No, I didn't mean misspent, although I might have, and I do know that's not how you spell 'misspelled'. However, it's exactly how it sounds, and that is the problem that the majority of 5th Graders have when they write: they still write the words phonetically, sounding them out as they go along, and completely forgetting to apply the spelling rules they have learned, and aced, on their weekly spelling tests. This is partly because they are not as motivated by accuracy as they are by getting their ideas out on paper. But is also because they don't yet have a sense of the reasons behind the spelling patterns they should be applying, or that there are some basic building blocks that they can leverage to turn verbs into nouns, adjectives into adverbs, and even to create new words that fit the accepted patterns of the English language.
This is the Derivational Relations stage of spelling instruction, where spellers learn that words related in meaning are often related in spelling, discover the basic morphemes of English language, and begin to be able to break words apart into their prefixes, roots, and suffixes. | Morpheme |
Creative Spelling, Created Meaning | I find that sort of stuff fascinating, but your average 5th Graders would rather stick pins in their eyes than memorize lists of latin roots and unfixed affixes. And it's one thing to learn the list. It's a whole other story to start applying the rules in your writing. And in the end, what really matters is that children recognize, and revel in, the power of vocabulary to create precise, powerful meaning. |
Spelling instruction needs an injection of joy if we want 11 year olds to start to care about how words are spelled, and to experiment with the words they use in their writing.
So, here are some ways I have been experimenting with boosting my students' engagement with spelling by adding more inquiry and creativity to pique their curiosity and build their confidence in spelling and vocabulary:
So, here are some ways I have been experimenting with boosting my students' engagement with spelling by adding more inquiry and creativity to pique their curiosity and build their confidence in spelling and vocabulary:
1. Examine a few, carefully-chosen, words closely
- 4 target words per week that are relevant to our curriculum
- How are they defined?
- How are they constructed?
- What are the affixes and roots?
- What might make them tricky to spell?
- How might we transform them into other parts of speech?
2. Make time for practice and reflection
- Display target words on a word wall
- Collect examples of when we have used them successfully in context
- Look back every so often, to evaluate whether we are applying our new vocabulary in our writing
3. Add some creativity and experimentation!
- Show the definitions in creative ways
- Create new vocabulary words using what we know about affixes
- Play with morphemes and modular vocabulary flipbooks
- Make predictions about definitions, using what we know about roots and affixes.
Maybe we won't be exposed to as many words this way, but I hope we will remember and apply those we do learn, and pick up some useful tools for writing and reading new words along the way!