robcasting

When I was in school I think vocabulary or spelling was the one subject I hated the most. I know hate is a strong word but I think it can be used here. The pattern I am going to describe was much the same from 1^st grade through 12^th.

Normally on Monday the teacher would put the words out 10 to 20 words and we would write them down. Then on Tuesday we would have to write down the definitions to the words. On Wednesday we would have to do dictation, which is where the teacher would read sentences that included the spelling words and we would have to write these sentences. Then on Thursday night we would have to write the spelling words five times each and finally on Friday we would have the spelling test.

This was one of the most pointless things I have ever done. For the definitions I would copy the definitions absentmindedly from the dictionary taking no real time to digest what I was reading and writing. I was just trudging through the assignment. With the dictation I could never write fast enough to keep pace with the teacher and she only read the sentence twice before she or he moved on. The only part of the process that I think actually helped me with the spelling test was the writing of the words five times each. In this I was actually learning the words.

Despite all of this I was still a horrible speller through my school years and into my adult life. It was not until I was about 25 and decided to go back to school that I realized how poor my spelling skills were. However, with the help of Microsoft Word and having a job where I had to write every day I slowly improved on my spelling skills. I think what also spurred me along the most was when I told my father that I wanted to go back to school he told me that my grammar skills were “terrible.”

What helped me learn words was reading them in books. Seeing the words and if I was unsure of the word many times reading the whole sentence would flesh out the word. If I was to teach spelling or vocabulary I would want the students to read the words in different short stories that had the words. I know this might be a challenge but I am sure I am not the first one to think of this.

Now my son, who is in the 3^rdGrade, seems to be having a whole new experience with learning spelling and vocabulary. He has a nine block set of options to choose from for week. He has to complete them in a tic-tac-toe fashion. His teacher has embraced assisted technology and the internet to help him along. He has the option of writing the words five times, which is one he normally chooses. He can also make a voki of his words and create word searches. Willie has had enormous success with these tactics and he vocabulary is much more advanced than mine at the age of 8.

# posted by robcasting @ 5:41 PM 0 Comments