Let me just begin by saying that traditional spelling texts are NOT effective instructional tools. Simply giving students lists of words to memorize by writing the given words five times each, writing the words using different colors, writing the words in various shapes, making crosswords, or making word searches with the words may seem like a good idea but those activities do not capitalize on what research tells us about good spellers. True, good spellers do have a developed orthographic memory. They can look at a word and determine if it looks right. True, orthographic memory can be developed through repeated exposure to words but good spellers rely on so much more than orthographic memory.
Good spellers can hear all the sounds in words and instinctively listen for the number of syllables in words. They know that short vowel sounds are found in closed syllables, that closed syllables are spelled with only one vowel, and the vowel must be followed by at least one consonant. They apply phoneme graphing mapping or the ability to connect sounds with the letter or letters that represent that sound. They know the meanings of words and know that word origins make a difference as to how a word is spelled. In short, good spellers also have strong phonological and morphological awareness.
Just like you would never work out only one side of your body, teachers should not focus on building just one part of the spelling process. It is for that reason I advocate using the spelling text as a minimal resource rather than the main spelling instructional tool. Some might ask, "If not the spelling text, than what should I use?" Good question. The answer takes some time to explore but I will try to give a condensed overview.
Since we are directly teaching syllables, it makes sense to tie the phonics instruction to the syllable instruction. For example, if you begin by teaching closed syllables, you will directly teach each of the short vowel sounds. In addition, you can teach the phonics or orthographic rules related to /k/. Students should know that /k/ is usually spelled with a c, k, or ck. They should know that English words do not start with ck. They should know that when /k/ is followed with an e or i, it is usually spelled with a k such as in the words kelp or king. When /k/ is followed by an a, o, or u it is usually spelled with a c such as cat, cot, and cut. In addition, /k/ is spelled with a ck when it follows a short vowel sound such as in the word back. These phonics lessons can be directly instructed and students can be given ample opportunities to practice spelling using this knowledge through repeated word building activities and word sorts. You see, rather than limiting students to a list of 10-20 specific words, teaching phonics patterns such as the patterns above will allow students to spell any word that matches the pattern. Suddenly, students can spell hundreds of words independently when they are actually writing rather than just on an isolated word test.
Of course, there are words that just need to be memorized such as the word was. It looks like a closed syllable and should make the short a sound. It doesn't. Thus, we can teach students exceptions to the rules and give them multiple exposures to the correct spellings. In fact, we must do that if we want students to be able to spell irregular words correctly rather than simply relying on phonetics. It is about time that we blend research based practices to construct a truly effective and integrated word study component to our literacy block rather than relying on the status quo text book and teaching phonics, spelling, morphology and syllabication as separate entities.
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