I posted a big/little tirade today on my homeschool board list about parents and schools that apparently are not only allowing "creative" spelling, but ENCOURAGING it. I do not understand what this could possibly be about but I want to know more. I think it sounds so stupid and ridiculous and smacks a bit to me of the "Afraid to upset junior" bull-archy. Or maybe I just misunderstood the whole thing.
I was waiting for a bunch of people to flame me and to give me big guilt inducing stories about their kid who has difficulties with reading/writing/spelling and I was ready to accept criticism and...no one wrote anything so far! Grr now I feel even weirder. I wonder if they think I am so horrible or if no one wants to rock the boat so to speak and give me hell or agree with me. there is alot of EXTRA, ULTRA HYPER Sensitivity and even though this "community" doesn't seem to get together as a whole or even a fraction, ever, there is alot of super mega tippy-toeing and it ends up that no one writes much of anything "about homeschooling".
I would like to live in a culture/subculture of healthy disagreement and debate and respect, but I understand why this is often impossible.
Anyhow, this is what I said on my list, in reference to encouraging younger kids to make up spellings. Tell me what you think?
There is nothing wrong with telling your child "Wow, that's exactly how I think it should be spelled, too! But its actually N-E-I-G-H! Isn't that strange? English is a really quirky language, huh?" I think in an effort not to upset our kids, or to make them think everything they do is correct, even when it is not,we have gone so far as to be "afraid" to break to them the news that there is an English Language and it is not something Mommy or Daddy made up to make you sad or frustrated, but it is something that is just a TRUTH. There will be frustrations and disappointments along our lives, like if its raining and you really, really wished it was sunny. But the only actual trauma, in my opinion, would be to have to find out outside of the home, perhaps later in life, that yep, Neigh is spelled neigh and why couldn't Mom have just told me so? I have found that even the youngest children prefer truth, and usually without a lot of fancy apologies or worry surrounding it. Now this being said, there is a context of course. If some little kid made you a Valentine's card and you immediately corrected it, I think that would be unnecessary/rude/insensitive. But if a child asked me, "Did I spell everything right, Mama?" I would tell them "Well, since you asked, it looks like you accidentally left the N out of the word Valentine, but everything else was spelled perfectly!" and that's that. Its not mean. Some children might do well with having "Spelling" be some separate entity, and some will just pick it up with exposure to the written word. But to sit down and encourage made up spellings --(am I correct in this being what is happening?) is just completely bizarre to me and really worries me for the child who would think that everything--including our very dialect--could or should be altered to fit their personal comfort level. Maybe make up examples of how everyday living would cease to be if things were not in a common language, and how basic sets of rules (Stop light is red, big blue H sign means Hospital) help us all live. Also, if the child is just crying and freaking out and is convinced that they "Cannot Spell!" they might be a little young/not ready for it and might need a break from that stuff for a while. Better a little later, properly, than to mix a kid up....how long would the creative spelling phase last and then how/when to end it? I think its doing a child a disservice and setting up bad habits for no reason other than to avoid temporary discomfort or frustration. Maybe I misunderstood. Maybe we are talking about just letting some stuff slide when the kid is really working deeply on writing a story or something. Then yes, dont interrupt or discourage the creative process. But when the whole adventure is finished, and enjoyed, it would not only be ok to then go on to have the "proofreading" portion then (like all authors! even JK Rowling! give reassuring examples, "Mommy uses spell check, would you like to try it?") but it can show your child that you really value what they have written.
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8 comments:
Hi, I found you through the true face of birth blog. I student taught Kinder where we did let the students use creative spelling in their journals. We used it to make sure they were learning the phonics that we were teaching them. Formal spelling began in the first grade. I can't imagine allowing it past the beginning of first grade, but it is very helpful when kids are first learning phonics.
Hi!
I can see where that could be more than acceptible-- Kindergarteners are very little children and if they are writing (in journals! so cool!) then sure.
But letting them write freely is different to me than "encouraging invented/creative spelling". To me, encouraging implies that someone is literally telling a child to spell however they want.
