner's stages of spelling development. After that patterns of English spelling was discussed and compariosons between English and Spanish spelling patterns. I really liked this section, as I think it is important for us to understand the relationship between English and Spanish spelling patterns. The chapter then went in to the activities, which I really enjoyed the magnetic letters activity. I used this with my own children growing up and they really enjoyed it and I think the benefit of using it was huge.
ReplyDeletethanks,
Julie Copeland
I also found it very interesting to see the comparisons between the Spanish and English language. It will really come in handy if I am ever put in that spot. Thanks for sharing!
DeleteI believe that the focus on spelling in most classrooms is backwards. Students are given lists to memorize and reproduce but how are those words selected? Are they selected based on what the students are reading about and learning about or just a set list that someone deemed that students should know.
ReplyDeleteI sat with the kids I was tutoring and went over their spelling lists with them. I asked them to tell me what each word meant and for the most part they had no clue. Because they didn't know what the word meant, they had no idea how to use it in a sentence. If a student doesn't know what a word means or how to use it, what is the point of giving them spelling lists. I don't know how to spell words that I have not come across before in some form of learning.
The other key to teaching spelling should be to teach students about the spelling patterns and rules of letters working together. This will help them far more in spelling then simply memorizing a list of words that they will likely forget about the following week when they are given a new list to memorize. They need contextual framework to learn the words in.
I hate when I go into a classroom and the teacher is pushing lists onto the students to memorize and to learn!! I think when teaching spelling, it is important to teach the meaning of the words and why the words are chosen for the children. Do they have any similarities? I also believe that there is no point at all for a student to know how to spell the word but they do not know the meaning. When are they going to use the word if they don't know the meaning!!??
DeleteThanks for sharing!
Chapter 12 in our textbook covers, "Spelling!!" Spelling is such a fun subject to teach and this chapter offers some GREAT resources for us! Spelling is another important skill to teach and learn in order for effective writing. I like the statement in this text that says, "Good spellers' writing is personal. They learn how to spell interesting words when they encounter them in reading and when they desire to use them in writing." As an educator, I take that as a challenge. I want to teach and show my students all of the "cool" things so they want to know how to say the word and spell it. I want to teach them how to spell these words.
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter, we go through the different stages of writing: Emergent spelling, alphabetic spelling, within word pattern spelling, syllable and affixes spelling, and derivational relations spelling. We also learn the many different patterns in our English language that relate to spelling. I really like how this book relates spelling in English and in Spanish to one another. It really helps me see how to teach that if I am ever in that situation. At the end of this chapter, we are given so many great tools to use in our classroom when it comes to teaching spelling to our students.
This chapter focuses on the essential skill of spelling and its strong correlation to reading and writing. Someone else commented on this quote in their blog; it really jumped out at me too. It stated, "Good spelling instruction is 'teaching children how to spell, not what to spell.'" It's important that educators find methods that work to help children with how to spell. Memorizing doesn't work for all students, and identical spelling lists are not appropriate for all students. It's important that teachers consider individual needs within their classroom. During the various spelling stages, different aspects of spelling can be focused on, such as phonics, beginning and ending sounds, as well as patterns within words.
ReplyDeleteI know in my children's school, the teachers are using different tests for the students; they aren't giving the same one to all the kids. I can also see that my daughter's teacher is implementing spelling words which go along with their reading lessons; I love this idea of integration. They are also discovering patterns within their spelling lists.
I normally don't have trouble with spelling; I generally did not have problems with spelling in grade school either. It usually came naturally for me. However, I definitely realize it will be different for my students. It will come easier to some of them, and it will be necessary to use some creative strategies for other students. For me, it's important to keep in mind that my students are individuals. I want to use creative, hands-on activities that will reinforce how to learn to spell, not what to spell. As several of you have shared about the CAFE writing assessment, I also see this as a valuable tool. I like some of the ideas at the end of the chapter too, such as Wheel of Fortune, the Anagram activities, as well as the suggested web sites to help build spelling skills.