What Works in Teaching Spelling

There are many methods for teaching spelling. When you are evaluating which program you want to use with your students, keep these important considerations in mind:

The lessons should be taught through direct instruction.

Your student should be told explicitly what he needs to know. He should not have to guess or figure out patterns on his own.

The program should be incremental and sequential.

The program should start with the most basic spelling skills and gradually build upon skills the student has mastered. It should follow a logical order of instruction.

The program should be multisensory to be most successful.

In multisensory learning, the student sees and hears and touches. This helps our students learn through the major avenues to the brain.

Most children learn more easily through one sense than the others, so the teaching method should appeal to all learning styles. It is easy to see how a spelling program can appeal to the visual learner, because spelling is a visual skill. The auditory learner grows in knowledge through hearing things. They do best when information is given orally and they can discuss it. They learn when they can hear themselves—recapping what they just did, saying flashcards aloud, saying the sounds of the letters as they write them down. The hands-on learner learns best through manipulatives such as letter tiles.

The method should be based on the Orton Gillingham phonograms.

When your student knows the phonograms and a manageable number of spelling rules, he can spell the vast majority of English words. Your student will be short-changed if he doesn't learn the phonograms.

The program should teach spelling rules.

The rules show the patterns and the logic of the English language, and the exceptions to the rules are few. When the rules that govern the majority of words are known, the exceptions become clear and easier to learn.

The lessons should teach the different syllable types.

There are six basic syllable types. Spelling becomes much easier when students can recognize syllable in words.  

The method should provide continual review.

You don't want your student to forget the concepts you've taught him, and the only way to prevent that is to review! It doesn't take much time to review previously learned rules and words, and it helps to permanently ingrain the teaching in the student's brain. Two minutes a day is all it takes, and the long-term benefits are well worth the effort.

The ideal program contains dictation exercises.

After the student has learned to write basic words, you should dictate phrases or sentences for the student to write. It is common that a child can write his spelling words during a lesson, yet when it comes time to use them in a practical situation, he misspells the same words he was able to spell for the lesson! By having your student use his new knowledge in a practical situation, you are promoting better spelling. And unless you have the time to create phrases and sentences that contain only the words your student has been taught, it is very helpful if the program you choose includes dictation.

The lesson plans should be easy to follow.

You have enough to do without trying to figure out how or what to teach! Make sure that the lesson plans are clear so that your attention can be on your student instead of on what to do next.