When I opened the book to chapter 12 and realized it was about spelling. My first thought was fabulous because in every grade, kids ask how to spell words. I remember what teachers used to tell me, sound it out and use the dictionary, so I was looking forward to what this chapter had to say. I do know that teachers use the number of letters on their fingers and help the kids sound it out instead of just spelling the word for the students.
In the beginning of the chapter, the text states that good spelling instruction is based on how to spell, not what to spell. Spelling words need to be based on a topic that has been recently covered this way the students can connect and relate to the words, the words are not to be memorized for the test but become part of their learning and apply the words throughout the lessons.
This chapter discuss the developmental stages of spelling as well as a the developmental stages of spelling for English Learners. The most important part of the chapter to me is the part that discusses good speller vs. poor speller. I love looking at these lists and comparing. This lets me know what I need to focus on when teaching spelling and make sure the students know what to do, as well as look for what the students need to change as spellers.
When I was looking at the good speller vs. poor speller list, it reminded me of "Sunday Morning" and a report I saw on this show. It was about type writers and how some people just can't give them up. One of these people was a teacher, and he had many typewriters but he had his students use them. This way they became better spellers because spell check wasn't underlining errors and automatically correcting their wrongs. So when I look at the good speller list, I can see that this teacher was on the right track because the students had to do express every one of these qualities of being a good speller while writing with a type writer.
At the very end of the chapter, there is a section based on spelling and technology. This chapter even talks about using the red lines under the words as we type the words wrong. This would be great to do by using the interactive white board to show the students all at once. What I really think is neat about this section is the ideas that come from the internet. There are so many ideas listed in this part, it makes me want to go to these sites and start making spelling activities right now.
I like the idea of the teacher using typewriters for their students to help them with spelling. The computer now lets you know right away if you spelled a word wrong. I do feel computers and word processor work is important because it will be a large part of these students lives when they get out of school. They do need to learn how to use spell check and make sure they are switching to correct words that they misspelled, but for spelling instruction the type writer is a great idea. I do believe that it is especially important now to have students use technology to spell. It is a bulk of the writing now and needs to be used early in schools, but on that note students do need to know how to spell on paper, as that form of writing will always be here.
Danielle- it is interesting that you mentioned that children in all grades need help with spelling, but what are they told? Sound it out, get a dictionary, or what I've heard over and over is "use your resources around the room." Yes, these strategies and resources are great tools, but where is actually "teaching" them to spell? I agree with you that computers now a days point out spelling, and even grammar and punctuation, when there is an error. I love the idea of using typewriters. It does force the child to self-check and edit their work. I think you can turn off the spell check, which would be an option if computers were all that were available. As teachers, we have to do something to help them because like we are learning in our lectures, technology is how children of today learn.
This is a short chapter about spelling and its importance in writing. The chapter starts off by showing the stages of writing; these are very similar to the stages of reading. When students struggle in writing it is the teachers job to find out where they struggle and help them learn to overcome this struggle. The chapter mentions how traditional spelling tests are often used, which only assesses drilling words into the students memory for the test at the end of the week. It then goes into detail about how we should assess students to find what target of instruction is needed for each student, just as is done in reading.
ELL students are also grouped into the same spelling stages as native learners. These students may struggle at the beginning due to the difference in their alphabet compared to the English alphabet. Specific instruction through each stage of writing will help these students also as it does with native speakers.
I enjoyed this chapter and understand how spelling can be important. It does seem that most of the spelling tests are still the weekly drill and test type of assessments. I remember Dr. Walizer speaking about a different type of spelling assessment, I can't recall the name, that is not just the drilling of the same words for all studenets. The assessment she spoke of was targeted for each individual student and words they struggle with. The tests she spoke of did have words for all students as with traditional tests, but also added words that each student needed help with. I think this is a great way to help students, especially if a teacher is stuck with teaching the traditional way if curriculum makes them.
In tutoring my students wrote in journals at least once a week and I got to see different stages of writing. Two students are at least at the syllable and affixes stage, but one student in particular could use help with with writing, being in the within word pattern stage of spelling. All of these students could use help in spelling, unfortunately there just was not enough time in our sessions to do this. I am curious to know if they use any types of writing assessments and intervention in their classes. Another good chapter with good intervention ideas.
Ryan, I think it is also interesting how teachers do not always seem to focus on their students – hand writing. I know it’s not spelling but I really am surprised that their handwriting skills are ‘slacker’ even in the 3rd grade. As for spelling words it is also astonishing to realize and see how many words students are expected to learn in Kindergarten. Their little brains are sponges and in fact absorb so much, but there are also a variety of different stages and ability per student. Something that the teacher has to also focus on.
Ryan, I have also noticed that there is little focus on handwriting in the schools that I have been in over the last two years. More focus is put on comprehension then any other L.A area. I think that this will become an issue as the students get older and have difficulties writing legibly in their classes or on job applications. We need to focus in on all areas of L.A not just the tested areas.
Writing, just like reading, was not my forte growing up. My spelling words were taught to me by giving me a list on Monday and taking a test on Friday. Just as this chapter explains, this is not an effective way to teach spelling. Simply memorizing the words does not teach you the spelling and sounds of the letters. Spelling to me is a difficult thing to teach only because it seems that there are so many students at different levels you have to adapt your lesson to or focus on. This chapter did give great assessment strategies and activities in which to help teach your students. When a child is growing up they go through several different stages of spelling: Emergent spelling stage, Alphabetic spelling stage, Within word pattern spelling stage, syllable and affixes spelling stage, and Derivational relations spelling stage. These stages are only half of some of the instructional stages mentioned in this chapter. Over all, this chapter reminded me just how important it is to remember that teaching spelling is critical to a student’s future success in writing and reading. Just asking them to memorize their words without direction or correlating it to their personal experience or within games, is not necessarily going to work as effective. At this point I have no questions. Depending on what grade level I get, but if I get 2nd grade or below I will ‘label’ things around the room with index cards (words). This is an effective way to have students see the word and picture what it is. I really like signs, posters, and getting students involved with their learning. Interactive technology games will be a great way of also teaching my students their words and getting them involved with creative ways of learning: writing stories using ten of their spelling words, drawing a picture that reflects the meaning of many of their words. The list can go on and the creative bone can grow and grow!!
I agree, when I think about when I was a kid the teacher gave us a list to memorize for the test on Friday and never mentioned the spelling list until the test! I always flunked spelling tests! I never studied, because I though it was boring. I do like your idea of labeling things around the room with the word to provide a picture for the word. This would also be great for ESOL students too!
Jennifer- I agree that just by memorizing the words does not teach you to be a speller. It's a vicious cycle: if you are not taught to spell correctly, it affects your writing. If your writing is affected, then it interferes with your reading. I thought the activities were great ideas to incorporate in lesson plans as well as give to parents that ask for some ways they can help their child at home with spelling. I will definitely be keeping this book in my classroom not only as a resource for myself, but also for my student's parents.
I love the quote on page 323 where Hughes and Searle suggest that students begin to spell correctly when they “care about what they are writing and about how their ideas are received by readers…Good spellers see the link between spelling and the role of the audience.” Good spellers’ writing is personal. Good spelling instruction is “teaching children how to spell, not what to spell.” On page 324 we read that it isn’t beneficial for students to memorize the rules and the few words that fit that rule, but instead to teach students to look for patterns within words. I also like the suggestion on page 327 where DeVries says, “After reading a book together, play “I spy” and ask students to point to words that end with ing or ed.” One assessment that was suggested strongly is giving students a CAFÉ sheet to see how many words they can write correctly. The word searches, anagrams and anagrams with Alphabet Cereal are fun ideas. This chapter contradicted a little bit with what we learned in Reading and Language Arts Methods. We were encouraged to have students write the words many times, but this chapter says that it is more about looking for patterns within words. The reading this week made me think of other ways I could make spelling relevant to my students. If I can have students use new words for writing about their lives it will stick and help those that struggle the most. I think encouraging students to use spell-checkers is a wonderful idea and will give students confidence and will allow their voices to be heard in their writing while building vocabulary and improving their spelling in a positive way.
Patti, I also noticed the contradiction to the "spelling without a speller" activities that Dr. Walizer taught us. However, even that method is far better from what I have seen in my internships. Last year in first grade, my kids were given a new list of words on Thursday and they never saw the list again until the test the following Thursday!
I was intrigued by the CAFE sheet, but also confused. What do we do with it after the student finishes? It says,"After you analyze the completed sheets, you will learn what students know about synonyms, antonyms, word families...." How? How will we know that? I was a little lost.
I totally agree students should be taught the process of spelling. I have always been an excellent speller. I always assumed that it was because I was a good memorizer, but when I really think about it I do think I was very good at remembering patterns, not whole words.
Before reading this chapter, I had an assumption that people who are avid readers are good spellers, and people who struggle with reading tend to be poor spellers. While this can be true, it is far from consistent. The textbook described some traits of good and poor spellers on p. 332, and number 2 states that poor spellers may be good or poor readers. The ability to see patterns in words and memorizing words are more important indicators of spelling ability. The developmental stages of spelling seem very similar to the stages of writing that we learned about last week. I do think it helps to know which stage a student is in, if only to have realistic expectations of what they can do. I intern in a third grade class and I have been absolutely appalled by their spelling! It is hard for me to determine the stage they are in. I have noticed them spelling the word “feel” as “feile.” It looks as if they have knowledge of the “bossy E” and have been taught about vowel digraphs but perhaps just need more in depth instruction, or are not at the right stage. I have to be totally honest – I’m still not exactly sure how to teach spelling after reading this chapter. I do understand that I should be teaching kids how to spell, not what to spell. I also understand the importance of teaching the five word solving strategies (sound, vision, meaning, analogies, and inquiry) but the textbook didn’t really go into detailed instruction about them. I found that the intervention strategies helped understand a few things to do, but I don’t really know in what order to do them with and to who and how often.
