Spelling. Why does it come more easily for some than others?

I saw someone with a shirt with the image below while walking through Costco one day. I had to chuckle! It was quite witty!

For many, spelling is a mystery. What if I told you that spelling shouldn't be that complicated?

Really. It's not. Spelling is related to decoding. 87% of English words follow basic phonics rules (50% are regular using basic phonics + 37% more that have one complex phonics pattern). Another 10% is mostly regular, and the irregular parts can be figured out by understanding some word history. If we teach kids well with phonics, that's going to lead to better spelling.

So, why do so many people struggle with spelling? I'd say it's because there are a lot of misconceptions about phonics. Here are two tips: 

• Sequence matters

• Instructional routines matter

All of the best reading programs these days order phonics lessons using the following steps:

1. Phonemic awareness warm up (listen for a new sound)

2. Introduce the new sound/spelling pattern (learn the grapheme for the sound)

3. Practice the new grapheme in context (draw from blending routines, such as "sound by sound blending" or "continuous blending" to practice the new grapheme in the context of other known graphemes)

4. Practice words with the new grapheme in the context of real sentences (still using blending routines).

5. Practice words with the new grapheme in the context of decodable text books (giving students structured independent practice)

6. Practice encoding the new grapheme by spelling words (typically called a spelling or dictation routine, something that mimics how good spellers engage in the mental process of spelling)

I've noticed two things that happen in literacy classrooms. First, people ignore this sequence. When that happens, the learning is hard for kids because it doesn't follow the advancing levels of complexity represented in the 6 steps. Second, people don't use strong routines for blending in steps 3 and 4, or for step 6 - dictation. 

The dictation routine should essentially model good spellers' thinking processes. When we try to spell words we don't know, we do the following in our heads:

A. We segment the word into syllables.

B. We take the first syllable and segment it into its separate sounds.

C. We think about the spelling (grapheme) of each sound, and then we write it down. Then we do the same for the next grapheme and so on for the syllable. 

D. Then we repeat the process for the next syllable, and so on. 

This model for teaching the metacognitive approach behind effective spelling is missing from so many schools. If you have kids struggling with spelling, think about how to more tightly integrate it into your phonics instructional approach and how to use a spelling dictation routine that mimics this metacognitive process that good spellers engage in. 

Hopefully, this can help prevent the need for folks to "untie" their spelling.

Image Credit: Sheila Pen (used with permission)