Reading is an important skill that helps society communicate information and express ideas. It is crucial to the foundation of society that we teach our children how to read at a young age and encourage them to grow and enhance their reading abilities throughout their school careers and throughout their lives. The NAEYC article explains many different ways that children can develop their reading skills.
At a young age, many children will possess some knowledge of word sounds and structure but will not have a firm grasp on the exact phonic rules of letter combinations. With this in mind, a teacher can have their student's write an assortment of words and let them try to spell them out using their knowledge of sounds. This strategy is known as invented spelling. By using invented spelling, a teacher can pinpoint which areas of word comprehension a child understands and which areas a child needs to work on. This serves as valuable knowledge for a teacher and can be used to advance a student in the skill of reading. This strategy should not be used in excess but if used in the proper amount, it can be incredibly beneficial to a student and their reading level.
I remember my 1st grade teacher (Mrs. Lawson) used this method and it made a great impact on my learning. We would write a few sentences every morning about a given topic and she would not tell us how to spell the words. Instead, she would makes us sound them out and spell them the way that we thought they were spelled. Then she would read through them and talk to us individually and show us how the proper way to spell a word was.
Below is a video that highlights the multiple benefits of invented spelling. Enjoy!
I also think that invented spelling is important because teachers can see a childs understanding of language through their writing. It sounds like invented spelling worked for you!
ReplyDeleteI think one of the most powerful things the teacher says in this video clip, is that students feel a lot more ownership with writing and spelling when they are working on their own piece of writing, rather than a worksheet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing a video clip, Josh!
I agree that encouraging a child to form a sentence without help will help strengthen their ability to write. I think it is important as future educators that we learn how not to spoon feed our students!
ReplyDeleteI feel that invented spelling is a great tool in young learners. The only thing about it is that when I was younger, I was a horrible speller and still am. This form of educating made me very self-conscious of my writing and spelling ability. In order for this to take effect on me, there would need to be some kind of praise or way of encouraging students like me. If that makes any sense. But all together I like the idea of using invented spelling to help with reading.
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