This might just be something I see as proof that school starts all of this stuff too early. I see doing things one way in Kindergarten and then another in 1st or 2nd grade utterly bizarre. I know why the teachers have to, but I still think its odd and strange and I feel bad for--well really, everyone involved. The confused little child, the teachers, and the parents.
Its not wholistic and it makes my head spin for kids today. Heaven forbid they just live and play and do meaningful things until they are ready to read write spell, you know? But i know it cant go that way for most kids....
This is my personal tirade and nothing against you! Welcome to my blog and please keep reading!
"but I understand why this is often impossible" Well, why?
I agree completely about the spelling issue in principle. Spelling is a skill set that only comes with lots of reading because it's an entirely "visual" process ie. kids learn to recognize words, and how they are spelled, rather than by memorizing "spelling rules". That's why the old timers used spelling lists and had kids memorize them and why there were/are "spelling bees". Creative spelling allow the child to create a "visual" of the word wrongly spelled and then he has to recreate the "picture' of that word in his little noggin down the road. It's much,much easier to do two things: avoid having kids do a lot of writing until they are fluent readers and correct spelling, as you suggest, as it comes up. When they write a word and it is misspelled, it should be gently, but firmly, corrected so that the child gets the word "right" in his minds eye. Very nice post and I seriously want an answer to that question Joy-Joy! I wrote a big old long post on one of my blogs on this same topic today, so it's relevant to me.
I agree with you, especially if you want your kids to function in society at large. It will be hard to be taken seriously if your CV is full of "creative spelling"! Now English is a ridiculous language with all of its inconsistencies, but you need to learn the rules of proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
Maybe the reason no one said anything is because you are spot on.
If kids are feeling the need to spell creatively for any length of time, that means they are probably not reading enough books to see that certain words are spelled certain ways. Perhaps kids are spending so much time watching TV that they never get around to reading books.
I agree with Kneelingwoman that learning to spell well comes from coming in contact with enough words to see the patterns.
I can't see why anyone would want to flame you on this issue when you make so much logical sense. Kudos to you, Joy, for taking a stand on this odd issue (odd because it even IS an issue).
I agree with you Joy.
With regards to teaching spelling, I think you also have to know what type of reader the child is to determine how much help/teaching they need with spelling. My 11 year old has an amazing vocabulary and is a gift child verbally and as a reader. But he reads words in their whole form and is not a phonetic reader at all. What it means is that is spelling is awful! So, yes, we work on short spelling words, working on the rules of english and pointing out all the crazy exceptions.
erin
I agree with you. I can totally see letting spelling go in journals and free-writing at any level, really. But having taught English at the college level, I've seen many bright students who were unnecessarily limited by their lack of spelling fundamentals. What I've seen, mostly, is students who learned that it was okay to spell a word phonetically if they don't know how to spell it (so, I'd be reading an otherwise intelligent in-class essay and suddenly come upon the word "asumshun" instead of "assumption" -- really disappointing). And larger than the issue of poor spelling skills was the lack of knowledge in how to look up spelling in the dictionary. I always tell my students that a big reason why they have to take English is to learn to sound smart. It's true, and it's important, a good idea can fall on deaf ears if you sound dumb articulating it (they appreciate me putting it in these terms). So that's the problem with "asumshun" -- it sounds dumb, even if it's said by a smart person.
Anyway, this is my perspective at the college level. For beginning writers I certainly wouldn't be so blunt, but my point is, this strategy of "good enough" with spelling becomes a liability later on. I tend to agree with you that okay-in-K, not-okay-in-1 is a problem, because I know I hung onto certain erroneous ideas I learned, even if later I had opportunity to learn they were wrong (Pluto was a planet, Africa was the largest continent, the dollar is on the gold standard, I could go on).
I totally agree, and that line you used (it sounds right, but...) is EXACTLY the kind of thing I say to my kids. I've been blog-stalking you for only an hour but I have to say you rock. My biggest beef with the unschooling crowd is the idea that it's OK to encourage things that are actually WRONG. made-up spellings. Maybe when they're first learning their letters or something, I don't know.
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