Reader Response & Discussion

Session 9

REFERENCE

Sipe et. al. VfM 9:3

“Supporting Challenged Spellers"

SUMMARY

In middle school, spelling “instruction” is often relegated to weekly spelling lists and textbook assignments. However, students who continue to struggle with spelling at the middle school level have frequently been exposed to several years of this approach to no avail. What does one do with the students who continue to struggle with spelling? Five teachers who shared the belief that spelling is a sub-skill of writing were drawn by a common question in this regard: How can we help our students grow in competence and confidence as writers as we address their spelling difficulties?

In hopes of discovering some practical answers to this question, the authors studied the instructional histories, analyzed results of spelling and visual memory inventories, and mapped out the strategies and habits of their most challenged spellers for a three year period. What they discovered would provide a solid platform for spelling instruction for all students.

This article is made practical by inclusion of descriptive details which give the reader an immediate “take away”. For example:

· a sample error analysis sheet for student writing includes the following categories: homophones, wrong word choice, prefixes, suffixes, letter reversals, letter-sound errors, and other.

· the five basic spelling rules that are most productive

· a method for profiling different kinds of spellers and those who are most at risk regarding lifelong literacy

· sample spelling logs for encouraging student reflection on their errors and ownership in developing improved spelling

· sample classroom activities

The authors discover a common thread in the experience of struggling spellers’ past instruction, “too much…too fast … too shallow.” They also observe that spelling instruction of any kind usually ends once students leave elementary school. Thus, the needs of students who don’t “get it” by the time they enter middle school are often ignored. To off-set this oversight, and to reinforce general good teaching practice in the middle school language arts classroom, the authors offer six core understandings upon which they build their instruction. These understandings are applicable to both a workshop setting and a traditional classroom environment:

· students need strategies that promote reflection about spelling within the broader context of language study

· spelling instruction should generalize to larger groups of words so students begin to see order and logic in the language

· students need resources like spell checkers, dictionaries, mnemonic devices, and editors as well as instruction on when and how to use them to promote independence and ownership

· 500 high-frequency words should be stressed and emphasized through personal dictionaries, wall charts, and frequent discussion

· students should always have opportunities for multiple drafts when correctness matters.

· classroom instruction should focus on rich oral and written language interactions in order to encourage student investment in literacy

CONNECTION

How to help/support challenged spellers has been a personal interest of mine for 14 years … ever since I realized that traditional spelling lists were not working for my daughter. She could memorize just about anything, but couldn’t spell worth a darn when it came to writing. Her writing always showed a careful over application of phonics. She could do a scan through her stories and correctly circle nearly every spelling error. She knew where the mistakes were, but struggled with making them right. Now she is 22 and we know that she happens to be highly attentive to patterns. The inconsistency of English spelling simply drove her nuts and drags her down. It takes her a long time to write. Her chosen career? Mechanical Engineering, where her fascination with patterns and logic are reinforced through the disciplines of mathematics and hard science. Its a field rife with others who also struggle to spell … but they can build some incredible things.

My daughter isn’t the only one in the family to struggle with spelling; behind her, is her brother. Both have a language processing deficit, but Matt’s is much more pronounced. Before discovering it, however, he had a very flexible 5^th grade teacher who agreed to reduce his weekly spelling list of 20 words down to 10. Very kindly, she heard my argument: “Better to get 10 right with carryover into his writing each week, than 18 wrong because he is simply overwhelmed.” I think the writers of this article would also agree.

I used many of the strategies mentioned in this article with both my son and daughter. I agree with the authors that these strategies give struggling spellers more control over their spelling and enable them to develop as writers. My kids still can’t spell … but the can write J, and they write well. Email messages to mom may by-pass the spell checker and rough drafts are a mess, but they understand the full writing process. Now 19, my son knows how to put together a good story and has received a couple of scholarships for his writing

DISCUSSION

Quite a bit has been written addressing spelling instruction in the lower grades. but it is harder to find material addressing spelling issues that continue to present themselves after students have advanced past the stages of early spelling development. This is one does, and I have to say, this is THE best article I’ve read on spelling in quite a while. It goes beyond the basic party line of spelling textbooks versus individualized spelling instruction. It also goes beyond the limitations of standardized spelling lists and invented spelling to specific strategies and techniques for working with challenged spellers and helping them develop.

I found it interesting that though half of the struggling spellers these teachers studied had a problem with visual memory, there didn’t seem to be much correlation with the types of strategies the students used. i.e. those with stronger visual memory were often quite confused about spelling, and those with poor visual memory were sometimes had an amazingly extensive repertoire of spelling strategies. In light of this discovery, the authors note that traditional spelling texts have a high emphasis on the visual memory aspects of spelling an emphasis that needs to be adapted for in order to reach more students.

Though the authors pare down the most essential spelling rules to only five, the way these rules are written in the article still seems a bit cumbersome to me. This would especially be so with the struggling spelling population. They need to be stated in simpler, more concrete language to ease the memory load.

EXTENSION

At the beginning of each year, these teachers have all of their students write about their past experiences with spelling: how they feel about spelling, their perception about themselves as spellers, the kinds of spelling instruction they have had, their feelings and thoughts about that instruction, and memories that they have about spelling. The Spelling Histories that their students write offer an insight into learning styles of their students and the perceptions about spelling that the struggling spellers had gleaned from their early spelling instruction. In addition, the rough draft writing sample enables the teacher to identify the most challenged spellers and to catalog the types of spelling errors that these students need to work on.

This is a great screening device. I think it could be useful as early as 4^th or 5^th grade for focusing spelling instruction. I wonder if anyone in our class has done this or something similar?

At the end of the article, the authors offer the list of 100 Spelling Demons, words that have stumped all spellers since first published in 1917.

High frequency word list site. 500 most commonly used words in writing: