1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,960 This is the reading instruction show. 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:05,880 I'm your host as always, Dr. Andy Johnson. 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:13,200 Topic of today's podcast is invented spelling, sometimes called temporary spelling. 4 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:21,520 Charles Reed, R-E-A-D in 1971, is thought to be the inventor of invented spelling. 5 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:26,080 Of course, he really didn't invent invented spelling. 6 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:33,560 He just recognized how important it was in the development of children's ability to 7 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:35,600 read and write. 8 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:42,840 However, the term he used to identify this phenomenon, invented spelling, was probably 9 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,120 a poor choice of words. 10 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:52,640 Because it wasn't long before gaggles of reactionary penguins began squawking and 11 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:58,280 flapping their wings, claiming that whole language teachers were telling children they 12 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:03,200 could spell words any way they wanted to. 13 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:11,520 Based on that term alone, they concluded that students were being taught that spelling wasn't 14 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:18,040 important, and that they should just invent any old way to spell. 15 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:24,840 And they pointed to falling test scores, which weren't really falling at all. 16 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:28,760 And they claimed that whole language teachers were to blame. 17 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:35,400 And they insisted these penguins that whole language teachers were destroying America standing 18 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:39,280 in the world and ruining the economy. 19 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:46,000 Now imagine that whole language teachers must indeed be powerful if they're able to do all 20 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:47,000 that. 21 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,400 But what about the children who protect the children? 22 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:57,880 They said, of course, if any of these penguins would have actually taken the dead fish out 23 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:05,720 of their mouths and bothered to read even one of the many books and articles describing 24 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:14,160 whole language and writing workshop or emergent writing, they would have soon realized how 25 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:19,280 silly their preconceived penguin rantings were. 26 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:25,720 Now it always seems a bit ironic to me that those who get the most upset about whole language 27 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:34,360 literacy instruction seem to be the most illiterate about whole language literacy instruction. 28 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:41,760 They seem to be title readers, reading only the titles of things and none of the content. 29 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:48,240 Now let me tell you the very first thing that good whole language teachers teach their students 30 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:54,960 on the very first day of school is that you have to read more than the title of the book 31 00:02:54,960 --> 00:03:01,760 or article and able to understand what that book or article is about. 32 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:10,640 However, to calm the sense of hysteria spreading in penguin world, the term invented spelling 33 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:17,080 was eventually replaced with the more appropriate term, temporary spelling. 34 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:19,920 But there are essentially the same thing. 35 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:23,400 So let's define our terms. 36 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:32,240 Let's define what's making the penguins so upset during the process of writing. 37 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:37,160 Students are taught if they don't know how to spell a word, they should give it their 38 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:47,040 best shot or use enough letters to temporarily hold the idea and tell they come back to edit 39 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:48,960 the piece. 40 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:53,560 This is what's called temporary spelling. 41 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:58,920 It's done so as not to ruin the flow of the writing. 42 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:06,440 This enables students to focus on the higher order thinking involved in the composing process. 43 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:14,840 Also, young children are able to write before they've mastered conventional forms of spelling 44 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:26,000 and is described in many podcasts, editing, as well as spelling in grammar are step four 45 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:31,400 of the five step writing process, not step five, not step one, two or three, but step 46 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:32,480 four. 47 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:37,600 Now, let's look at teaching writing. 48 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:45,160 Here's a concept that seems self-evident, but apparently it's not self-evident enough. 49 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,920 So let me make it more self-evident. 50 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,840 Spelling is not writing. 51 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:54,000 Let me say it again. 52 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,520 Spelling is not writing. 53 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:00,520 Writing is writing. 54 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:06,240 Spelling involves the expression and transmission of ideas. 55 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:13,240 Spelling is making sure that you're using socially agreed upon arrangement of letters 56 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:16,920 in the individual words. 57 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:21,840 Ideas versus an arrangement of letters. 58 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:27,320 Writing is something that takes a human being to do. 59 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:31,720 Writing is something a computer can do. 60 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:38,520 There are spell checks and grammar checks on your computer, but there's not a writing 61 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:41,880 check or a good idea check. 62 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:48,080 However, think of all the bad books and articles that would have been prevented if there were 63 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,360 a writing check or a good idea check. 64 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:59,960 Now, if you want students to become better writers, you must teach writing. 65 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:02,360 This doesn't mean we ignore spelling. 66 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:11,520 However, teaching writing is much different from teaching spelling or grammar or punctuation. 67 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:20,640 And one of the reasons why students have difficulties in writing is that spelling, grammar and punctuation 68 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,000 are being taught in place of writing. 