Language Arts Tip and Hints: Spelling

Traditional spelling education (lists and tests) works great for some kids.

Some kids....not so much.

If you say to your child, "Does this look right to you?" and they answer, "Yeah" and you still can't figure out what they were trying to write, or if your child's spelling is atroshiss after third grade, give up.

Yes, I just said that.

Give up on traditional spelling lists/tests. It won't help. There is a level of spelling that is taught, and a level that is inborn, genetic aptitude. Chances are, if you or your husband was a terrible speller, some or all of your children will be, too, and traditional spelling education won't help, and it will frustrate your child.

So try something different.

For one thing, stop having them handwrite everything. Instead, have them type everything possible and set the preferences on your programs to "spell check as you go." Any time that red line shows up, have your child try to fix the spelling by themselves first, and then turn to the spell checker for help. The instant feedback in a non-test setting might help. Also, eliminating the concentration on getting the letters legible helps some kids.

Also, when you must teach spelling words, skip the lists. Doing a word set a day, focus on commonly misspelled words that spell checkers don't catch (check this video for hints). Do ONE word or word set (their/they're/there, it's/its, two/to/too, occasionally, etc) a day. Don't just assign the words and check the spelling, though. Talk about the meanings of the words, teach rhymes ("I before E/except after C/ and when sounding like A/ as in neighbor or weigh", for example) or tricks for remembering which word has which meaning (There has Here in it--and those two go together), write and type the word in sentences, talk about what "most people do wrong" with this word (so your child knows they aren't the only one who struggles). One day, learn a word and review it multiple times, testing one half to one hour after you first introduce it. The next day, review yesterday's word quickly and add another. Only review one word a day--don't let the list get longer. Absolutely do NOT grade other work down for misspellings (but do give extra praise or points for correctly spelling words they've studied!).

And don't expect it to work very well. Some kids never do "get" it, and the worst thing you can do it make them think they're stupid because they can't spell (I can't count the number of students I had who were deeply relieved to find out that being a poor speller is genetics, not laziness or stupidity--and learning that unleashed their creativity).

Mostly, take the pressure off and, just like kids whose eyes don't work right rely on glasses, let kids whose spellers don't work right rely on technology.

Check out Nikki Ballard for a great site to help frustrated spellers remember what they've been trying to learn for years (and for a list of words that you might study--one a day.)

This video had some good tips for older students--and you might check out the other videos in the series as well!