Correcting spelling mistakes in schools

[Titbits]

Please help...I have started an epetition on the governments website.
My local primary school tells me that they don't correct all my children's spelling mistakes because too much red pen is discouraging! Surely it would be better to focus on ENcouraging them to spell correctly...and making them feel proud of their work?
Ofsted are actively promoting this approach even though friends in further education and the business world tell me that they throw away any applications from students with poor spelling.
It seems that in secondary school, spelling errors aren't corrected at all.
Call me old fashioned (!) but copying out a spelling mistake three times at the bottom of the page was how I improved my spelling. Weekly spelling tests seem irrelevant if the children then aren't taught to use the correct spelling in a body of text.

Hope you will help..enough names will mean it's discussed in Parliament. Link below:

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/10821

[diabolo]

It's not about telling children their work is rubbish. It's about teaching them, slowly and carefully, how to spell correctly, not ignoring mistakes and hoping that Mum and Dad will fix them at home. I like to think it's quite an important skill to have these days and it's a skill my son is still learning. It's never knocked his confidence, quite the opposite, it's made him try harder to feel proud of himself.

He went to a school that has 20 word spelling tests every week, prizes for getting things right, prizes and recognition and awards for improvement in his work. Not just prizes for coming top. An old-fashioned sort of school I suppose, but one that meets my values.

That's why I've signed this petition.

[balia]

I think you should have to research a subject thoroughly before being allowed to start any kind of epetition. Of course errors are corrected at secondary school.

The idea that it is 'encouraging' (or as the OP feels the need to repeat, ENcouraging) to have any piece of work, regardless of the purpose of that piece of work, nitpicked over for every mistake is simply nonsense. Imagine what that would do to a child's sense of achievement, or their self-confidence, or their love of learning. There is a huge amount of research that shows that learning a variety of spelling methods is the most effective way to generally spell better.

By all means, if you feel the best way is to correct every single spelling, then do that for your own children - although I think that would be a great shame for them and they'd resent it, they are your children. But please don't inflict your views on people who actually work with children, or have some relevant experience/knowledge.

[carpetlover]

Yes, my children are at a selective independent school so spelling tests each week too but still no EY teacher has ever corrected every mistake in every piece of work. Only now that my DS is 7yrs and starting Y3 will this gradually become more common.

Just because a word isn't corrected in R/Y1 does not mean a child will reach Y4 unable to spell that word. The teacher will look at each piece individually, and correct against both age appropriate criteria and what is suitable for that child. So the reluctant writer who finally finds the confidence to put his ideas on paper will not decide 'never again' because it is returned as a sea of red. Much better to correct three words, tell him you liked his description of the pirate ship and give him a big smiley face on the page. That way he will continue to trust his teacher with his ideas and he/she can gradually build up his creativity and his spelling ability.

[mrz]

"It's about teaching them, slowly and carefully, how to spell correctly"
Exactly and teachers will correct the words they have been taught already and then teach them the words that were incorrect that they hadn't previously been taught.

[StopRainingPlease]

Agree completely. Mind you, I have had serious doubts about whether some of my kids teachers could spell themselves...

[NonnoMum]

^Have requested my children's books come home every weekend so I can correct them...so far they have told me that 'it's not necessary'...
Will let you know how I get on.^

Bloody hell, you sound like a write pane inn da arrss.

Not signing.

[wigglesrock]

I agree with mrz, my 6 year old has just went into P3 (NI) and she has written the funniest, coherent stories all summer (to read to her younger sisters), if I had have corrected all her spelling mistakes or if the school had done in the previous year she would have played very safe with her words (she would have been scundered to be constantly corrected).

She knows she has spelt some words wrong but we know she will get them right at some point because we trust her teachers and more importantly so does she. I have noticed a huge leap in her ability over the summer (and she has been off for 9 weeks), all of the credit I lay at the door of her school.

[carpetlover]

My first at requesting books home every weekend! Bloody hell!

[carpetlover]

Oh and just a note about spelling tests. I completely agree that learning spellings in isolation is a useless way to ensure retention. However, my experience is that the children have the opportunity to use those words both verbally and by putting them in sentences therby ensuring they understand the context. They are also sporadically tested on previous words throughout the next few weeks.

[mrz]

I would be extremely surprised if the teacher sends books home every weekend. I need my classes books to mark.

[HerdOfTinyElephants]

Exactly -- it's about teaching them slowly and carefully how to spell correctly.

So when confronted with a 5yo writing "A eenormus dinosor hided in the scara blak cav hee was 2 big for the cav so his spicay hed popd out." a good teacher concentrates on explaining some of the grammatical points and picking out a few spellings to learn. Because that's teaching slowly and carefully.

Doing what seems to be being advocated here and giving the work back marked up in red as

A An eenormus enormous dinosor dinosaur hided hid in the scara scary blak black cav cave hee he was 2 too big for the cav cave so his spicay spikey hed head popd popped out.

doesn't seem to be slow or likely to result in much learning (except that next time you should write "I went to the park. It was nice." and get a big tick instead).

[monoid]

I haven't read all of the thread, but I have signed the petition.
I just wanted to add that my dd likes knowing how to spell words correctly and when she was in Early Years, she used to ask if she had spelled words correctly when she wasn't sure. She was always told that she had spelled it correctly whether she had done or not. When I queried the teacher about it, she said it was more important for her to "have a go" herself than to actually spell it correctly
I had to google words all the time to prove to her that she was spelling them wrong because at that age, kids think teachers know everything and can't possibly be wrong.
I don't know if that's a general opinion among teachers, but I would have thought that if a child asks if their spelling is correct, then they should be given an honest answer.

[mrz]

I would say "no but it was a really good try" (if it was)

[Feenie]

Please help...I have started an epetition on the governments website.

A good attempt at persuasive language - well done. Make sure you use apostrophes correctly next time though.

[Humourme]

I'm signing. I've been complaining to schools for years about this issue. If we want to stop the spiralling rates of illiteracy in this country then we need to toughen up. Mollycoddling children, unless there are legitimate concerns, isn't the answer.

[mrz]

What spiralling rates of illiteracy? Literacy levels have been more or less static since the 1940s

[Feenie]

Actually, literacy standards haven't changed much at all since the war. The stats are very similar.

[mrz]

As far as mollycoddling goes far from it ... the idea is that children learn without being spoon fed the answers

[cornsylk]

Imagine if your boss handed you back a file of work and had circled every error in red pen and then asked you to write each one out 3 times. What would you think? Would it help you to be better at your job?

[wigglesrock]

Its hardly mollycoddling a child to encourage it to use a more expansive, descriptive word and enjoy the writing as opposed to worrying about the spelling, quite the opposite.

[midnightexpress]

I agree with Mrz (as usual).

[Feenie]

I am waiting for the OP to correct her punctuation mistake three times, actually. It is bound to help consolidate her learning - am sick of all the mollycoddling round here.

[cornsylk]

Oh the irony

[mrz]

I'm wondering how many university lecturers deal with applications and how many applicants don't word process and use a spell check .
I'm also wondering who told the OP that Ofsted discourage teachers from correcting spellings .

[cornsylk]

The Op is Michael Gove.