1. Analysis of the reading/issue. 2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue. 3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently? 4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
Our DeVries reading this week was Chapter 12 and covered Spelling. In the opening of the chapter we see how reading, writing, and spelling are tied together. Effective readers can be poor spellers, so just because a child is a good reader does not automatically mean they will be a good speller. In turn, spelling is an important skill needed for good writing. Our book notes that for good spelling instruction, the child needs to be “taught” how to spell, not just what to spell. I just remember when I was in school it was literally about memorization of the word list during the week and then regurgitating that on the spelling test at the end of the week. I do not remember being taught how to actually spell. The book also mentions that when classes do spelling tests, often there is no thought to the individual child’s need. A group list is given and everyone has the same list of words. Our book solidifies what I learned from Dr. Walizer in RLA Methods: there is a spelling list for everyone. A spelling list should be tailored and specific to each child, not just a generated group list. Just because a group list is not used doesn’t mean teachers should still just give out individual lists and be done with spelling. It is important that they still step in and give direct and explicit spelling instruction when and where it is needed for each child. Our reading this week went into definition of the different spelling stages. The emergent spelling stage is when young children begin to make scribbles on paper and make letter-like shapes. The alphabetic spelling stage is when the student begins to be aware of initial sounds of words. Within word pattern spelling stage is when the teacher must help the child become aware of patterns within words. This is where I was with my tutoring students this past eight weeks. They came to me wanting to sound out each and every letter in the words and I began to make them see patterns in words where only the beginning sound changed and the ending sound stayed the same. The syllable and affixes spelling stage is when the goal of spelling instruction is to help the student see the hunks and chunks of words within the word they are working on and to recognize prefixes and suffixes of words. This is also what I worked on with my tutoring students to help them decipher unknown words they encountered. At the derivational relations spelling stage the student is spelling most of their words correctly. The chapter also discussed more complex patterns of English spelling and this went along with an earlier chapter we read that discussed how hard it is for ESOL students because we have different sounds that other languages do not have. If they are not native to saying these sounds, it is hard for their mouths to make the formations needed for these sounds. To plan appropriate spelling instruction, it is important to do assessments like spelling inventories , word writing assessments, and checklists.
I also, do not remember being taught how to spell. I would memorize the words just for the test on Friday. Then I would forget how to spell that word in the long run.
I too recall getting a lot of great information from Dr. Walizer in RLA Methods about spelling instruction. Not only did she provide great points about individualized spelling lists, but she also gave a great list of activities that the students can complete throughout the week to practice their words. I felt so passionate about spelling instruction after her section on spelling and now this chapter really reinforced those beliefs. Great summary of the chapter too, LeAnn!
Chapter 12 was about spelling instruction. This chapter listed the developmental stages of spelling. These include, emergent spelling stage, alphabetic spelling stage, within word pattern spelling stage, syllable and affixes spelling stage and derivation relations spelling stage. It also listed stages of spelling for English Language learners. These stages include; emergent stage, letter name stage, within word pattern stage, syllable and affixes stage, and derivation relations stage. I did not have any questions about this chapter. I feel it did a good job addressing ELL students in spelling. One way that this chapter made me look different was the when I looked at figure 12.6. Figure 12.6 showed the letter/phonemes for Spanish. I have never seen Spanish phonemes and what letters can it represent. In the past I have worked as an ELL paraprofessional. My ELL students had a hard time spelling sometimes. This was because it was hard for them because they had to think of the letter in Spanish, then translate it into English and then figure out what letter went with the sound they heard.
Rashawna, I really like how you mentioned the Spanish breakdown of the phonemes. This was the first textbook that I have used that approached it like that. I think that the only time someone would typically get that information would be when learning the Spanish language. Ricky
The information in Chapter 12 was all about spelling and the best ways to determine which students are good spellers and the stages of spelling. Some of the parts that I found most interesting were all the different stage of development. I think what was intriguing was how there were so many different versions of the stages. It shows the progression of education and how it s always changing. I also thought that the assessment tools were really helpful. They gave what would look like an accurate guide to determining a students effectiveness at spelling. As always this chapter gave some great activities to aide in development of spelling. I really thought that these games looked like they were really fun for the students to play. I found this chapter ironic as my niece recently told me that she has an A+ in spelling at school. She also said that she is a tutor to an autistic peer in her class. All of this in 1st grade. It is not a surprise that she is a great reader reading far above her grade level. This show the direct connection between her ability to spell, read words, and read in general.
This chapter of the Dervrise text looks at spelling and its impact on the student’s ability to write. I was surprised when reading the text that just being a good reader does not mean you would be a good speller. I guess I was misleading by the fact that I assumed that if you knew the reading rules you could figure out the spelling rules. I was so wrong. They are two completely different areas to master. I am surprised at how little focus I am seeing in the schools I have been in on spelling. Most of them have had a weekly spelling test but there is no real classroom focus on learning the words together. I am also surprised at how many words they have in 4th grade and the difficulty of them. The kids in my classroom almost never get all of the words write and I think that this gets them frustrated and then they don’t try as hard. I do not think that a teacher should grade a student’s writing ability on their spelling ability. That student should be writing a draft and then the teacher can give them the corrected spellings for the words they missed so they can fix it for their final draft. I only think they should be counted wrong for misspellings if they do not fix them in their final draft after being shown the correct spelling. The student should feel free to express themselves when writing without feeling like they have to narrow their vocabulary down to the words they can spell. This chapter really helped us understand the reading/spelling/writing connections as well as how they are different and therefore should be taught differently.
I too was surprised that you can be a poor reader and still spell well. I too only see students in the school write their spelling words once a day and no real work is being done with them or even having the word correlate with other areas of instruction.
The text states that the traditional technique is to assign words on Monday and test the students on Friday. The words that the teachers assign are words that most of the times do not connect to other subject areas. Students will write the word several times trying to memorize them. Using this technique is not effective in long term; students only memorize them for the test. The text also list stages of spelling for many different types of theories. For the Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton and Johnston’s stages the beginning stage is for emergent spellers. Emergent spellers make scribbles or letter-like shapes and know to write left to right. The next stage, alphabetic stage, students know that letters have initial sounds. Word within word pattern stage is where long vowels are correctly spelled but students may confuse long vowel digraphs. Syllables and Affixes stage uses inflectional endings correctly. Derivational Relations spells polysyllabic words correctly. I feel that this chapter really gave me an insight as to the breakdown of how spelling works. I have seen so many times, as with my son’s teacher now, where all 21 students get the same spelling words each Monday and are tested on Friday. At home we take pre-test every night to see which words he knows and which ones that we need to concentrate on. The ones he needs help with we write, say and spell them. We use them in sentences. I take them and put them in small phrases for him to visually see them with other text. We also review what sounds we hear at the beginning, middle and end of the word. I feel that this really gives him more to work with than just writing them like he does at school.
I have seem some of the teachers at the school I am use the technique of assigning words on Monday and then testing on Friday. I don't know that I agree or disagree but I think that depending on the words you could probably give them a few days to practice writing them and learning what they are.
This week's chapter was all about spelling. I have learned a lot about spelling instruction over the past year through my classes at Fort Hays. I have seen so many teachers using the traditional spelling instruction from the book with introduction of words on Monday and test on Friday. This chapter discusses the benefits of having an individualized spelling list and instruction for each student based on their needs and current knowledge. The chapter also discusses the different stages of spelling from Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton and Johnston, which are emergent, alphabetic, within word pattern, syllables and affixes and derivational relations. With these stages the text offers ideas on how to instruct students within those various stages. In addition, the chapter talks about how good spellers need to understand orthography, or letters and their sequence in words. These spellers can learn unknown words through sound (phonemic strategy), vision (visual strategy), meaning (morphemic strategy), analogies (linking strategy) and inquiry (dictionary usage). This strategy is about learning how written language is organized and written and not about memorizing how words are spelling. Teachers should try to get students to recognize patterns in words and help them learn these patterns. Lastly, the chapter provided some assessment and activity ideas for assessing a student's current knowledge and skill-building activities to build their knowledge. One of the assessment procedures the chapter discussed in the beginning and end was a CAFE (Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency Evaluation) assessment in which the student is timed and fills in boxes with any words that they want.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
I did not really have any questions about this week's chapter. I was already a believer in the individualized spelling plans, so the information made a lot of sense to me.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
As I mentioned, I am already in favor of this type of spelling instruction. Having time to complete this for each student is where I was having some concern, but with the mention of assessments and activities in this chapter I feel more comfortable with it now.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
I have noticed working at a school that many of the teachers use the spelling lists that accompany the story that they are reading in their basal reading series. While I see that the words are at grade level for them and they are being subjected to them that week, I feel this method is strictly for memorizing how to spell words. I like the idea of each student having a list that is special to them that meets their needs. I think the confidence and usage of the new words will benefit them in so many subject areas, especially their reading and writing.
I can remember Dr. Walizer stressing the importance of an individualized spelling list for students. When I was in school this never happened, but I am seeing it in the classroom where I work as a Para educator during reading time. I loved reading and visually seeing the different stages of spelling. It was neat to see how a child's mind works at different stages and ages of their life. I think that spelling is much like writing, a teacher should always make time for that instruction in her classroom. Like the books discusses, reading, writing, and spelling are all linked together. In the classroom where I work I notice that the teacher takes the time to work on spelling words and doesn't just give a list and expect them to know their words at the end of the week. This last week they had words with prefixes and suffixes and she took the time to help them learn the prefixes and suffixes within those words and what they mean, and also to focus on the spelling of the root word. I agree with you that it really is beneficial to the students to create individualized spelling lists that meet the needs of each student.
