The Difficulty of Learning and Teaching Spelling

After reading the Oglan and Sipe articles on spelling, I started to gain a new appreciation for the subject.  Teaching spelling has always been something I have not thought all that much about, because I seem to be more focused on the educating of reading and writing.  What I came to realize through these articles, however, was that reading, writing, and spelling all come hand in hand.  I thought it was interesting how the Sipe article pointed out that for some students writing can be viewed as an easier task than reading, because it proceeds from the known to the unknown, rather from what is unknown to what is known.  It is important to realize that all students will learn in different manners, and that there are several techniques to teach spelling, all of which will have different responses from individual students.  

I understand that experience is what will help students master spelling the fastest.  If students read and are familiarized with words often, it is likely that they will eventually internalize the spelling of that word.  However, I realize that internalizing spellings of words may take years, and that there are alternative ways to teach spelling to students.  I really enjoyed the Sipe article for this reason.  I really liked the approaches of teaching spelling like the sound box and the have-a-go chart.  Both of these methods challenged students to reach the correct spelling of the word through their own efforts with little guidance from their teachers.  I also really enjoyed the outline of how interactive writing can be put into effect.  When reading about how this technique is used I got rather confused, but with the demonstration I realized how helpful and fun using this could be.  Being about to incorporate every single one of the students into the lesson while encouraging them to try even if they make errors seems seems to be a very effective teaching method.  Guiding them with questions that help them reach the correct spelling of the word may also help them learn how they can reach correct spellings on their own, without the aid of someone else.  

It is important to realize that while there are three different kinds of common spellers, there may be students who fall into two different categories:  one while writing and one while spelling.  Like the Oglan article addressed, it is very important to encourage students to write and to develop their own writing voice.  It is important to get them to take risks with their writing, even if they get discouraged due to the inability to spell certain words correctly.  By having students keep a journal or a daily log of activities will help them explore different words and will challenge them to spell words they may not have been exposed to yet.  By looking at these journals and seeing words commonly misspelled, the teacher can then create a word wall or may add them to a words to focus on list so that students broaden their range of spelling.

By reading these articles, I realized that there is an endless amount of methods teachers can use when focusing on spelling.  It is important to focus on each individual student's needs so that frustration does not occur on the part of the teacher, or the student.  Taking note of different methods I come across while reading helps me to feel more and more confident in the classroom.  I hope to find many different ways of getting through to my students so that I can have a different plan for each student if necessary.