Spelling Words: Teaching vs. Telling
Dr. Kathy Koch on January 5th, 2009 | Filed under Spelling Words
A teacher asked, “In one of Dr. Kathy’s seminars, she mentioned something about teachers really needing to teach students to spell. She didn’t have time to elaborate, but she peeked my interest since I have trouble with spelling, my son is struggling with his spelling tests, and I am an elementary teacher who is suppose to be teaching spelling. Is there a seminar or video on your website that can help me in this area?”
Unfortunately we don’t have a seminar or video that relates directly to this teacher’s question. The E-Report titled “Learning and Homework Success with Multiple Intelligences” is relevant because one way you help children and adults remember their spelling words is to have them learn them with all 8 intelligences. And, our CD about studying, which will be available sometime this month, may also be helpful.
Also, on Thursday, April 2nd, we’ll conduct a teleseminar titled “Teaching Tips and Homework Helps: Spelling Words and Math Facts.” If you register to receive our biweekly free email newsletter, you’ll be notified of registration opportunities for this seminar. Or, better yet, register at our website to receive all teleseminar notices.
Now, let’s deal with what I might have meant by my comment that “we need to teach students to spell.” I’m very concerned that there’s too much “telling” going on at school. What I might have said in the seminar this woman heard was, “We cannot tell students to study their spelling words if we haven’t taught them how. We can’t encourage them to memorize their words if we haven’t taught them how. It’s wrong. We must TEACH them so they can be successful.”
The topic of teaching spelling words could take up many blog entries. Teachers can connect spelling to phonics instruction in the early grades. In fact, I think it’s wise to directly connect reading and spelling. Words children are learning to read, they can be learning to spell. This may be “short A” words, words with the suffix “ful,” or words related to transportation.
Words that don’t follow rules should simply be memorized using our auditory, visual, and kinesthetic modalities. (To learn more, attend our teleseminar!) And, whether the words follow rules or not, studying with multiple intelligences can really help. I bet you spell “Mississippi” with a rhythm and melody. Why don’t we use this strategy with more words?
I’m not a great speller. I enjoy admitting this to students and then telling them that I’ve still written two books. Many act surprised. It gives me a chance to challenge them to overcome weaknesses they can improve and learn to live with the others. I tell them about having members of our staff proofread my work and my use of dictionaries and thesauruses. (If a student can’t remember how to spell “beautiful” he can find it by looking up “pretty.”) I also explain that I use the automatic correction feature in the Word software I’m using to type this entry. I enter words that I frequently mistype or misspell. It’s a marvelous feature!
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Teleseminars are really very helpful and i always look for it on the internet.~.~