I loved this chapter reading, as spelling was always one of my favorite areas when I was in school. This chapter was very interesting and gave some great informal assessment ideas for teachers, intervention strategies for teachers to use with students, and some wonderful spelling activities to use within the classroom. Like the book states reading, spelling, and writing are all linked together. I am not saying that in order to be good in one area you have to be good in all. However, it has been my experience that good writing skills result in those students that are also advanced in spelling. I will say though that I have seen students that are great readers and lack in the spelling area. When I was in school I only remember being given a list of spelling words at the beginning of the week and having a test over those words at the end of the week. I also remember everyone getting the same spelling list and words. Now, the school where I work offers spelling words that help meet the needs of the students, so there are different lists within the classroom that are given every week. This was a topic that was discussed in Dr. Walizers Reading and Language Arts course. She let us know as future educators that it is important to create spelling lists that are specific for each child. The instructions that were talked about in this chapter reading were some of the things we discussed in that course as well. I thoroughly enjoyed tutoring throughout this course, because phonics was my content focus. The three boys that I have went from not sounding anything out and guessing words, to recognizing patterns and blends within words. It really is a reward within itself to see the progress that students make in just a short period of time by doing the types of activities that I did. I loved teaching them the short and long vowel blends, consonant blends, prefix and suffixes, and digraphs. It amazed me how fast they caught on once they recognized these types of blends within words. Two of my students that I worked with were ESL students. This chapter reading helped me to understand why they were missing those sounds in words. Different languages have different sounds and rules that are followed in language. I am definitely going to incorporate many of the activities and informal assessments in my classroom.
Charelle, I also had the same experience with spelling as an elementary student. The whole class was given the same spelling word list on Monday and we took the test on Friday. I don't remember if there was any significance in the words, such as being tied to a subject or book we were reading. I always did well at spelling and loved it as a kid. I had one tutoring student who was not a good speller and she hates to write. I had a slight "aha" moment reading this chapter as it discussed the link between the two. The beginning scenario also made me immediately think of my student, but I had to remind myself that there is a grade level difference between the sixth grader in the scenario and my second grader, which may make the situation different. I really like the idea of creating spelling lists to meet the needs of each student. I don't remember talking about that in RLA but it has been almost 2 years since I took the course, so thank you for that tip! Glad you saw improvements in your kiddos, sounds like a great learning experience for everyone!
Charelle, I wish I could say the same... I was not a good speller or spelling test taker. The only thing that saved me really was the fact that I could memorize for short term and that I was persistent. I was a very anxious child so tests were not my friend. I was very interested in what Dr. Walizer said about giving individual spelling tests to our students. It makes sense, I would liked to have been in her classroom to see how it was done so I can wrap my brain around it. I have seen progress in my students as well. That is why it is so important to target the area of instruction they need the most.I will be using many of the activities as well in my future classroom.
If I could be a bug on Dr. Walizers classroom for a few weeks, it would be a dream come true. When she showed the video of her classroom on parents day (or was it grandparents day) last semester I was sold, and when she showed the video of her students working on the mystery of the lost item she became an idol.
Chapter 12 was about Spelling. The beginning of the chapter discusses Spelling Instruction which is basically different ways to teach spelling and the different spelling stages. I honestly did not know that there were different spelling stages until I read this chapter. I know I have heard lately since being in the schools that spelling and spelling tests are becoming less and less important. Figure 12.2 shows the different developmental spelling stages and then figure 12.3 shows graphic examples of the different spelling stages. The informal assessment section of the text talks about how to assess the students skill of spelling and the inventories to do. The text gives examples of café a word writing assessment, checklists to do, and formal assessments to give to the students. I really liked the activity on the strategies and activities section that was about Magnetic Letters. We did a version of this in one of my internships that I thought was a great way to have the students work together and then also you can do it as a whole class activity. Figure 12.10 shows a word search and I have always wondered how early is too early to introduce word searches or games like unscramble the word. I don’t want to introduce those and then overwhelm the kids. An activity I do with my students in our tutoring sessions is when we are learning a new word we spell the word and then we say it. We usually try to do a fun movement activity while doing that. I think it helps the students to learn each letter and how they work together to form that word.
I really like the magnetic letters activity as well. This is one that I 'kind of' already do with my son Logan. We have the letters on our fridge like half of the families that have kids. Logan and I will spell words that are familiar to him: Logan, mom, dad, at, the, dog, bird, stop, etc... We have started building other words too. He now knows that m is the w upside down and can make wow and that there are many little words within them when you just use the letter (big, he, pod, log, and, them....) I have never thought of this as an activity that we could do with older students but I'm glad to know it is one we can continue because Logan loves it.
During my tutoring sessions I had my 1st grade students unscramble vocabulary words. I had the students break into pairs and work together to unscramble the word. I also had the vocabulary words posted up on the bulltein board to help them out. I also had the students Play Roll and Spell where they tossed a dice and depending on what number they rolled it would dictate what color to write out the word with or different ways to write it out. The students really enjoyed doing these activities.
This chapter did a very good job at giving me ideas and activities to help students with spelling tasks, as well as explain what students need. Like the chapter mentioned, teachers can get stuck in a rut when it comes to teaching spelling. I grew up having the weekly spelling words and tests and I have seen current students be in the same situation. I just assumed it was still the norm but didn’t really think about how ineffective that “strategy” is. The chapter also discussed the many stages of spelling, which it seems no one can agree with exactly! But as mentioned, it would be easy to adapt or generalize all the strategies into one. Just like with writing, I am fascinated by these emerging stages and love watching how children develop and evolve their skills. Every stage and example I see makes me think every kid has got to be a genius! It is just amazing what they can do and what they pick up on. There was a lot of discussion on the similarities and differences between English learners and English speaking students. The emerging stages for English learners are slightly different, but most strategies used are good for ALL students. Patterns of English spelling were also discussed and at times I still get confused by the rules. I understand the English language is complicated and many rules don’t really work across the board, so why do we continue to teach rules? I had one student who is not a very good speller and she doesn’t like to write (probably a connection there?) but during our sessions she would constantly rattle off the little jingles for general spelling rules. They obviously were not doing their job and the students would constantly ask me “why” words are spelled the way they were. I will be honest, I didn’t always have an answer for them other than the English language doesn’t always fit patterns. But after reading through the intervention strategies I was very happy to learn that I have already used some of them with my students! There were similar activities throughout the rest of this book, primarily in the phonics chapter. The only other question I had was about using word processors to help with spelling. Doesn’t that just give them the answer without really having to think about how the word is spelled? It almost seems counter intuitive to me. I understand using word processing programs as a system of spell check when you are to the point of using it to type out assignments, but to me that’s more of a keyboarding skill. I guess in other words, I think the students should be proficient spellers prior to using and relying on word processors to give them the answer.
I agree that students should have an understanding of how to spell prior to using word processing to a point. I am still struggling with what I feel but students in this generation will almost always have spell check either on their computer, iPad, or phone. I am not saying that spelling is any less important, I am a huge advocate for it, but maybe we need to rethink this and instead of fighting it, use it? I use to be against students using calculators all the time for simple calculations such as multiplication. I still think that the basic skills need to be built and utilized from time to time but incorporation is good. I think this can be the case with spelling as well. While they need to learn how to spell words, it may be a good reminder of spelling when students use processing programs and see that they are not spelling words correctly.
Chapter 12 - Spelling As someone who has always struggled with spelling I found this chapter a bit illuminating. I know that some of my struggles were due to my dyslexia and frustration with reading and writing but it was interesting to read about the developmental stages of spelling and try and figure out what part I was missing from my stages of spelling development. I think that the one thing I found to be the best reminder in this chapter was the section on good vs poor spellers. I do agree from both tutoring and from my own personal knowledge that proofreading and editing is a very important step. I have recently started making rough drafts of my work and then going back to edit my work after the rough draft. I am actually planning on working with my students for the remainder of the semester and there were some activities that I feel will be helpful and fun in working with them. I particularly liked the word searches and the mnemonic aids. I plan to do the wheel of fortune game with them as it seems fun! One question about this chapter was about the CAFE assessment. I was curious if this was something that we could do easily with our students. We did not do any sort of spelling assessment with them and I wonder why that is. I know that both of my students have a hard time with spelling and are still using imaginary spellings (or as this chapter calls is, within word patterns spelling stage) in 5th grade.
Jessica, I think it's great that you are going to continue to work with your students. One thing that I can remember from my childhood with spelling is that we were always writing our spelling words 10 times each every week which was fine for the time being however, it only allowed us to remember those words for that week. After taking reading and language arts I think it is so very important to teach the students phonograms and how they work in words. I think this would really lead children into spelling for knowledge.
Chapter 12 was all about spelling. The book states that "spelling instruction is teaching children how to spell, not what to spell." There are several stages to the development of spelling. First is the emergent-spelling stage where children make scribbles or letter-like shapes, then there is the alphabetic spelling stage where students are aware of the intiial sound of words. Next you have the within word pattern spelling stage where a teacher must help students discover patterns within the words. Then there is the syllable and affixes spelling stage where your goal as an education is to help students recognize chunks within words, or prefixes, suffixes, and root words and help them spell them. Finally there is the derivational relations spelling stage where students at this stage now spell most words correctly so encourage them to scan each others papers for errors. I really enjoyed reading about how to assess students' spelling stages on page 332 of the text. I really liked the CAFE word writing assessment because it measures student's ability to write as many words corrects in a given amount of time. This allows you to check accuracy, and fluency. I've always thought that there had to be a better way to teach spelling to children rather than having them write the words over and over and over again. When I was a child I can remember writing my spelling words ten times each. However, I really like the activities in the back of the chapter that discussed different ways for students to practice their words like magnetic letters, foam board letters, word searches, and wheel of fortune.
The first thing that caught my attention was the statement, “…it is not beneficial for students to memorize the rules and the few words that fit the rules…instead, they need to be taught to look for patterns within the words” (page 324). What does this mean exactly? The very next page they are talking about the “rules” being on the walls of your classroom. However, as I read on I realized it is important that they recognize the word patterns such as suffixes and prefixes, consonant blends, vowel diagraphs, diphthongs, and controlled- r sounds, not just simply memorizing the rules! As I read on it discusses so many more patterns and complexities that I thought to myself no wonder so many children struggle with reading and spelling. I agree with the text that as teachers we need to understand the stages of spelling so that we can teach more effectively. I wished that my teachers that I had when I was growing up had this information. Sound boxes and Spelling in Parts (SIP) are some great tools to use. My favorite is probably The Internet. I think students today have so many more tools to help them grasp the concept of spelling. I like the idea of grouping students with the same needs after assessing them. I have used the magnetic letters for at, an, etc. word families for onset and rime practice. The students really enjoy changing out letters to create new words.
