"The ultimate indicator of spelling success is not how high the grades on the spelling test are but how well the students apply spelling techniques to their own writing" (McAlexander et al 75). The student that I wrote about in response 2 does not know how to use strategies in her writing.
Her teacher revealed to me that "Kamesha" has brain injury from a car accident. Even though she has brain injury, I was and am still committed to figuring out the best way to get her to employ spelling strategies in her writing, but she can't. For example, I taught her a mini-lesson on the homophones, their, there, and they're. I taught her:
When you see the(I)r, think I own, she owns, he owns, they own;
when you see t(here), think place or location.
when you see they're, think they + are.
Then I made sentences asking her to use the right word using the explanation from above:
1. That is ______________ coat.
2. We are going _____________.
3. _________ are going to the store.
She performed the task perfectly. Then when I asked her to locate and correct the errors in her own writing she couldn't. Admittedly, I'm a little frustrated as I don't know how to best help her recognize errors in her own writing. I concluded that she could find them when they're outside of her writing, but has difficulty executing the task correctly when they're situated within her writing.
RAsheda, your approach to teaching spelling is quite comprehensible. What I would suggest in this case is you should create more spelling exercises to consolidate the material your student is having trouble with. Then you could move on to finding your student's errors in her writing. At the early stage, you could do this together. You might read a sentence together, looking for any errors she might have. If she cannot identify the mistake, you could give her some hints. As she becomes more experienced with the identification of spelling errors, you could encourage her to work on her own, without your help. As you might already know, not many students can see their mistakes. So, you have to figure out different ways to teaching spelling. It seems you are managing that.
ReplyDeleteNodira
Thank you for your reply Nodira. I'll try to incorporate some of your techniques. My primary goal for Kamesha is to increase her awareness of spelling rules. It is my hope that as she learns rules, she'll be able to use them in her writing.
DeleteThank you for your thoughtful reply.
Hi Rasheda, I've encountered this phenomenon often, and not just for people who have impairments. It also happens for people who are writing standardized English as a second language variety or English as a second language. When we focus on one isolated skill, we have fewer challenges cognitively. When we focus on a fully sentence, paragraph or story, there are so many more variables--so much to catch the eye and ear--that it must be more difficult to hone in on details. We also often focus on extracting or constructing meaning, rather than on form (word structure, sentence structure, essay structure).
ReplyDeleteIt is important for the student (Kamesha) to know that she does know the grammatical principles that you are explaining. That is a successful learning venture. She is now trying to apply that knowledge, which requires new forms of expertise.
Has Kamesha been evaluated formally for her particular learning issues? She might be experiencing difficulty in processing information of certain kinds.
--Barbara