Technology and Spelling

How relevant is spelling? Week after week, Mark, Andrew and Emily bring home their spelling lists to "practice" and memorize. Emily does well at memorization; Mark and Andrew not so much. Particularly, Mark. Some examples: Vagation (vacation); surpris (surprise); sistr (sister). But, with spellcheck and the frequent use of abbreviations in texting, it strikes me that poor spelling should not put me into panic mode - especially when the rest of his report card is just fine.

But....just as I became comfortable with the fact that he would never be a speller, I came across this article from the Washington Post talking about spelling, including the dismissal by teachers that spelling is irrelevant because of spell check. What I found especially intriguing about the article is differentiating between rote memorization in teaching spelling and teaching spelling in the broader context of meaning of words and conceptualization. Instead of learning how to just spell "vacation", the kids are taught the meaning of the word and how they can fit it into a sentence as an expression. Interesting idea.

In our school, the focus is on rote memorization. Which, especially for Mark & Andrew, is boring; they are curious little boys. They still ask "Why" about everything - almost to the point of exasperation. The article has made me curious to find out if the boys will do better at spelling next year if, instead of us sitting down and making them memorize the words for a Friday spelling test, we broaden the focus to include the meaning of words. So the words are more than just letters (the correct spelling of which is quickly forgotten after the Friday quiz). As I type this blog, I am selling myself on this idea.

As I reflect on this, as Mark has gone through his phases of being fascinated by space and the Titanic, he has excellent spelling of words related to those topics. And, it seems that if we can get Mark to spell better through context, it will help him even more than spell check since spell check cannot pick up context - deer versus dear, for example. Well, at least until spell check and grammar check are improved through advanced technology.

Stay tuned to see how spelling comes along in 4th grade....