Chapter 12 is all about spelling. Spelling is an important skill to have when writing but a reader can be a poor speller and still be an effective reader. Where I was in grade school we were given a weekly list of words that we had to write out the definitions, use it in a sentence then correctly spell the word for the spelling test. The text states that these types of activities do not necessarily help a student to really understand or use these words when they write. It is important to give the students meaningful activities to go along with spelling and to teach students how to spell instead of teaching them what to spell. This chapter discusses the different stages of spelling. As a teacher you need to be aware of which spelling stage your student is at when planning activities. This chapter also offers some good strategies and activities to use with students. I have always loved playing Wheel of fortune type games and I think that would definitely be a fun way for students to work on spelling. Hangman was a game that we played quite a bit when I was in grade school that seemed that most students liked to play. I noticed that at the store that they have Scrabble Cheese -Its that you could use to have students break into groups and play Scrabble with, then have as a snack afterwards.
I find it interesting that you used to have to write out definitions and so on. I can remember doing similar activities to those that you mentioned. I am not sure if it actually helped me, but we did it. I have heard that it does not help to have students copy words and definitions from the dictionary. I think that there are way better and more exciting ways to teach words/definitions than simply having your students copy words and definitions from a dictionary. Like you mentioned, it is important to give students meaningful activities when teaching them. This will get them more excited and wanting to learn about what you are teaching them.
Chapter 12 reminded me of how complex the English language is. When learning Spanish, this difference was very apparent. As ebonics and other dialects enter the everyday language of many students in the United States, simple rules do not describe the spelling of many words as stated in the chapter. This is especially difficult for ESOL students. As the chapter points out, there are several similarities between the English and Spanish language. There are also huge differences. In my opinion, the more children are hearing a large vocabulary and being exposed to vocabulary through reading, the better spellers they will become. I wonder though, the best way to go about this with ESOL students. If they are unable to read many words in English, how can they become familiar with spelling patterns and sounds. It is important that students become word solvers to be able to decode words they are not familiar with. The students in my tutoring sessions both struggled with this. Our content focus was vocabulary, so spelling and decoding words went along with this. I was very pleased at how much both of the students have improved in this area. They are better at sounding the words out, visually breaking them apart, inquiring about the word in a dictionary, and linking the meaning to other words. In the book, it tells students to look for word patterns with consonant blends, vowel digraphs, diphthongs, au, and controlled-r sounds. Using their finger, the students were able to break apart the sounds in each word before putting them together to figure out the word. Analogies is something we really focused on though. In order to help students link meaning of one word to another, the students learned about synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and homographs. These are all words that students need to be able to identify to be able to solve words.
I forgot to add that there are many sites that have spelling games that students really enjoy! wordcentral.com is a website from Merriam-Webster. One game has students listen to a word and then drag letters until they can lock them in to spell the word correctly. This game really helped the students I tutored and they wanted to continue playing the game after our tutoring session was over!
Chapter 12 is about spelling. Spelling instruction should teach student "how to spell" and not "what to spell". The traditional methods of teaching students to spell, using assigned spelling lists, does not challenge good spellers and poor spellers simply memorize the words for the test. The five basic spelling stages are emergent spelling, alphabetic spelling, within word pattern spelling, syllable and affixes spelling and derivational spelling. When working with English Language learners, it is beneficial to point out how the English alphabet is similar and different from their first language alphabet. Some languages share most of the same letters with the English alphabet. Orthography is the letters and their sequence in words. Good spelling instruction helps students increase their understanding of English language orthography and provides them with more strategies to use when spelling unknown words. The aim of spelling instruction is to make students "word solvers". As "word solvers", students can learn unknown words through sound (phonemic strategies), vision (visual strategies), meaning (morphemic strategies), analogies (linking strategies) and inquiry (dictionary usage). Using these strategies is more beneficial to students then memorizing the traditional spelling lists. Instead of the traditional spelling lists, teachers can use spelling inventories, CAFE word writing assessments and checklists to identify areas where students need assistance in identifying word patterns. Groups of student with similar needs can be grouped together and helped with specific problems.
The only question I have is why teachers continue to assign spelling lists when this has been shown to be ineffective at teachign spelling? I recently taught 6th grade language arts for a week. On Friday the students were given a list of 7 words and thier definition. The following Friday, the students were given a spelling and vocabulary test. They had to spell the words on one sheet. On another sheet, the students were given the definitions and had to write the word to match the definition and a sentence using the word. The words did not seem to be related to anything that the class was reading or any other assisnments. I believe that I had heard that the intent was to increase student vocabulary. Another example of lists and testing on memorization (and that was if the students studied!)
I thought you provided a strong point on what types of spelling words need to be provided to challenge students. I find that with my own daughter she has only a few challenge words added to her list, the rest are from a spelling book. I think the spelling question you had can answered in two ways either the school administrators chose the spelling book and technique and the teachers have to follow this or the teacher is choosing to teach students spelling in the example you provided.
Chapter 12 Blog Zoë Greenemeyer The chapter starts off by stating that students begin to spell correctly when they care about what they are writing and about how their ideas are received by readers. Good spellers writing are personal. Good instruction in spelling teachers the students how to spell, not what to spell. The beginning of this chapter reminded me of the information presented in Dr. Walizer’s course. Spelling words on weekly tests should be meaningful to the individual student. The developmental stages of spelling include the emergent stage, alphabetic stage, written word pattern stage, syllable and affixes stage, and derivational relations stage. The girls I am tutoring are at the syllable and affixes stage. In tutoring both girls enjoy writing on the individual dry erase boards and I will give them a word family and they write as many words as they can using the word family. The patterns of English spelling can be orthographic or complex. The text suggests that good spellers understand orthography. One of the activities at the end of the book was a word search. I have just introduced my daughter to word searches and will often create them for her spelling words and key vocabulary.
Chapter twelve was over spelling. Spelling is an important skill for writing. Goods spellers see the link between spelling and the role of the audience. Often, good spellers are skilled readers and they are committed writers who have found how to write. I like the fact that the book mentioned that “teaching children how to spell, not what to spell” is good spelling instruction. I feel like my teachers taught me how to spell. I am familiar with the traditional method of giving out spelling words on Mondays and testing them on Fridays. The book mentioned that in many classes, students often have all of the same words. I think way too many teachers do this! In Reading and Language Arts, Dr. Walizer stressed to us to have each student have their own words. If you think about it, all teachers should do this! This is the only way to ensure both good and bad spellers be challenged with words at their level. One thing I was unaware of from the reading was all of the different developmental stages there were to spelling. This really opened my eyes to see how students learn to spell and how they scaffold up to become good spellers. As we all know, it takes quite a while. It really got me thinking about the “spelling bee” that we see on television every year. These kids, some extremely young, are better at spelling than most adults. How do they jump stages so quickly when most students take longer? I really enjoyed reading the section that discussed good versus bad spellers. Basically, good writers understand the writing process and have many of the traits that were mentioned on page 332. However, bad spellers are basically the exact opposite. I found it interesting to think about good readers being bad spellers. After reading through that, I thought about my own experiences. I have always been an above average speller but have struggled with reading at times.
I was also unaware that there were developmental stages of spelling! I also agree that is it important for use to teach the student how to spell, not what to spell.
This chapter addressed the importance of teaching spelling. I am aware of the importance of spelling instruction, but am confused at the way to go about teaching it. I appreciated the statement in the text that stated that there is not a list for everyone. The spelling stage helped me with a guideline on where to start and where to go. It was interesting to me that if the student can’t spell, the student can’t read. I never really thought of this as an issue, but after reading it I have really thought about it! As a teacher, I want to be able to make time to teach spelling. I think that if I teach a short spelling lesson even if it is only 10 minutes each day, my students will be much better off. This chapter was a real eye opener, I feel like spelling is another subject that is getting swept under the rug.
Michelle, I agree with you I think that is very important for teachers to remember that is the student does need to learn how to spell in order to read. They really do go hand in hand with each other. When students just guess a word from context clues they are not really reading the word so having them practice spelling words would make the students can actually read the word.
Chapter twelve of the textbook Literacy Assessment & Intervention by B. Devries discusses spelling and its importance. According to the textbook there are several stages that a student goes through these stages include emergent spelling stage, alphabetic spelling stage, within word pattern stage, syllable and affixes spelling stage and derivational relations spelling stage” (324- 327). They textbook mentions that there are many spelling patterns that people must follow when they are learning about spelling. This is very important because when it comes to spelling there are no exact rules that people must follow there are just tricks that students can be thought to help them understand what words are spelled which way.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue. None at this time.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
I have always had a difficult time with spelling but this chapter of the textbook has made me think about the different patterns that I can teach my students to help them understand. I really did like the checklist for spelling standards. This is defiantly something that I can use in my own classroom. I also liked the activities and games section of the textbook to get the students excited about spelling.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
I really like games that students can play to connect them with spelling. I like to play sparkle with the students. In this game the group of students is given a word and then they have to spell out the word one letter at a time. When the students are done spelling the words then they say sparkle and the next person is out. Students love this game and they forget they are even learning their new spelling words. Songs are also a great way to integrate spelling as well. I still remember a song that I saw on an episode of Charlie Brown once “I before E except after C”. I still remember that I think this idea is great for teachers to incorporate into the classroom.
When I opened the book to chapter 12 and realized it was about spelling. My first thought was fabulous because in every grade, kids ask how to spell words. I remember what teachers used to tell me, sound it out and use the dictionary, so I was looking forward to what this chapter had to say. I do know that teachers use the number of letters on their fingers and help the kids sound it out instead of just spelling the word for the students.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the chapter, the text states that good spelling instruction is based on how to spell, not what to spell. Spelling words need to be based on a topic that has been recently covered this way the students can connect and relate to the words, the words are not to be memorized for the test but become part of their learning and apply the words throughout the lessons.
This chapter discuss the developmental stages of spelling as well as a the developmental stages of spelling for English Learners. The most important part of the chapter to me is the part that discusses good speller vs. poor speller. I love looking at these lists and comparing. This lets me know what I need to focus on when teaching spelling and make sure the students know what to do, as well as look for what the students need to change as spellers.
When I was looking at the good speller vs. poor speller list, it reminded me of "Sunday Morning" and a report I saw on this show. It was about type writers and how some people just can't give them up. One of these people was a teacher, and he had many typewriters but he had his students use them. This way they became better spellers because spell check wasn't underlining errors and automatically correcting their wrongs. So when I look at the good speller list, I can see that this teacher was on the right track because the students had to do express every one of these qualities of being a good speller while writing with a type writer.
At the very end of the chapter, there is a section based on spelling and technology. This chapter even talks about using the red lines under the words as we type the words wrong. This would be great to do by using the interactive white board to show the students all at once. What I really think is neat about this section is the ideas that come from the internet. There are so many ideas listed in this part, it makes me want to go to these sites and start making spelling activities right now.
I like the idea of the teacher using typewriters for their students to help them with spelling. The computer now lets you know right away if you spelled a word wrong. I do feel computers and word processor work is important because it will be a large part of these students lives when they get out of school. They do need to learn how to use spell check and make sure they are switching to correct words that they misspelled, but for spelling instruction the type writer is a great idea. I do believe that it is especially important now to have students use technology to spell. It is a bulk of the writing now and needs to be used early in schools, but on that note students do need to know how to spell on paper, as that form of writing will always be here.
DeleteDanielle- it is interesting that you mentioned that children in all grades need help with spelling, but what are they told? Sound it out, get a dictionary, or what I've heard over and over is "use your resources around the room." Yes, these strategies and resources are great tools, but where is actually "teaching" them to spell? I agree with you that computers now a days point out spelling, and even grammar and punctuation, when there is an error. I love the idea of using typewriters. It does force the child to self-check and edit their work. I think you can turn off the spell check, which would be an option if computers were all that were available. As teachers, we have to do something to help them because like we are learning in our lectures, technology is how children of today learn.
DeleteThis is a short chapter about spelling and its importance in writing. The chapter starts off by showing the stages of writing; these are very similar to the stages of reading. When students struggle in writing it is the teachers job to find out where they struggle and help them learn to overcome this struggle. The chapter mentions how traditional spelling tests are often used, which only assesses drilling words into the students memory for the test at the end of the week. It then goes into detail about how we should assess students to find what target of instruction is needed for each student, just as is done in reading.
ReplyDeleteELL students are also grouped into the same spelling stages as native learners. These students may struggle at the beginning due to the difference in their alphabet compared to the English alphabet. Specific instruction through each stage of writing will help these students also as it does with native speakers.
I enjoyed this chapter and understand how spelling can be important. It does seem that most of the spelling tests are still the weekly drill and test type of assessments. I remember Dr. Walizer speaking about a different type of spelling assessment, I can't recall the name, that is not just the drilling of the same words for all studenets. The assessment she spoke of was targeted for each individual student and words they struggle with. The tests she spoke of did have words for all students as with traditional tests, but also added words that each student needed help with. I think this is a great way to help students, especially if a teacher is stuck with teaching the traditional way if curriculum makes them.
In tutoring my students wrote in journals at least once a week and I got to see different stages of writing. Two students are at least at the syllable and affixes stage, but one student in particular could use help with with writing, being in the within word pattern stage of spelling. All of these students could use help in spelling, unfortunately there just was not enough time in our sessions to do this. I am curious to know if they use any types of writing assessments and intervention in their classes. Another good chapter with good intervention ideas.
Ryan, I think it is also interesting how teachers do not always seem to focus on their students – hand writing. I know it’s not spelling but I really am surprised that their handwriting skills are ‘slacker’ even in the 3rd grade. As for spelling words it is also astonishing to realize and see how many words students are expected to learn in Kindergarten. Their little brains are sponges and in fact absorb so much, but there are also a variety of different stages and ability per student. Something that the teacher has to also focus on.
DeleteRyan, I have also noticed that there is little focus on handwriting in the schools that I have been in over the last two years. More focus is put on comprehension then any other L.A area. I think that this will become an issue as the students get older and have difficulties writing legibly in their classes or on job applications. We need to focus in on all areas of L.A not just the tested areas.
DeleteWriting, just like reading, was not my forte growing up. My spelling words were taught to me by giving me a list on Monday and taking a test on Friday. Just as this chapter explains, this is not an effective way to teach spelling. Simply memorizing the words does not teach you the spelling and sounds of the letters. Spelling to me is a difficult thing to teach only because it seems that there are so many students at different levels you have to adapt your lesson to or focus on. This chapter did give great assessment strategies and activities in which to help teach your students. When a child is growing up they go through several different stages of spelling: Emergent spelling stage, Alphabetic spelling stage, Within word pattern spelling stage, syllable and affixes spelling stage, and Derivational relations spelling stage. These stages are only half of some of the instructional stages mentioned in this chapter. Over all, this chapter reminded me just how important it is to remember that teaching spelling is critical to a student’s future success in writing and reading. Just asking them to memorize their words without direction or correlating it to their personal experience or within games, is not necessarily going to work as effective.
ReplyDeleteAt this point I have no questions.
Depending on what grade level I get, but if I get 2nd grade or below I will ‘label’ things around the room with index cards (words). This is an effective way to have students see the word and picture what it is. I really like signs, posters, and getting students involved with their learning. Interactive technology games will be a great way of also teaching my students their words and getting them involved with creative ways of learning: writing stories using ten of their spelling words, drawing a picture that reflects the meaning of many of their words. The list can go on and the creative bone can grow and grow!!
I agree, when I think about when I was a kid the teacher gave us a list to memorize for the test on Friday and never mentioned the spelling list until the test! I always flunked spelling tests! I never studied, because I though it was boring. I do like your idea of labeling things around the room with the word to provide a picture for the word. This would also be great for ESOL students too!
DeleteJennifer- I agree that just by memorizing the words does not teach you to be a speller. It's a vicious cycle: if you are not taught to spell correctly, it affects your writing. If your writing is affected, then it interferes with your reading. I thought the activities were great ideas to incorporate in lesson plans as well as give to parents that ask for some ways they can help their child at home with spelling. I will definitely be keeping this book in my classroom not only as a resource for myself, but also for my student's parents.
DeleteI love the quote on page 323 where Hughes and Searle suggest that students begin to spell correctly when they “care about what they are writing and about how their ideas are received by readers…Good spellers see the link between spelling and the role of the audience.” Good spellers’ writing is personal. Good spelling instruction is “teaching children how to spell, not what to spell.” On page 324 we read that it isn’t beneficial for students to memorize the rules and the few words that fit that rule, but instead to teach students to look for patterns within words. I also like the suggestion on page 327 where DeVries says, “After reading a book together, play “I spy” and ask students to point to words that end with ing or ed.” One assessment that was suggested strongly is giving students a CAFÉ sheet to see how many words they can write correctly. The word searches, anagrams and anagrams with Alphabet Cereal are fun ideas.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter contradicted a little bit with what we learned in Reading and Language Arts Methods. We were encouraged to have students write the words many times, but this chapter says that it is more about looking for patterns within words.
The reading this week made me think of other ways I could make spelling relevant to my students. If I can have students use new words for writing about their lives it will stick and help those that struggle the most. I think encouraging students to use spell-checkers is a wonderful idea and will give students confidence and will allow their voices to be heard in their writing while building vocabulary and improving their spelling in a positive way.
Patti,
DeleteI also noticed the contradiction to the "spelling without a speller" activities that Dr. Walizer taught us. However, even that method is far better from what I have seen in my internships. Last year in first grade, my kids were given a new list of words on Thursday and they never saw the list again until the test the following Thursday!
I was intrigued by the CAFE sheet, but also confused. What do we do with it after the student finishes? It says,"After you analyze the completed sheets, you will learn what students know about synonyms, antonyms, word families...." How? How will we know that? I was a little lost.
I totally agree students should be taught the process of spelling. I have always been an excellent speller. I always assumed that it was because I was a good memorizer, but when I really think about it I do think I was very good at remembering patterns, not whole words.
Amy
Before reading this chapter, I had an assumption that people who are avid readers are good spellers, and people who struggle with reading tend to be poor spellers. While this can be true, it is far from consistent. The textbook described some traits of good and poor spellers on p. 332, and number 2 states that poor spellers may be good or poor readers. The ability to see patterns in words and memorizing words are more important indicators of spelling ability.
ReplyDeleteThe developmental stages of spelling seem very similar to the stages of writing that we learned about last week. I do think it helps to know which stage a student is in, if only to have realistic expectations of what they can do. I intern in a third grade class and I have been absolutely appalled by their spelling! It is hard for me to determine the stage they are in. I have noticed them spelling the word “feel” as “feile.” It looks as if they have knowledge of the “bossy E” and have been taught about vowel digraphs but perhaps just need more in depth instruction, or are not at the right stage.
I have to be totally honest – I’m still not exactly sure how to teach spelling after reading this chapter. I do understand that I should be teaching kids how to spell, not what to spell. I also understand the importance of teaching the five word solving strategies (sound, vision, meaning, analogies, and inquiry) but the textbook didn’t really go into detailed instruction about them. I found that the intervention strategies helped understand a few things to do, but I don’t really know in what order to do them with and to who and how often.
I am an avid reader but I am a horrible speller! I have always been horrible at spelling.
