Articles - Spelling - Write the Write Way 1

SPELLING: No Instant Recipes
Susan A. Miller

.. teaching spelling is as much about ‘teaching’ reading and writing as it is about spelling per se. All teachers know but are reluctant to accept that there is no instant recipe for teaching anything. Bean and Bouffler, Spelling by Writing, Heinemann, 1991.

If only I had read this quote twenty-nine years ago when I first started teaching, it could have saved me a whole lot of head aches. “Susan,” I’d argue with myself, “why can’t you be satisfied with the way you taught spelling last year? OK, so those spelling tests didn’t work, but you just made all those wonderful jig-saw puzzles with each weeks spelling words.” And so it went for most of my 16 years in elementary and middle school classrooms, continual frustrations and doubts about the teaching of spelling.

Initially, I’d gone by the book following weekly spelling lessons with tests. I can still remember the busy work in the book, which half the time didn’t make sense even to me. This wasn’t the answer: my good spellers already knew most of the words, while my weaker ones didn’t or couldn’t seem to learn them.

In 1987, I started learning more about whole language and writing processes. Wow, what an eye opener! Finally, someone was confirming my beliefs about literacy and learning. You start from the whole and work towards the part. I turned to using the words the children misspelled in their daily writings. It made sense: these were the words they needed, so these were the words they should learn. I supplemented with words of the students’ choosing from the current theme of class work.

Hanging Wall Dictionary
Hanging in a special place in our room was a bright yellow ABC wall hanging which had a pocket and picture for each letter. Whenever a child needed a correct spelling during the editing of his paper, I wrote it on a word card which he used to correct his draft. The word later was filed in the appropriate pocket of our spelling wallhanging. As the pockets started filling, students were asked to check the wallhanging for the correct word before coming to me. Only then could they get a new word card.

Each week, a different child, our “student of the week”, would choose from out of the pockets a number of words for the class to study (from 5-15.) Magnetic tape was applied to the back of each card before placing

them on the chalk board. (An alternative method is to use Velcro backing before placing the cards on a “flannel wall.”)

The rest of the students were responsible for choosing a personal list (3 to 15 words) from the class list. Each child than copied “her words” into “My Special Spelling Book’ which was signed by the parents on Monday and Thursday evenings.

Spelling Buddies
Children worked with their “spelling buddy” each day for 15 minutes. I usually paired the buddies, putting the stronger spellers with weaker ones. Buddies were responsible for helping each other learn their words, using a variety of strategies: practicing on little chalkboards, writing with a finger on the carpet, studying and quizzing, etc. “Tests” on Fridays weren’t dreaded but were anticipated as the “Buddies” were rewarded when both of them succeeded--which was usually the case.