Hi Charles,
It's me again (no groans please!) ;)
  >accurately in the first grade, too.  "Inventive spelling" shouldn't be
  >allowed past mid-first grade; children's misspellings should be
  >corrected so erroneous patterns are not reinforced."
Where to begin on this one - which makes me see (not red but...) pink. I
can see what he is getting at - about the erroneous patterns but....
Just think if we told children every word you write has to spelled
perfectly the first time! Children would never put a pencil to paper.
There is nothing wrong with inventive spelling. I took my Language
instruction - as a student teacher - from a professor that was doing
research in this. Have you ever seen the research results on how
children spell - naturally (or using invented spelling if you like)? Now
I tried this personally so I fully agree with what she told us. This is
what you do.
You give a child a spelling test of specific words when
they are learning to write/spell and you give them the same spelling
test over a period of time. You can give this same test to children
anywhere in any country that speaks English. What you will find is the
same spelling constructions being made and the same development
occurring.
All children do not learn at the same speed etc. but you will
see the same development - as in anything else anyone learns. If you
want details I have a paper somewhere that describes this in more detail
- talking of spelling stages and writing etc.
Most teachers I know, including myself, do it this way or one of these
ways. One book - usually a journal - is kept uncorrected - the child
writes freely. In creative writing, etc. corrections are made. At the
beginning of grade one I usually say to a child something like "you
really tried to spell these words and I can "read" what you wrote - now
which ones would you like to know how to spell." Or I will suggest a few
they might like to know because the words are ones they use a lot.
At this level if you correct every word a child writes the level of self
esteem is going to plummet. I've seen a lot of children who have been
through this ordeal and they are very reluctant to write anything.
Then there's the kids who ask for every word they need to spell they are
just not willing to take a risk at all.
Usually if a child has to have a word I will help them spell it. I say
the word slowly and ask what sounds do they hear in the word - at the
beginning in the middle at the end. Often I will put dashes on the paper
to represent each letter and we gradually fill them in. Most of the time
the child with this help spells the word correctly by themselves. I then
tell them "Now look at that word you spelled it all by yourself - you
didn't need me at all!" or " You only needed my help in the middle ( or
wherever) and that was a hard part" (Usually telling them that English
is a funny language - dealing with irregular spelling patterns, sounds,
etc.)
CB>It is quite possible in your school, your district or even your county
  >that phonics are being used in your whole language program, but that is
  >not always the case.  To wit, the following comes from the article "What
  >is Whole Language", noted above...
This is too true unfortunately.
CB>"The whole word method continued to gain favor during the 1920's.
Much
Now, I have not extensively studied the roots of the Whole Language
method - so tell me (Maybe Dan or someone else can answer this if you
can't) was the Whole Word method supposed to be Whole Language back then
because the articles I have on reading show The Whole Word method as
being a more traditional one than Whole Language.
CB>1. Try to recognize the general pattern, or configuration of the word.
  >2. Special characteristics of the appearance of the word 3. Similarity
  >to known words 4. Recognition of familiar parts in longer words. 5. Use
  >picture clues 6. Use context clues 7. Phonetic and structural analysis of
  >words.
CB>The strategies were listed in the order of their importance for new word
  >recognition. Only rarely would a student arrive at number seven without
  >believing they had found the secret word. The 1928 "strategies" are very
  >similar to what is advocated by whole language experts today."
Yes, this is more like the Whole Language I am familiar with. However,
you take everything into consideration and it should happen very quickly
that is you don't sit and stare and stare at the word then the picture
etc. etc. Whole Language to me - at least as far as reading is concerned
- is that you take every known method of learning to read and shake it
up together - that is it is an eclectic method that should reach every
child because it uses all methods, language experience, whole word,
phonics, etc.
CB>And the following comes from the article by Jill Stewart noted in the
  >message previous to this one...
(Continued to next message)
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