Delete1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
ReplyDelete2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
Our DeVries reading this week was Chapter 12 and covered Spelling. In the opening of the chapter we see how reading, writing, and spelling are tied together. Effective readers can be poor spellers, so just because a child is a good reader does not automatically mean they will be a good speller. In turn, spelling is an important skill needed for good writing. Our book notes that for good spelling instruction, the child needs to be “taught” how to spell, not just what to spell. I just remember when I was in school it was literally about memorization of the word list during the week and then regurgitating that on the spelling test at the end of the week. I do not remember being taught how to actually spell. The book also mentions that when classes do spelling tests, often there is no thought to the individual child’s need. A group list is given and everyone has the same list of words. Our book solidifies what I learned from Dr. Walizer in RLA Methods: there is a spelling list for everyone. A spelling list should be tailored and specific to each child, not just a generated group list. Just because a group list is not used doesn’t mean teachers should still just give out individual lists and be done with spelling. It is important that they still step in and give direct and explicit spelling instruction when and where it is needed for each child. Our reading this week went into definition of the different spelling stages. The emergent spelling stage is when young children begin to make scribbles on paper and make letter-like shapes. The alphabetic spelling stage is when the student begins to be aware of initial sounds of words. Within word pattern spelling stage is when the teacher must help the child become aware of patterns within words. This is where I was with my tutoring students this past eight weeks. They came to me wanting to sound out each and every letter in the words and I began to make them see patterns in words where only the beginning sound changed and the ending sound stayed the same. The syllable and affixes spelling stage is when the goal of spelling instruction is to help the student see the hunks and chunks of words within the word they are working on and to recognize prefixes and suffixes of words. This is also what I worked on with my tutoring students to help them decipher unknown words they encountered. At the derivational relations spelling stage the student is spelling most of their words correctly. The chapter also discussed more complex patterns of English spelling and this went along with an earlier chapter we read that discussed how hard it is for ESOL students because we have different sounds that other languages do not have. If they are not native to saying these sounds, it is hard for their mouths to make the formations needed for these sounds. To plan appropriate spelling instruction, it is important to do assessments like spelling inventories , word writing assessments, and checklists.
I also, do not remember being taught how to spell. I would memorize the words just for the test on Friday. Then I would forget how to spell that word in the long run.
DeleteLeAnn,
DeleteI too recall getting a lot of great information from Dr. Walizer in RLA Methods about spelling instruction. Not only did she provide great points about individualized spelling lists, but she also gave a great list of activities that the students can complete throughout the week to practice their words. I felt so passionate about spelling instruction after her section on spelling and now this chapter really reinforced those beliefs. Great summary of the chapter too, LeAnn!
Carissa
Chapter 12 was about spelling instruction. This chapter listed the developmental stages of spelling. These include, emergent spelling stage, alphabetic spelling stage, within word pattern spelling stage, syllable and affixes spelling stage and derivation relations spelling stage. It also listed stages of spelling for English Language learners. These stages include; emergent stage, letter name stage, within word pattern stage, syllable and affixes stage, and derivation relations stage.
ReplyDeleteI did not have any questions about this chapter. I feel it did a good job addressing ELL students in spelling.
One way that this chapter made me look different was the when I looked at figure 12.6. Figure 12.6 showed the letter/phonemes for Spanish. I have never seen Spanish phonemes and what letters can it represent.
In the past I have worked as an ELL paraprofessional. My ELL students had a hard time spelling sometimes. This was because it was hard for them because they had to think of the letter in Spanish, then translate it into English and then figure out what letter went with the sound they heard.
Rashawna, I really like how you mentioned the Spanish breakdown of the phonemes. This was the first textbook that I have used that approached it like that. I think that the only time someone would typically get that information would be when learning the Spanish language.
DeleteRicky
Literacy
ReplyDeleteChapter 12
The information in Chapter 12 was all about spelling and the best ways to determine which students are good spellers and the stages of spelling. Some of the parts that I found most interesting were all the different stage of development. I think what was intriguing was how there were so many different versions of the stages. It shows the progression of education and how it s always changing. I also thought that the assessment tools were really helpful. They gave what would look like an accurate guide to determining a students effectiveness at spelling. As always this chapter gave some great activities to aide in development of spelling. I really thought that these games looked like they were really fun for the students to play.
I found this chapter ironic as my niece recently told me that she has an A+ in spelling at school. She also said that she is a tutor to an autistic peer in her class. All of this in 1st grade. It is not a surprise that she is a great reader reading far above her grade level. This show the direct connection between her ability to spell, read words, and read in general.
This chapter of the Dervrise text looks at spelling and its impact on the student’s ability to write. I was surprised when reading the text that just being a good reader does not mean you would be a good speller. I guess I was misleading by the fact that I assumed that if you knew the reading rules you could figure out the spelling rules. I was so wrong. They are two completely different areas to master.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised at how little focus I am seeing in the schools I have been in on spelling. Most of them have had a weekly spelling test but there is no real classroom focus on learning the words together. I am also surprised at how many words they have in 4th grade and the difficulty of them. The kids in my classroom almost never get all of the words write and I think that this gets them frustrated and then they don’t try as hard.
I do not think that a teacher should grade a student’s writing ability on their spelling ability. That student should be writing a draft and then the teacher can give them the corrected spellings for the words they missed so they can fix it for their final draft. I only think they should be counted wrong for misspellings if they do not fix them in their final draft after being shown the correct spelling.
The student should feel free to express themselves when writing without feeling like they have to narrow their vocabulary down to the words they can spell. This chapter really helped us understand the reading/spelling/writing connections as well as how they are different and therefore should be taught differently.
I too was surprised that you can be a poor reader and still spell well. I too only see students in the school write their spelling words once a day and no real work is being done with them or even having the word correlate with other areas of instruction.
DeleteThe text states that the traditional technique is to assign words on Monday and test the students on Friday. The words that the teachers assign are words that most of the times do not connect to other subject areas. Students will write the word several times trying to memorize them. Using this technique is not effective in long term; students only memorize them for the test. The text also list stages of spelling for many different types of theories. For the Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton and Johnston’s stages the beginning stage is for emergent spellers. Emergent spellers make scribbles or letter-like shapes and know to write left to right. The next stage, alphabetic stage, students know that letters have initial sounds. Word within word pattern stage is where long vowels are correctly spelled but students may confuse long vowel digraphs. Syllables and Affixes stage uses inflectional endings correctly. Derivational Relations spells polysyllabic words correctly.
ReplyDeleteI feel that this chapter really gave me an insight as to the breakdown of how spelling works. I have seen so many times, as with my son’s teacher now, where all 21 students get the same spelling words each Monday and are tested on Friday. At home we take pre-test every night to see which words he knows and which ones that we need to concentrate on. The ones he needs help with we write, say and spell them. We use them in sentences. I take them and put them in small phrases for him to visually see them with other text. We also review what sounds we hear at the beginning, middle and end of the word. I feel that this really gives him more to work with than just writing them like he does at school.
I have seem some of the teachers at the school I am use the technique of assigning words on Monday and then testing on Friday. I don't know that I agree or disagree but I think that depending on the words you could probably give them a few days to practice writing them and learning what they are.
Delete1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
ReplyDeleteThis week's chapter was all about spelling. I have learned a lot about spelling instruction over the past year through my classes at Fort Hays. I have seen so many teachers using the traditional spelling instruction from the book with introduction of words on Monday and test on Friday. This chapter discusses the benefits of having an individualized spelling list and instruction for each student based on their needs and current knowledge. The chapter also discusses the different stages of spelling from Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton and Johnston, which are emergent, alphabetic, within word pattern, syllables and affixes and derivational relations. With these stages the text offers ideas on how to instruct students within those various stages. In addition, the chapter talks about how good spellers need to understand orthography, or letters and their sequence in words. These spellers can learn unknown words through sound (phonemic strategy), vision (visual strategy), meaning (morphemic strategy), analogies (linking strategy) and inquiry (dictionary usage). This strategy is about learning how written language is organized and written and not about memorizing how words are spelling. Teachers should try to get students to recognize patterns in words and help them learn these patterns. Lastly, the chapter provided some assessment and activity ideas for assessing a student's current knowledge and skill-building activities to build their knowledge. One of the assessment procedures the chapter discussed in the beginning and end was a CAFE (Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency Evaluation) assessment in which the student is timed and fills in boxes with any words that they want.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
I did not really have any questions about this week's chapter. I was already a believer in the individualized spelling plans, so the information made a lot of sense to me.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
As I mentioned, I am already in favor of this type of spelling instruction. Having time to complete this for each student is where I was having some concern, but with the mention of assessments and activities in this chapter I feel more comfortable with it now.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
I have noticed working at a school that many of the teachers use the spelling lists that accompany the story that they are reading in their basal reading series. While I see that the words are at grade level for them and they are being subjected to them that week, I feel this method is strictly for memorizing how to spell words. I like the idea of each student having a list that is special to them that meets their needs. I think the confidence and usage of the new words will benefit them in so many subject areas, especially their reading and writing.
Hi Carissa,
DeleteI can remember Dr. Walizer stressing the importance of an individualized spelling list for students. When I was in school this never happened, but I am seeing it in the classroom where I work as a Para educator during reading time. I loved reading and visually seeing the different stages of spelling. It was neat to see how a child's mind works at different stages and ages of their life. I think that spelling is much like writing, a teacher should always make time for that instruction in her classroom. Like the books discusses, reading, writing, and spelling are all linked together. In the classroom where I work I notice that the teacher takes the time to work on spelling words and doesn't just give a list and expect them to know their words at the end of the week. This last week they had words with prefixes and suffixes and she took the time to help them learn the prefixes and suffixes within those words and what they mean, and also to focus on the spelling of the root word. I agree with you that it really is beneficial to the students to create individualized spelling lists that meet the needs of each student.
