![]() That resulted in moving away from the High Frequency vocabulary and focusing a little bit more on some patterns.įor subscribers: Pocono schools pushing for in-person learning despite omicron spreadįast forward to the 21st century, educators, with the help of neuroscientists, found that reading and spelling are related, which is where the science of reading was established. This was the start of changing the way spelling words were identified and it was then that the use of patterns in spelling began. Learning did not focus on patterns and since now educators were starting to understand that brain research a little bit better, they realized that there was a need to start looking at some of the patterns (following the same format or rule) of words. Looking at the 1950s, educators realized that the words were not organized in any way that would promote that orthographic generalization. This again was not utilizing looking at any patterns and sound/letter representation within the words and it was realized that, through brain research, the brain really likes patterns and the study method did not promote the use of patterns in spelling. They had students write each missed word three times to solidify that word. This brought about the idea of repetition to memorize. Going into the late 1930s and the 40s, educators once again realized it was not really working very well.Ī change to what is called the “study method” was implemented. It was decided to start utilizing those words for spelling. Research found that about 4,000 of the most frequently used words constituted about 98% of the vocabulary that was used by adults and children. It was decided to again narrow down the list to the most frequently used words in spelling and again, use rote memorization. In the 1930s, educators started looking at spelling lists and to identify the most frequently used words. Therefore, they were just asking the students to memorize the words using rote memorization, the lowest form of memory to spell. Unfortunately, like the practices in the 19th century, there was no focus on what's called the orthographic principle, which is basically understanding that the letters are the symbols which represent individual sounds in the spoken language and that sound/letter unit to represent words. Therefore, what they would do in school is give the students long lists of words and ask them to memorize them and through rote memorization, apply those words, and hope that it stuck. Here is the tour of what spelling was and, why they did the practices they did with spelling, versus why they are looking to continue moving forward within the 20th century with their current practices.īack in the 19th century, spelling was focused on the thought that if a student knew bigger words, the rare words, that they had much more intelligence than the average person. Kulick (Principal, Resica Elementary, and yes, proud sister here) addressed spelling then versus spelling now. The science of reading is research across the globe that has revealed how we learn to read what goes wrong when we don't read and what good instruction needs to include.īrain researchers have done live scans of children while they read and examined the processing of what happens when a child reads. Many have been working in isolation, but with such ability to access and increase communication, the research world is combining with the education world to really solidify those things that they know.ĭr. Bradley (Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction) has taken the district in, an effort to increase students' comprehension. It was a very timely change, as they were piloting or pioneering their new ELA (English Language Arts) programs that Dr. Riker’s (Superintendent) leadership, elementary educators were faced with the challenge of eliminating the old practice of rote memorization and simple regurgitation of spelling. ![]() I’ve taken the liberty of using some excerpts from the committee minutes and including information provided by some of the district’s educators. My how times have changed! Understanding the progression of education certainly cannot be explained in one little article.īut, at a recent meeting of the East Stroudsburg Area School District Education Committee, some light was shown on two important skills that will take a couple of articles to explain, the current manner of teaching spelling and the importance of handwriting skills. Readin’ and writin’ and ‘rithmetic, the old school thought of- school. ![]()
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