69 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:30,880 Again, this does not mean we don't teach spelling, but we teach writing to help students become 70 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:32,280 better writers. 71 00:06:32,280 --> 00:06:36,440 We teach spelling someplace else. 72 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:42,080 Six big ideas related to temporary spelling and writing. 73 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:47,640 Number one, we need to treat real students like real writers. 74 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:54,120 You want to get our real students ready to be successful in the real world. 75 00:06:54,120 --> 00:07:01,160 In the real world, people aren't given weekly lists of words to spell. 76 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:08,080 In the real world, editing is step four of the five-step writing process. 77 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:14,760 In the real world, real writers have messy first drafts and revision. 78 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:22,960 Real writers focus on editing during the final phase of their writing. 79 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:29,920 There's a time and a place to look at grammar, spelling and punctuation errors. 80 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:34,440 And it is not well-drafted. 81 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:42,960 Idea two, good writing is writing that expresses ideas efficiently and effectively. 82 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:47,840 Good writing is different from error-free writing. 83 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:54,440 Attending to the mechanics of writing is very important, but it must occur in the appropriate 84 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:59,520 place in the appropriate way. 85 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:05,280 Spelling, punctuation and grammar should be seen by students as elements that help them 86 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:10,520 transmit their ideas more effectively. 87 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:15,360 Presenting one of these will dilute or diffuse a message. 88 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:22,520 Editing a spelling, grammar and punctuation should occur near the end of the writing process, 89 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:29,320 not at the beginning, after a piece has been revised many, many times. 90 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:35,560 This is what enables students to see editing in the context of effective delivery of their 91 00:08:35,560 --> 00:08:38,520 message. 92 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:44,400 Idea number three, temporary spelling enhances the flow of ideas. 93 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:48,680 Temporary spelling is merely a placeholder for the idea. 94 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:53,800 You can tell students to underline their temporary spelling so they'll know which words to 95 00:08:53,800 --> 00:09:01,640 attend to during the editing phase of their writing, but not during the draft revision 96 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:04,840 stages or pre-writing. 97 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:12,280 Idea number four, learning to spell is a developmental process. 98 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:17,520 But won't children learn the incorrect spelling of words if they're allowed to use temporary 99 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:19,840 spelling to hold the ideas? 100 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:20,840 You ask? 101 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:21,840 No. 102 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:22,840 Nonsense. 103 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:24,840 Papika. 104 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:28,080 Learning to spell is a developmental process. 105 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:34,600 We proceed through a series of stages until we become conventional spellers. 106 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:40,280 There's very little correlation between the use of temporary spelling and students' performance 107 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:42,480 on weekly spelling tests. 108 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:48,360 However, there is some evidence to support the idea that the use of temporary spelling 109 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:55,720 will speed students' development or process through the various spelling stages. 110 00:09:55,720 --> 00:10:01,080 Again, this doesn't mean that we don't engage in spelling instruction. 111 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:08,280 Instead, we don't engage in useless, silly spelling instruction that gets in the way 112 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:11,040 of writing. 113 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:16,640 Idea number five, temporary spelling enables success. 114 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:22,040 Temporary spelling enables teachers to recognize and value students' ideas. 115 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:27,760 And it provides a venue for low-achieving readers and writers to experience success. 116 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:35,320 Often, students who have reading and writing difficulties experience nothing but failure 117 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:38,840 for the entire time they're in the classroom. 118 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:43,680 So is it any wonder that they sometimes act out? 119 00:10:43,680 --> 00:10:49,680 Earning success can contribute to students' overall academic achievement. 120 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:53,360 Success contributes to positive self-esteem. 121 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:57,520 Self-esteem is highly correlated with students' achievement. 122 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:02,920 Note that this doesn't mean that high self-esteem causes high achievement. 123 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:08,880 Just the two are strongly related or co-related. 124 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:17,680 And the sixth idea, temporary spelling improves phonemic and phonetic awareness. 125 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:25,080 Temporary spelling improves children's ability to hear letter sounds, sounds within words, 126 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:30,120 sounds, that's a phonemic, phonemic awareness. 127 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:38,680 It also improves their ability to make connections between letters and sounds, phonetic awareness. 128 00:11:38,680 --> 00:11:44,560 These are both important prerequisite skills in learning to read. 129 00:11:44,560 --> 00:11:50,320 By listening for sounds and using as many letters as they can to hold their ideas during 130 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:59,200 the writing process, students become better able to hear and make letter sound relationships. 131 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:00,680 So two ideas. 132 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:06,360 Number one, you should do more than read the title of books or articles. 133 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:12,400 You should actually read what the book or article is about before coming to conclusions 134 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:15,520 about what that book or article is about. 135 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:23,240 And number two, spelling, temporary spelling is a good thing in helping children learn 136 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:25,040 to write. 137 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:27,440 We want students to become better writers. 138 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:31,520 We must teach the writing process. 139 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:46,040 This has been Dr. Andy Johnson and the Reading Instruction Show.