I loved this chapter reading, as spelling was always one of my favorite areas when I was in school. This chapter was very interesting and gave some great informal assessment ideas for teachers, intervention strategies for teachers to use with students, and some wonderful spelling activities to use within the classroom. Like the book states reading, spelling, and writing are all linked together. I am not saying that in order to be good in one area you have to be good in all. However, it has been my experience that good writing skills result in those students that are also advanced in spelling. I will say though that I have seen students that are great readers and lack in the spelling area. When I was in school I only remember being given a list of spelling words at the beginning of the week and having a test over those words at the end of the week. I also remember everyone getting the same spelling list and words. Now, the school where I work offers spelling words that help meet the needs of the students, so there are different lists within the classroom that are given every week. This was a topic that was discussed in Dr. Walizers Reading and Language Arts course. She let us know as future educators that it is important to create spelling lists that are specific for each child. The instructions that were talked about in this chapter reading were some of the things we discussed in that course as well. I thoroughly enjoyed tutoring throughout this course, because phonics was my content focus. The three boys that I have went from not sounding anything out and guessing words, to recognizing patterns and blends within words. It really is a reward within itself to see the progress that students make in just a short period of time by doing the types of activities that I did. I loved teaching them the short and long vowel blends, consonant blends, prefix and suffixes, and digraphs. It amazed me how fast they caught on once they recognized these types of blends within words. Two of my students that I worked with were ESL students. This chapter reading helped me to understand why they were missing those sounds in words. Different languages have different sounds and rules that are followed in language. I am definitely going to incorporate many of the activities and informal assessments in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteCharelle, I also had the same experience with spelling as an elementary student. The whole class was given the same spelling word list on Monday and we took the test on Friday. I don't remember if there was any significance in the words, such as being tied to a subject or book we were reading. I always did well at spelling and loved it as a kid. I had one tutoring student who was not a good speller and she hates to write. I had a slight "aha" moment reading this chapter as it discussed the link between the two. The beginning scenario also made me immediately think of my student, but I had to remind myself that there is a grade level difference between the sixth grader in the scenario and my second grader, which may make the situation different. I really like the idea of creating spelling lists to meet the needs of each student. I don't remember talking about that in RLA but it has been almost 2 years since I took the course, so thank you for that tip! Glad you saw improvements in your kiddos, sounds like a great learning experience for everyone!
DeleteCharelle, I wish I could say the same... I was not a good speller or spelling test taker. The only thing that saved me really was the fact that I could memorize for short term and that I was persistent. I was a very anxious child so tests were not my friend. I was very interested in what Dr. Walizer said about giving individual spelling tests to our students. It makes sense, I would liked to have been in her classroom to see how it was done so I can wrap my brain around it. I have seen progress in my students as well. That is why it is so important to target the area of instruction they need the most.I will be using many of the activities as well in my future classroom.
ReplyDeleteIf I could be a bug on Dr. Walizers classroom for a few weeks, it would be a dream come true. When she showed the video of her classroom on parents day (or was it grandparents day) last semester I was sold, and when she showed the video of her students working on the mystery of the lost item she became an idol.
DeleteChapter 12 was about Spelling. The beginning of the chapter discusses Spelling Instruction which is basically different ways to teach spelling and the different spelling stages. I honestly did not know that there were different spelling stages until I read this chapter. I know I have heard lately since being in the schools that spelling and spelling tests are becoming less and less important. Figure 12.2 shows the different developmental spelling stages and then figure 12.3 shows graphic examples of the different spelling stages. The informal assessment section of the text talks about how to assess the students skill of spelling and the inventories to do. The text gives examples of café a word writing assessment, checklists to do, and formal assessments to give to the students. I really liked the activity on the strategies and activities section that was about Magnetic Letters. We did a version of this in one of my internships that I thought was a great way to have the students work together and then also you can do it as a whole class activity. Figure 12.10 shows a word search and I have always wondered how early is too early to introduce word searches or games like unscramble the word. I don’t want to introduce those and then overwhelm the kids. An activity I do with my students in our tutoring sessions is when we are learning a new word we spell the word and then we say it. We usually try to do a fun movement activity while doing that. I think it helps the students to learn each letter and how they work together to form that word.
ReplyDeleteI really like the magnetic letters activity as well. This is one that I 'kind of' already do with my son Logan. We have the letters on our fridge like half of the families that have kids. Logan and I will spell words that are familiar to him: Logan, mom, dad, at, the, dog, bird, stop, etc... We have started building other words too. He now knows that m is the w upside down and can make wow and that there are many little words within them when you just use the letter (big, he, pod, log, and, them....)
DeleteI have never thought of this as an activity that we could do with older students but I'm glad to know it is one we can continue because Logan loves it.
During my tutoring sessions I had my 1st grade students unscramble vocabulary words. I had the students break into pairs and work together to unscramble the word. I also had the vocabulary words posted up on the bulltein board to help them out. I also had the students Play Roll and Spell where they tossed a dice and depending on what number they rolled it would dictate what color to write out the word with or different ways to write it out. The students really enjoyed doing these activities.
DeleteThis chapter did a very good job at giving me ideas and activities to help students with spelling tasks, as well as explain what students need. Like the chapter mentioned, teachers can get stuck in a rut when it comes to teaching spelling. I grew up having the weekly spelling words and tests and I have seen current students be in the same situation. I just assumed it was still the norm but didn’t really think about how ineffective that “strategy” is. The chapter also discussed the many stages of spelling, which it seems no one can agree with exactly! But as mentioned, it would be easy to adapt or generalize all the strategies into one. Just like with writing, I am fascinated by these emerging stages and love watching how children develop and evolve their skills. Every stage and example I see makes me think every kid has got to be a genius! It is just amazing what they can do and what they pick up on. There was a lot of discussion on the similarities and differences between English learners and English speaking students. The emerging stages for English learners are slightly different, but most strategies used are good for ALL students. Patterns of English spelling were also discussed and at times I still get confused by the rules. I understand the English language is complicated and many rules don’t really work across the board, so why do we continue to teach rules? I had one student who is not a very good speller and she doesn’t like to write (probably a connection there?) but during our sessions she would constantly rattle off the little jingles for general spelling rules. They obviously were not doing their job and the students would constantly ask me “why” words are spelled the way they were. I will be honest, I didn’t always have an answer for them other than the English language doesn’t always fit patterns. But after reading through the intervention strategies I was very happy to learn that I have already used some of them with my students! There were similar activities throughout the rest of this book, primarily in the phonics chapter. The only other question I had was about using word processors to help with spelling. Doesn’t that just give them the answer without really having to think about how the word is spelled? It almost seems counter intuitive to me. I understand using word processing programs as a system of spell check when you are to the point of using it to type out assignments, but to me that’s more of a keyboarding skill. I guess in other words, I think the students should be proficient spellers prior to using and relying on word processors to give them the answer.
ReplyDeleteI agree that students should have an understanding of how to spell prior to using word processing to a point. I am still struggling with what I feel but students in this generation will almost always have spell check either on their computer, iPad, or phone. I am not saying that spelling is any less important, I am a huge advocate for it, but maybe we need to rethink this and instead of fighting it, use it? I use to be against students using calculators all the time for simple calculations such as multiplication. I still think that the basic skills need to be built and utilized from time to time but incorporation is good. I think this can be the case with spelling as well. While they need to learn how to spell words, it may be a good reminder of spelling when students use processing programs and see that they are not spelling words correctly.
DeleteChapter 12 - Spelling
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has always struggled with spelling I found this chapter a bit illuminating. I know that some of my struggles were due to my dyslexia and frustration with reading and writing but it was interesting to read about the developmental stages of spelling and try and figure out what part I was missing from my stages of spelling development. I think that the one thing I found to be the best reminder in this chapter was the section on good vs poor spellers. I do agree from both tutoring and from my own personal knowledge that proofreading and editing is a very important step. I have recently started making rough drafts of my work and then going back to edit my work after the rough draft.
I am actually planning on working with my students for the remainder of the semester and there were some activities that I feel will be helpful and fun in working with them. I particularly liked the word searches and the mnemonic aids. I plan to do the wheel of fortune game with them as it seems fun!
One question about this chapter was about the CAFE assessment. I was curious if this was something that we could do easily with our students. We did not do any sort of spelling assessment with them and I wonder why that is. I know that both of my students have a hard time with spelling and are still using imaginary spellings (or as this chapter calls is, within word patterns spelling stage) in 5th grade.
Jessica, I think it's great that you are going to continue to work with your students. One thing that I can remember from my childhood with spelling is that we were always writing our spelling words 10 times each every week which was fine for the time being however, it only allowed us to remember those words for that week. After taking reading and language arts I think it is so very important to teach the students phonograms and how they work in words. I think this would really lead children into spelling for knowledge.
DeleteChapter 12 was all about spelling. The book states that "spelling instruction is teaching children how to spell, not what to spell." There are several stages to the development of spelling. First is the emergent-spelling stage where children make scribbles or letter-like shapes, then there is the alphabetic spelling stage where students are aware of the intiial sound of words. Next you have the within word pattern spelling stage where a teacher must help students discover patterns within the words. Then there is the syllable and affixes spelling stage where your goal as an education is to help students recognize chunks within words, or prefixes, suffixes, and root words and help them spell them. Finally there is the derivational relations spelling stage where students at this stage now spell most words correctly so encourage them to scan each others papers for errors. I really enjoyed reading about how to assess students' spelling stages on page 332 of the text. I really liked the CAFE word writing assessment because it measures student's ability to write as many words corrects in a given amount of time. This allows you to check accuracy, and fluency. I've always thought that there had to be a better way to teach spelling to children rather than having them write the words over and over and over again. When I was a child I can remember writing my spelling words ten times each. However, I really like the activities in the back of the chapter that discussed different ways for students to practice their words like magnetic letters, foam board letters, word searches, and wheel of fortune.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that caught my attention was the statement, “…it is not beneficial for students to memorize the rules and the few words that fit the rules…instead, they need to be taught to look for patterns within the words” (page 324). What does this mean exactly? The very next page they are talking about the “rules” being on the walls of your classroom. However, as I read on I realized it is important that they recognize the word patterns such as suffixes and prefixes, consonant blends, vowel diagraphs, diphthongs, and controlled- r sounds, not just simply memorizing the rules! As I read on it discusses so many more patterns and complexities that I thought to myself no wonder so many children struggle with reading and spelling. I agree with the text that as teachers we need to understand the stages of spelling so that we can teach more effectively. I wished that my teachers that I had when I was growing up had this information. Sound boxes and Spelling in Parts (SIP) are some great tools to use. My favorite is probably The Internet. I think students today have so many more tools to help them grasp the concept of spelling. I like the idea of grouping students with the same needs after assessing them. I have used the magnetic letters for at, an, etc. word families for onset and rime practice. The students really enjoy changing out letters to create new words.
