newbieoftwo Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 I just got off the phone of a heated conversation with my younger sister that is working on her bachelors in education and plans to teach 1st or 2nd grade. According to what she has learned, reading and spelling are vastly different and completely unrelated :glare: I disagree. Any other views??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acorn Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 completely unrelated to me, but I'm dyslexic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdownie Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 I do teach my dd reading and spelling separately, but what were your sister's explanations for why they are unrelated? I would be interested to know the answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Well, one is decoding and one is encoding, so they do use some different processes in the brain. You can have a great reader and a poor speller. Is that what she meant? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 They *are* different, although I don't know if I'd say "vastly." Spelling rules and phonics rules are not the same. They're connected, but not the same. How many people just on this forum have been puzzled because their children can read well but their spelling is awful? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbieoftwo Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 The argument began over 1st grade writing assignments. She was telling me about the 1st grade class she worked with today and a student needed help completing his sentence because he lost his train of thought each time he tried to spell a word. I asked why they didn't focus more on spelling before writing or do copywork? She said copywork is highly discouraged and that they are working on only spelling the 100 sight words that are required for 1st grade :001_huh: She also said that the focus is more on sentence structure than spelling :001_huh: My experience may be different as ds is picking up spelling informally just by focusing on phonics reading. He may just be a natural speller, I'm not sure yet as we are just doing CVC words. I simply mean that focusing on phonics instruction and then moving on to the spelling rules that go with the sounds they previously learned (in Kindergarten) seems more rational than learning spelling from a sight word list. She then told me I had no idea what I was talking about :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbieoftwo Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 They *are* different, although I don't know if I'd say "vastly." Spelling rules and phonics rules are not the same. They're connected, but not the same. How many people just on this forum have been puzzled because their children can read well but their spelling is awful? This is what I meant. They are different, but still connected. A child could still be good at one and not at the other. In her opinion, you take a completely different approach to reading than you would when teaching spelling and they are not related in any way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 The argument began over 1st grade writing assignments. She was telling me about the 1st grade class she worked with today and a student needed help completing his sentence because he lost his train of thought each time he tried to spell a word. I asked why they didn't focus more on spelling before writing or do copywork? She said copywork is highly discouraged and that they are working on only spelling the 100 sight words that are required for 1st grade :001_huh: She also said that the focus is more on sentence structure than spelling :001_huh: My experience may be different as ds is picking up spelling informally just by focusing on phonics reading. He may just be a natural speller, I'm not sure yet as we are just doing CVC words. I simply mean that focusing on phonics instruction and then moving on to the spelling rules that go with the sounds they previously learned (in Kindergarten) seems more rational than learning spelling from a sight word list. She then told me I had no idea what I was talking about :lol: Although I still agree with her that phonics and spelling are not the same, she has way more issues than that. She doesn't have a clear understanding about the importance of phonics in the first place. Children who are very visual tend to be better spellers, because they *see* those words in their heads when they go to write them (I'm that way). That doesn't necessarily mean they understand all the spelling rules, and most children will need to be taught those rules specifically, whether they read well or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbieoftwo Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Maybe I will have to call and apologize. Phonics is not used very much in my local school district and my sister doesn't understand my obsession with it :lol: But that is why I am homeschooling :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Maybe I will have to call and apologize. Don't rush into that. :D Phonics is not used very much in my local school district and my sister doesn't understand my obsession with it :lol: But that is why I am homeschooling :001_smile: This is something we should always remember when reading reviews of certain reading products: Public school teachers, and parents whose dc are in public school, generally do NOT have a good understanding of what phonics is and why it's important, so when they rave about something and how well it teaches "phonics," they could be totally off, KWIM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicMom Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 I think spelling & reading are 2 different sides of the same coin. Spelling is encoding the verbal English language (writing down the letters that correspond to sounds to form a written word). Reading is decoding written English language (looking at the written word and knowing how to verbalize the sounds represented by the letter combinations). They are different, but also very related. I guess I think it's both. Certainly they are related, but kids are often natural at one and terrible at the other. Usually if that's the case they are good readers and bad spellers. I don't know if there are many good spellers who are bad readers because natural spellers seem to usually be natural readers. I think it is most practical under normal circumstances to teach reading/phonics before you focus on spelling for developmental reasons. Likewise, I think it's wise to focus on spelling before you start doing too much writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 They *are* different, although I don't know if I'd say "vastly." Spelling rules and phonics rules are not the same. They're connected, but not the same. How many people just on this forum have been puzzled because their children can read well but their spelling is awful? :iagree: If you can, find Andrew Pudewa's Spelling and the brain. We keep spelling totally separate now, and ds is finally improving with spelling. They are different. He is a 5th grader. Last spring (before we started PZ) we had him tested. His spelling was high 2nd grade and his reading comprehension was mid 9th grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 We've had to teach spelling separately even though oldest DD is an awesome reader, but we still aim to do it phonetically :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbieoftwo Posted October 18, 2012 Author Share Posted October 18, 2012 I guess I am seeing this skewed as I have a natural speller that has picked up spelling through his reading (and is better at it!). I now see that spelling can be a completely separate subject that requires completely separate teaching. I will call to apologize :D And then continue our constant argument over copywork vs original writing in the lower grades :lol: Oh the joy of having a sister as a teacher :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.