I can't stop thinking about the link that I posted earlier and how the students were allowed to misspell words in their comments. I'm thinking that Mrs. McCullers wants to motivate the students to post comments without having to worry about criticism. I'm not sure. When I start up my class blog, I will model my writing so that students see that I re-read my postings and comments before I publish. I constantly re-read everything that I write and if I find out that I have published something that has an error, I would definitely be embarrassed. By the way, I know I misspelled the word spelling in my title!
If you have or are thinking of starting a class blog, would spelling and grammar count?
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Whether spelling should count or not should depend on what the goal of the assignment is. Spelling is generally irrelevant in my science class. I prefer the students focus on the meaning of the word, its use and place in context, rather that how to spell it. I could understand spelling being scored on a language arts blog, or one specifically designed to teach accuracy of spelling.
ReplyDeleteI agree that spelling does not always count for something. Personally, I can be a bad speller when I am typing, because my fingers do not hit the keys as fast as mind is going. I am an English teacher, but even in my classes, I can only grade spelling so far. I find that if I grade spelling on an in class assignment, then half the time I will not receive completed assignments. Students are so preoccupied with getting everything spelled correctly that I may only receive a few sentences instead of a half a page or page that I requested. With that noted, I have requested essays from my students that took weeks to complete, and computer time was given (four days worth), and on those essays spelling mattered, because of the time and resources that were given. If I were to have my students’ blog, I would not grade spelling unless I was asking for a “formal” response. I would prefer to see the content of the work, instead of looking at spelling. There are plenty of other ways to work on spelling and grade it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Crystal. We just don't have all the time in the world to be focusing on spelling. I have these stamps that say 'graded for content' just so parents know. Sometimes I don't even capitalize when typing and holding my baby!
ReplyDeleteI think spelling should definitely count. I teach 7th graders and the spelling errors I see on a day to day basis are horrible! I even get work that looks like it is a text message. The students do not seem to mind at all. I think that in order for students to become a better speller or writer they should spell and write correctly...especially when it is being published.
ReplyDeleteI think that spelling is an important skill, but enforcing correct spelling in a blog should depend on the objective of the blog and the age group that is using it. Having said that though, spelling is becoming terrible among our students and needs to be emphasized more in all educational situations.
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ReplyDeleteI agree in part with many of the comments already made here. First with Crystal, I think spelling is especially important when it is a formal assignment and ample time has been provided for students to proof read their draft before submitting it. If a student is writing a casual comment on a blog and they have misspelled words but get their point across perhaps the spelling isn’t the most important factor. If the assignment involves commenting on a blog and you preface the assignment with the detail of “spelling and grammar will be graded” then students should take the extra time to proof their work.
ReplyDeleteAs Sonia states in her comment, students are using text messaging short hand in classroom assignments and that shouldn’t be accepted in any form of school work – casual or formal writing included. I work in the admissions office of a college so I process many documents that students submit including admissions applications, special request petitions, and graduation applications and the number of mistakes I see in these documents is alarming, especially when I’m dealing with adults! I have witnessed not only misspelled words and poor grammar but also short hand such a “B” instead of “be” or “2” instead of “to or too.” Even if the student’s grammar or spelling is irrelevant to their actual request, it doesn’t help plead their case when asking for a special exception to be made and they clearly didn’t take the extra time to proof read their document (or type instead of unreadable hand write with white out marks or scribbles on colored paper).
I think our level of expectation should be based on not only age and grade level but also the intent of the assignment or paperwork. We definitely don’t want to stifle the student so much that they give up because of an issue with spelling but we also don’t want to set them up for failure later on when grades will be given based on grammar, punctuation and spelling in addition to content.
(Here's hoping that I haven't made any spelling errors after that long comment!)
I think that teaching spelling is a matter of your own philosophy around a particular assignment as well as what your school’s philosophy is. For the longest time I was under the impression that our school philosophy around spelling was not to correct it, whether it be a reading language arts or writing assignment. Our previous ELA coaches wanted our students to focus on content rather than grammatical errors. I have still taught my students to look words up in the dictionary and have taught them basic spelling rules but I have never pushed the issue on my second graders. However, in the last month, a different ELA coach has entered my classroom and has worked with some of my students to prepare them for the STAR and she has a whole different philosophy. Next year, I need to retrain some of my students and really enforce spelling rules on them across the curriculum. It should be an interesting transition that I am not looking super forward to since I am not the greatest speller myself. I look up every word in the dictionary or type my comments into a word document (like I am now) then do a spell check before I post.
ReplyDeleteContent is king...but as many of you have previously stated, if the assignment is more than just an afterthought, proofreading on the part of the student is just good practice. I like that Marilyn mentioned that she would model proofreading before publishing to the students, and maybe even point out how embarrassed she would be if she had made a mistake...
ReplyDeleteI found an article that speaks to this exact topic entitled “Why Spelling Remains in Style.”
ReplyDeletehttp://www.careerhubblog.com/main/2008/08/why-spelling-re.html
One of my favorite lines in the article is this:
“We don't have unlimited time, so spend it on ideas, not hyphens.”
On the other hand, the author also says, “when you take the time to spell--you show that you care about both the appearance and the content of your information. Good spelling also demonstrates that you are good with details, and that you are paying attention. This builds trust, and increases the likelihood that your ideas will be carefully considered.”
It is a good, quick read and touches on a lot of what has been said here in this line of discussion.
Enjoy!
While spelling correctly will always be preferred to the other option, spelling incorrectly, I feel that blogs can be a fear free atmosphere where children can write without consequence, grades, all of those lovely things schools impose upon us. As a child that struggled with spelling, I would be timid and avoid blogging because of the fear of misspelling something. Luckily for me right now, firefox is underlining all my misspellings otherwise I would need to copy and paste into word to check my spelling and recopy/paste back into the post. I rather students have the opportunity to write freely in some atmosphere and I thinking blogging may be it!
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