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

I think you need to do some work on comprehension Titbit. YOU wrote
It's true if current teaching practices are so great then why are standards so low and getting worse? and I have already posted links to the research that shows standards haven't changed significantly in over 70 years Titbits plus the UNESCO data which puts UK adult literacy levels at 99%.

Squishy, what age child are you talking about in your last paragraph?

The 'upset' I was talking about was that of a 5, 6 or 7yr old whose imaginary capability will almost always exceed their ability to spell. Just telling them to concentrate more won't help them improve their work. They are far too young to be self-critical to that extent. They are also at an age when their level of interest and enthusiasm for literacy could go either way. Marking 20 spelling incorrect on a page of 50 words will only ensure it goes one way.

I'm a secondary teacher, and I won't be signing the petition. Yes, I believe spelling should be taught, but it is only one aspect of learning. My purpose in a particular task might be something entirely different, and yes, it would in that instance be discouraging and counter-productive to focus my feedback on the spelling.

Carpetlover, I am using my nearly 9yr old dd as the basis of my opinions. I understand how to motivate her, and if she knew she was being graded well on something that was in essence incorrect as it had been spelt poorly she would be disappointed. She would rather be marked honestly, and receive good grades for work that deserves it in all aspects.

"spelling ... is only one aspect of learning. My purpose in a particular task might be something entirely different, and yes, it would in that instance be discouraging and counter-productive to focus my feedback on the spelling."

That's a bit patronising. I can multi-task: I can spell and do other things simultaneously . It's not that difficult, especially if it is drummed into you early so that it is automatic.
You seem to have low expectations of your pupils' abilities.

You see, Squishy, that's partly what is wrong with the OP's petition. It makes no reference to age at all.

My 3 are Y3, Y1 and Reception. My DS (Y3) is beginning to make far fewer spelling mistakes and be far more self-critical of his own work. He is getting to the stage where most if not all his spellings will be corrected. But then, when writing in class he uses a dictionary to check words he is unsure of.

He has got to this stage 'despite' the so called 'bad teaching methods' suggested on this thread of only correcting key words when he was 5 and 6. So my opinion is that such an approach has in no way hindered his attainment and in fact may well have contributed to his love of literacy. Who knows whether he would have continued to try his very best during creative writing if his early pieces had been littered with corrections. I doubt it though as he was a very shy and sensitive child for the first few years of school.

Should children stick to words they can spell in their writing? By this I mean words that they have either been taught directly or words that they possess the knowledge to segment in order to work out the spelling.

"spelling ... is only one aspect of learning. My purpose in a particular task might be something entirely different, and yes, it would in that instance be discouraging and counter-productive to focus my feedback on the spelling."

This is what bothers me really. Disclaimer - I am not talking about 6 year olds. I am worried about my DSs who are 9 and 11 and whose work seems barely touched by their teachers.

Spelling and grammar are the tools you have to work with when using the English language. To say they are not relevant to some other literacy task is, in my opinion, shortchanging the pupils. Surely the basics have to be in place and reinfoced, even if something else is the particular focus of that lesson?

If you make spelling the be-all-and-end-all then every lesson becomes a spelling lesson.

So, if I teach a science lesson I am not marking (say) a child's understanding of forces, I am marking their spelling in their written work. Same for topic, music, whatever. Spelling takes over. Totally stupid.

reinforced reinforced reinforced

So what do you do in science - ignore all wrong spellings? Not being snippy - interested to know.

Mrz...I think, a long time ago, that was how we were taught...I can see the importance of creative story-writing at a young age but maybe this should be separate from 'marked' work or even be more about verbal story-telling?

Theflyingonion....but surely if they're capable of doing the science, they are at an age when they should be spelling reasonably well... You would hope that most children would only have a few errors to correct?

Sorry Titbits what was how you were taught a long time ago?

3 year olds are more than capable of understanding science but they are not spelling reasonably well...

Katisha....you sound very sensible. I did say in my epetition that reconcentrating on teaching the basics was perhaps the key.
Not so worried if they know what to do with a test tube just yest...but am worried about spelling.
Have to say I didn't think the way they learnt to read was going to work but gave the benefit of the doubt and they both got there in the end, but having previously given same benefit of doubt to the way they handle spelling mistakes...I am now more than convinced that it doesn't work!

"If you make spelling the be-all-and-end-all then every lesson becomes a spelling lesson."

Again, low expectations. Do you not think that if the children are corrected then they will stop making the mistake? That's the whole point of it!

Mrz....your post about using words they have been taught already...isn't that how we were taught?

It wasn't the way I was taught

You still haven't answered the question ...should children only use words they have been taught to spell in their writing?

I had in my class last year a 7 year old child who was FANTASTIC at science. Curious, orderly, fair, careful in his testing, always wanting to know the reasons for the things that he very closely observed ('when spiders walk, do they move each leg in turn like we do, or do they move one side then the other?' was one of his, as was 'what makes a magnet megnetic?', and 'what is it that lights up the sun?), patient, used precise scientific vacabulary etc etc.

He could not reliably count past 10 (though he could measure, and did so successfully, by observing and copying numbers from rulers / weights etc when needed for science), can read only CVC words (e.g. cat) and his writing is a string of mainly initial sounds.

I recorded his verbal answers to questions on a digital microphone, because it was important to me in science that his true ability as a scientist was recognised and we had evidence for it. Had I chosen to make him write his answers, and corrected every word, what would that have achieved? He already had 6 hours of Literacy lessons a week, plus a further 2 or 3 hours of interventions based on improving his basic Literacy and Maths. Why should I, in Science, emphasise the things he fails at yet again, rather than providing him with a way of showing, for that one hour, what he CAN do?

purits don't you dare tell me i have low expectations. The children in my class achieve well above average results in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th languages.

go and qualify as a teacher and then you can venture a more informed opinon.

In science and other subjects I again correct the spellings which I expect the children to know, and if they are using more advanced language and have had a decent stab at the spelling no, it is not corrected. It also depends how many spelling mistakes there are. If a 7 yr old has spelled every 4th word wrong, there is no way that I will correct every single error. The child will not learn by simply being corrected, I do not have time to make them repeat every error 3 times, and it is irrelevant to the learning objective.

OP. if you ever ventured inside a classroom you would see lots of children beavering away working extremely hard on whatever subject, and you would see for yourself that correcting their spelling of "hula hoop" is a total waste of time.

Not so worried if they know what to do with a test tube just yest...but am worried about spelling.

Lord in heaven. I would just concentrate on your own accuracy for now, Titbits, it seems to be more than enough for you.

Well done, Katisha!

I am so sick of teacher-bashing on MN. Do you people not think that most teachers act, according to their training and experience, in the BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD at all times? What on earth do we have to gain by not helping our students?

And FFS do you ACTUALLY think that correcting a spelling on a piece of work instantly means they know how to spell it next time? I am a stickler for accuracy, but I care more about effort; marking is about more than proof-reading. You cannot use the same approach for every child. And don't you dare tell me I have low expectations of my students either.

Do you all try to tell your doctors how to do their job? Your solicitors? Your electricians? No?

Sorry I'm a bit lost now...