Mum Sunday -Spelling

Spelling

This is one of those ‘hot’ topics like handwriting.

I would love to know what parents think of it. Do they think the spelling lists that come home every week work? Is it purely a rote learning activity? Does it work?

As a teacher I wonder what the best way to teach spelling is. We have so many schemes of work out there and schools decide when and what one they use. Very much like phonics and handwriting where some schools teach it and others don’t.

Mr 7 was sent home his spelling list last week to learn for the term. Now as he is a reluctant writer I know that spelling is going to be an issue as well. I also know that he doesn’t like testing. He gets very agitated, shuts down and lacks confidence in these situations.

Therefore it doesn’t surprise me that he is sent home a list of very easy words. However I know that he can spell the majority of these words. Straight away he rattled off 16/21 correct. I also know for the past year we have been working on those 5 other words that he just struggles to spell.

I get this as my dad and I also share this same pattern. He continues to spell ‘I’ll’ as ‘I’lle’ even after 65 years and I have a few words that took me ages to learn to spell and which I have to really think carefully about when writing. So are there words out there that we just struggle to spell? Should we then penalize children for this?

The teacher/mum in me asked for some more words which we got. Straight away on this list he spelt 11/29 words correct. But are lists the best way to teach spelling? And what is the point of asking students to learn to spell by rote if it can’t be applied to their writing? I taught a student once that could rattle of her spelling list every week perfectly but could never apply it in her writing. One of the reasons why I feel sending home lists every week doesn’t always work.

I don’t have an answer. I still think spelling rules and learning ‘family words’ can be beneficial. Children can apply these and also see common patterns. Then I also feel that with children who struggle to spell or are dyslexic is there a point? In today’s world most of our written work in done on the computer ( another reason the handwriting debate continues) shouldn’t we be better off teaching them how to use spell check correctly?

Yes, there are some difficulties here as well. I had a student who had dysgraphia and struggled to spell. While teaching him spell check I also had to teach him strategies to enable him to re-look at what he had typed as some of his words, spell check didn’t always pick up.

But then do we create a nation of people who can’t spell?

Do we need to look carefully at the children we are teaching and work out how to teach them spelling? We all don’t learn the same.

I am a visual speller; I need to write it down to ‘see’ if it looks right. Others can spell off the top of their head while others learnt to spell in rhyme, music or saw patterns. By teaching one way are we restricting others?

I know that my son learnt to spell ‘because’ singing it, knows that ‘they, then, them’ are ‘the’ with a y,n,m and ‘there’ is T to the H to the e,r,e sung like he is rapping. And should, could would- add w,sh, c and remember the rest by reciting ‘oh you lucky duck’.

And the best one I learnt the other day for Wednesday= nest without the T.

Mum Sunday

This is where I hopefully will post the other side of me. The parent side -that has a child in education. As a mum/teacher I am terrible at being the mum of a school aged child. I admit it and I know that I can’t switch off my teacher side when it comes to my own children’s education. My husband hates it and on many occasions has clearly voiced his opinion on this. Even my colleagues joke about what I am like.

I’m not all guns a blazing on the teacher’s my son has I am just (as my husband puts it) passionate to the point of frustration. I don’t expect that because I am a teacher my children would be academically bright. And yes, this comment was made to me by one of my son’s teacher in regards to the fact she was very surprised he hadn't done better in an assessment as I was a teacher!

Like any parent, I just want the best for him. What I give to my own students, I want to see this happening with my son. I’d be such a hypocrite if I didn't. I work full time, never get to meet the teachers therefore I want to develop a relationship with them so that I know they have my son’s best interests at heart. Yes, I know there are nearly 25 more students in the class but as any parent will tell you those other 25 are obsolete. And as a teacher I am very mindful of this in my own class.

The reason being is my son struggles academically. Sport, art and creating are his passions and something he excels at. However reading, writing, mathematics are things he has to work hard at and I can already see with writing and maths he has slowly turned off and is beginning to hate them. I spent a lot of time learning about ‘boys education’ well before my own son was born, so I know that even before year 3 boys can be turned off learning. This is what I don’t want for my son.

This is something I am very mindful of in my own class. I can see the students who struggle in certain areas and I want to help them to see they can do it. I’m a fixer- I want students to enjoy school, enjoy learning and realise they can do it. I want them to know that they can be anything they want to be. I tend to question what I can change/do in my own teaching when it comes to students succeeding. 

My first gripe to his year 1 teacher was the fact he was being sent home reading books that were more ‘girl’ orientated than boy. He didn't want to read about girls and teddy bears. I queried this and wanted to know why. One way to engage boys into reading is to give them books that interest them. Something my own school has thought a lot about and purchased a whole lot of PM books that were more boy orientated. I know a lot of schools do this which is great!

We are all the same, as adults we read what we enjoy, what interests us. Yet when it comes to children we expect them to read what we choose. Yes, we need variety and children should have this as well but shouldn't we be encouraging a love for reading first? Doesn't a love for reading then develop a desire to read more of a variety of books?

I love the fact that another one if his teachers allowed him to look through all the books and choose the ones he wanted to read. The excitement he shared with me that evening was amazing. And he wanted to read them all at once!

Children are like adults, we know what we like and if we are interested in it we will be keen to learn.