Spelling and word fluency

 I have experience of working with students of all levels, but one of the biggest issues I find with writing fluency is not often related to the content but it is spelling. Now, this isn’t a ‘bash spelling’ blog but it is about exploring our relationship with spelling. 

The two easiest things to spot with any piece of writing are handwriting and spellings. Parents often mention handwriting or spelling as being an issue or something they have noticed. They are the most visible things about writing anyone can spot. You don’t need to be an expert to see if handwriting is neat or if the spelling of words isn’t accurate. Because they are the most obvious things, they are the things that students are hyperconscious of. And parents! They can, if we are not careful, be the markers of success in subjects. For example, how many subjects, other than English, cite spelling and handwriting as key issues when marking a class set of work. 

The problem with things like handwriting and spelling is that come to the final exams they count for so little in terms of the overall mark. Something we have subconsciously built as being so important collectively is of little value compared to other things such as ideas, sentence structure, control of punctuation and crafting of writing. Handwriting and spelling have some value but not that much value in the big picture of things. 

When handwriting and spelling are seen as having a higher priority in terms of writing, it warps the way students think.  It controls the way they write. 

What do you do when you want to use a word that you know is perfect but you are not sure of how it is spelt? 

Your response to that one question is quite telling. Do you guess? Do you think about it? Do you practise spelling it different ways? Or, do you go for the less effective word because you can spell it? 

The response depends largely on the type of student, but if you have been trained to be conscious of handwriting and spelling is paramount, then you are going to select the less effective alternative. There’s safety in it. Better to spell an ineffective word correctly than an effective word incorrectly. Then, there becomes a hidden process for the student. They select safer words rather than effective words. There’s a built in hindrance for fluency and communication. Not only is the student trying to write, but they are trying to second guess their spellings and word choices. They are not thinking about what the best word to use is, but they are thinking what is the word in their vocabulary that they can spell and use in this context. 

Let’s take this further. What if you were a student with dyslexia and you know that spelling is one of your struggles? Are you going to be able to write continuously when writing a story? No. You will be stopping, depending on the severity of the issue, every few words. This is the hidden problem for a lot of students. Because it isn’t an explicit process, we don’t know it is happening. 

For me, this internal issue is such a problem for us at the heart of a lot of our fluency issues in writing. Not only are they slowing their writing down, but they are tactically reducing the impact of their choices at the hands of spelling. 

What can we do to combat this internal oversimplification of vocabulary? Speaking to specific students is one way. Or, a far more simpler approach is to view other things as more important in writing. What we place an emphasis on becomes what the students place an emphasis on? If the first thing a teacher picks up on is spelling, then the first thing a student will focus on will be spelling. 

There is a place for spellings in school’s curriculums, but, maybe, we need to think of it last rather than think of it first when looking at all forms of work. 

Thanks for reading, 

Xris

Oracy - The infamous ‘I don’t know’.

One of the things about oracy is that we often focus on the what rather than the how students speak. Communication is much more than words and phrases. It is how we control the flow of speech. Or, more importantly, how we empower students to dive in and swim in the spoken discourse. 

One area I have been working on, with some success, is dealing with the infamous ‘I don’t know’. The blanket answer for a lot of things in school. But, under that ‘I don’t know’ there is so much more. It isn’t just a simple ‘I don’t know’. Here are just some possible things going on: 

I can’t be bothered to answer 

I genuinely don’t know the answer

I am scared of getting it wrong 

I wasn’t listening to the question 

I don’t want attention drawn to me

I know the answer but I don’t want people to think less of me  

I have an idea but I am not a hundred percent sure it is right 

A simple ‘I don’t know’ is never that simple. There’s the issue of the social implications to factor in too. The fear of getting it right can be as equal to getting it wrong. The positive affirmation of the teacher is negated by the negative comments of their peers. 

All too often ‘I don’t know’ is the quick way out. And, in fairness, the problem is repeated again and again in lessons. Largely, it is a communication problem rather than a knowledge question. Yes, they might lack the knowledge, but there’s a problem with what to do when there is insecure knowledge. We are all hazy at times about knowledge, but we’ve learnt strategies to cope or deal with this haziness. People are people. 

One thing a student did this week, that I really liked, was to boldly prefix a comment with ‘In my opinion’ when discussing an idea about a text. The great thing about that was that she was ringfencing the comment. By framing the comment as an ‘opinion’ there’s wiggle room. It is now an opinion, which, as we know with opinions, they are there to be agreed or disagreed. They are not right or wrong. That framing of answers is such an important thing for students and adults to do. Another one is ‘This is a guess but…’. Both examples show how students can frame answers to support them. 

How we deal and articulate answers is crucial. Education is awash with knowledge retrieval but I fear how we do it can be quite narrowing in terms of communication. Compare these two options: 

[1]  Tim, answer question 4 for me. 

[2] Tim, which question would you like to answer for me? 

Number 1 is very limiting and relies on the student having an answer or guessing if not sure. Number 2 puts the student in control and helps ensure confidence in the answering process. They might have questions they are not sure of, but it gives them the option of which one they pick. They are still answering the question, but on their terms. This is my preferred way and I only switch to 1 if I want to check a precise student has got a precise bit of information. 

We’d all like confident students and I think as teachers there’s things we can do to create that confidence, but there is a space for doubt in the classroom. And, there’s something we can teach students about ‘doubtful answers’ and more importantly ‘doubtful answering’. A large majority of students will only answer a question if they are a hundred percent certain  the answer is correct. You can see that on exam papers. Why did they leave a large number of questions unanswered? They were unanswered because they were ‘doubtful answers’ and the student only feels comfortable answering with ‘certain answers’. This becomes such a difficult thing to unpick.  

Instead, we need to help students deal with ‘doubtful answering’ on a regular basis and in every lesson. Not every question needs to be answered with the confidence of a god. In fact, we need to embrace ‘doubting Thomas’ in our lessons. That caution. That hesitancy. That uncomfortable feeling. The language we and the students use need to build in ‘doubtful answering’. To start this off, I have produced a list of things for students to say instead of ‘I don’t know or not sure’.

Could you give me a minute to think about it? 

Could you reword the question for me? 

Could you give me a clue about where I can find the answer to the question? 

Could you come back to me with another question later? 

This is a guess but I think it is … 

This is all so students can work around this doubtful answering questions. Students need options and largely in the classroom they feel like there are no options. It is either right or wrong. We need to help students answer questions and that happens at the point of questioning. That’s why the above questions are on a poster next to my board. We do something instead of saying ‘I don’t know’. We give students options to reframe the question. 

Communication is about options. Part of oracy is highlighting the options available to a student. 

Thanks for reading, 

Xris