It's O.K. to Spell it Wrong

In a kindergarten practicum classroom, the two lead teachers told the practicum teachers to not tell the students how to spell words, even if they asked! At first this struck me as odd, and somehow wrong, I mean weren’t we supposed to as teachers correct spelling and fix mistakes, but the lead teachers explained that it was important and ok for the students to have invented spelling and at this age it was preferred. Now of course the students could look at the words around the room and copy certain words, guaranteeing they correctly spelled the word, but no teacher in that room was going to tell a student how to spell ‘rainbow’. Instead the teachers told the students to spell the word the best they could.

            In chapter 6 this idea is supported and another reason I found to encourage invented spelling is that some students at this age, who may have not had much experience writing unconventionally may be afraid to write conventionally and not spell words correctly for fear that this writing will not be accepted. This is not an attitude we should be expressing to our students but instead that their writing, no matter at which stage is accepted, because at the core, writing is used to communicate a message. Every child has the right to communicate and so its important for us as teachers to encourage students to right even if they are afraid that no one will be able to ‘read’ it, because the truth is, you are there to teach them little strategies to make it easier for other people to be able to ‘read’ it.

            One way to help students is model writing, we already model reading so similarly it is important to not impose subjects or sentences, just like we consider students interest in picking out texts, on students but instead begin with a discussion and write their ideas or sentences down in front of them, write exactly what they say, read it back to them from left to right, and encourage the students to read the sentence themselves.

            Another way to help students when they practice writing and more specifically with spelling certain words, is to tell students to break a word into parts and listen for those parts, then tell students to use their knowledge of letters to choose the letters they hear and write them down in the correct order. This is a simple strategy and most often students will be spelling the word they are thinking of incorrectly but it helps them practice phonics with sound manipulation and gives them confidence in spelling on their own. Gradually students will realize their invented spelling is not the correct spelling and will ask how words are spelled, which is a good thing and the next stage in the process. It is important that they ask as they are gaining a new word for them to add to their growing spelling vocabulary.

            Children should be writing before they can fully read independently and writing for various purposes, and encouraged to write as much as they are encouraged to read, as practicing one helps with learning and growing in the other, and remember to tell your preschool and kindergarten students that their writing does not have to look like adult writing and its ok if it doesn’t.