Is Spelling Still Important?
Posted on October 17, 2015
I delivered a PD at a school last week, showing the teachers a very simple and extremely effective spelling technique that they could implement immediately with their students using materials they already had in their classrooms. This technique will work for anyone, however it is of most use to students who are dyslexic or have difficulties with spelling.
Before I demonstrated the technique though I asked the teachers if spelling was still important? In this modern world with so many gadgets, computers and devices that can correct our spelling for us (sometimes with amusing results), what place does spelling still have?
The teachers were in agreement that spelling was important as it helped students to read and write, it helped them across learning areas and it was a life skill. They also believed that spelling would help kids when they were older and wanted or needed to communicate in writing. These are all very valid points.
As a dyslexic person myself I must confess that I would have been only too happy for society to decide that spelling was no longer important. I used to dread daily spelling activities and weekly tests in primary school, in fact it was the thing I loved most about high school – NO MORE SPELLING!!
For a child who struggles with spelling, school can become a very unpleasant experience, no matter how hard they try, no matter how many times they practice their words the system keeps reinforcing their lack of ability in this area.
As was pointed out by the teachers at the school I visited, spelling goes across all learning areas, so some children who struggle with it start to see themselves as “stupid”, “slow”, “less intelligent” because they simply battle to pick up this one concept. Often these children can be bright or even gifted in other areas but this can be overlooked and this self-belief about their ability to learn can become a life long limiting belief, sometimes holding them back for years or even a lifetime.
So I believe that learning to spell is important for all students, for all the reasons mentioned above but most importantly because of the confidence that it gives the student in their ability to learn, in their intelligence and in their ability to communicate effectively in writing. As the mother of a young boy who I helped stated “it’s wonderful that he’s now learning to spell but the real gift is in the confidence that it has given him in himself.”
As someone who grew up doubting my abilities, partly due to my early struggles with education and as someone who knows only too well the frustration of a lack of ability to spell my aim is to share this technique with as many families and schools as possible so that young people today can grow up confident in themselves.