ReplyDeleteChapter 12 is all about spelling. Spelling is an important skill to have when writing but a reader can be a poor speller and still be an effective reader. Where I was in grade school we were given a weekly list of words that we had to write out the definitions, use it in a sentence then correctly spell the word for the spelling test. The text states that these types of activities do not necessarily help a student to really understand or use these words when they write. It is important to give the students meaningful activities to go along with spelling and to teach students how to spell instead of teaching them what to spell. This chapter discusses the different stages of spelling. As a teacher you need to be aware of which spelling stage your student is at when planning activities. This chapter also offers some good strategies and activities to use with students. I have always loved playing Wheel of fortune type games and I think that would definitely be a fun way for students to work on spelling. Hangman was a game that we played quite a bit when I was in grade school that seemed that most students liked to play. I noticed that at the store that they have Scrabble Cheese -Its that you could use to have students break into groups and play Scrabble with, then have as a snack afterwards.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that you used to have to write out definitions and so on. I can remember doing similar activities to those that you mentioned. I am not sure if it actually helped me, but we did it. I have heard that it does not help to have students copy words and definitions from the dictionary. I think that there are way better and more exciting ways to teach words/definitions than simply having your students copy words and definitions from a dictionary. Like you mentioned, it is important to give students meaningful activities when teaching them. This will get them more excited and wanting to learn about what you are teaching them.
DeleteChapter 12 reminded me of how complex the English language is. When learning Spanish, this difference was very apparent. As ebonics and other dialects enter the everyday language of many students in the United States, simple rules do not describe the spelling of many words as stated in the chapter. This is especially difficult for ESOL students. As the chapter points out, there are several similarities between the English and Spanish language. There are also huge differences. In my opinion, the more children are hearing a large vocabulary and being exposed to vocabulary through reading, the better spellers they will become. I wonder though, the best way to go about this with ESOL students. If they are unable to read many words in English, how can they become familiar with spelling patterns and sounds.
ReplyDeleteIt is important that students become word solvers to be able to decode words they are not familiar with. The students in my tutoring sessions both struggled with this. Our content focus was vocabulary, so spelling and decoding words went along with this. I was very pleased at how much both of the students have improved in this area. They are better at sounding the words out, visually breaking them apart, inquiring about the word in a dictionary, and linking the meaning to other words. In the book, it tells students to look for word patterns with consonant blends, vowel digraphs, diphthongs, au, and controlled-r sounds. Using their finger, the students were able to break apart the sounds in each word before putting them together to figure out the word. Analogies is something we really focused on though. In order to help students link meaning of one word to another, the students learned about synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and homographs. These are all words that students need to be able to identify to be able to solve words.
I forgot to add that there are many sites that have spelling games that students really enjoy! wordcentral.com is a website from Merriam-Webster. One game has students listen to a word and then drag letters until they can lock them in to spell the word correctly. This game really helped the students I tutored and they wanted to continue playing the game after our tutoring session was over!
DeleteChapter 12 is about spelling. Spelling instruction should teach student "how to spell" and not "what to spell". The traditional methods of teaching students to spell, using assigned spelling lists, does not challenge good spellers and poor spellers simply memorize the words for the test. The five basic spelling stages are emergent spelling, alphabetic spelling, within word pattern spelling, syllable and affixes spelling and derivational spelling. When working with English Language learners, it is beneficial to point out how the English alphabet is similar and different from their first language alphabet. Some languages share most of the same letters with the English alphabet. Orthography is the letters and their sequence in words. Good spelling instruction helps students increase their understanding of English language orthography and provides them with more strategies to use when spelling unknown words. The aim of spelling instruction is to make students "word solvers". As "word solvers", students can learn unknown words through sound (phonemic strategies), vision (visual strategies), meaning (morphemic strategies), analogies (linking strategies) and inquiry (dictionary usage). Using these strategies is more beneficial to students then memorizing the traditional spelling lists. Instead of the traditional spelling lists, teachers can use spelling inventories, CAFE word writing assessments and checklists to identify areas where students need assistance in identifying word patterns. Groups of student with similar needs can be grouped together and helped with specific problems.
ReplyDeleteThe only question I have is why teachers continue to assign spelling lists when this has been shown to be ineffective at teachign spelling? I recently taught 6th grade language arts for a week. On Friday the students were given a list of 7 words and thier definition. The following Friday, the students were given a spelling and vocabulary test. They had to spell the words on one sheet. On another sheet, the students were given the definitions and had to write the word to match the definition and a sentence using the word. The words did not seem to be related to anything that the class was reading or any other assisnments. I believe that I had heard that the intent was to increase student vocabulary. Another example of lists and testing on memorization (and that was if the students studied!)
I thought you provided a strong point on what types of spelling words need to be provided to challenge students. I find that with my own daughter she has only a few challenge words added to her list, the rest are from a spelling book. I think the spelling question you had can answered in two ways either the school administrators chose the spelling book and technique and the teachers have to follow this or the teacher is choosing to teach students spelling in the example you provided.
DeleteChapter 12 Blog
ReplyDeleteZoë Greenemeyer
The chapter starts off by stating that students begin to spell correctly when they care about what they are writing and about how their ideas are received by readers. Good spellers writing are personal. Good instruction in spelling teachers the students how to spell, not what to spell. The beginning of this chapter reminded me of the information presented in Dr. Walizer’s course. Spelling words on weekly tests should be meaningful to the individual student. The developmental stages of spelling include the emergent stage, alphabetic stage, written word pattern stage, syllable and affixes stage, and derivational relations stage. The girls I am tutoring are at the syllable and affixes stage. In tutoring both girls enjoy writing on the individual dry erase boards and I will give them a word family and they write as many words as they can using the word family. The patterns of English spelling can be orthographic or complex. The text suggests that good spellers understand orthography. One of the activities at the end of the book was a word search. I have just introduced my daughter to word searches and will often create them for her spelling words and key vocabulary.
We have to be certain to teach them to spell, not to simply memorize!
DeleteChapter twelve was over spelling. Spelling is an important skill for writing. Goods spellers see the link between spelling and the role of the audience. Often, good spellers are skilled readers and they are committed writers who have found how to write. I like the fact that the book mentioned that “teaching children how to spell, not what to spell” is good spelling instruction. I feel like my teachers taught me how to spell. I am familiar with the traditional method of giving out spelling words on Mondays and testing them on Fridays. The book mentioned that in many classes, students often have all of the same words. I think way too many teachers do this! In Reading and Language Arts, Dr. Walizer stressed to us to have each student have their own words. If you think about it, all teachers should do this! This is the only way to ensure both good and bad spellers be challenged with words at their level.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I was unaware of from the reading was all of the different developmental stages there were to spelling. This really opened my eyes to see how students learn to spell and how they scaffold up to become good spellers. As we all know, it takes quite a while. It really got me thinking about the “spelling bee” that we see on television every year. These kids, some extremely young, are better at spelling than most adults. How do they jump stages so quickly when most students take longer?
I really enjoyed reading the section that discussed good versus bad spellers. Basically, good writers understand the writing process and have many of the traits that were mentioned on page 332. However, bad spellers are basically the exact opposite. I found it interesting to think about good readers being bad spellers. After reading through that, I thought about my own experiences. I have always been an above average speller but have struggled with reading at times.
I was also unaware that there were developmental stages of spelling! I also agree that is it important for use to teach the student how to spell, not what to spell.
DeleteThis chapter addressed the importance of teaching spelling. I am aware of the importance of spelling instruction, but am confused at the way to go about teaching it. I appreciated the statement in the text that stated that there is not a list for everyone. The spelling stage helped me with a guideline on where to start and where to go.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to me that if the student can’t spell, the student can’t read. I never really thought of this as an issue, but after reading it I have really thought about it!
As a teacher, I want to be able to make time to teach spelling. I think that if I teach a short spelling lesson even if it is only 10 minutes each day, my students will be much better off.
This chapter was a real eye opener, I feel like spelling is another subject that is getting swept under the rug.
Michelle,
DeleteI agree with you I think that is very important for teachers to remember that is the student does need to learn how to spell in order to read. They really do go hand in hand with each other. When students just guess a word from context clues they are not really reading the word so having them practice spelling words would make the students can actually read the word.
Chapter 12
ReplyDelete1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
Chapter twelve of the textbook Literacy Assessment & Intervention by B. Devries discusses spelling and its importance. According to the textbook there are several stages that a student goes through these stages include emergent spelling stage, alphabetic spelling stage, within word pattern stage, syllable and affixes spelling stage and derivational relations spelling stage” (324- 327). They textbook mentions that there are many spelling patterns that people must follow when they are learning about spelling. This is very important because when it comes to spelling there are no exact rules that people must follow there are just tricks that students can be thought to help them understand what words are spelled which way.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
None at this time.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
I have always had a difficult time with spelling but this chapter of the textbook has made me think about the different patterns that I can teach my students to help them understand. I really did like the checklist for spelling standards. This is defiantly something that I can use in my own classroom. I also liked the activities and games section of the textbook to get the students excited about spelling.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
I really like games that students can play to connect them with spelling. I like to play sparkle with the students. In this game the group of students is given a word and then they have to spell out the word one letter at a time. When the students are done spelling the words then they say sparkle and the next person is out. Students love this game and they forget they are even learning their new spelling words. Songs are also a great way to integrate spelling as well. I still remember a song that I saw on an episode of Charlie Brown once “I before E except after C”. I still remember that I think this idea is great for teachers to incorporate into the classroom.