1. Spelling: Commonsense strategies and best practices
Spelling: Commonsense strategies and best practices. Rush Green January 2015.

2. # Pedagogical history: Up to mid 1970s dedicated time allocated to the teaching and testing of spellings. Errors in work were generally corrected through repetitive practice. Approach does not work for all. Mid 1970s onwards, approach questioned. Spelling should not be separate from content i.e. address spellings at an appropriate time during lesson. Move to ‘real writing’ and ‘whole language approaches’. Next twenty years saw a demise in discrete teaching of spelling principles ( Cooke, Slee and Young, 2008). Now, pendulum has swung back to explicit teaching of spelling ( as per school policy/Rose Report).

3. Fallacy! The spelling of English words is not arbitrary and random.
Only 4% of English words are truly irregular and must be learned visually and by repeated writing.
50% of our words are predictable, based on similar letter blends.
34% are predictable except for one sound.
This indicates that applying phonic knowledge as a strategy for spelling will be effective for more than 80% of words (Joshi et al., 2009 ). Spelling needs to be explicitly and systematically taught with a focus on phonological skills.
Best Practice 1: Explain a word’s meaning and discuss its composition with the class before getting them to copy it down or use it in context.

4. Visual discrimination
Visual discrimination is the most basic skill we use in spelling, to differentiate between different letters of the alphabet and to note differences in letter groupings (letter recognition, letter formation and print knowledge).
There is no one proven causal link between good handwriting and accurate spelling; BUT being able to produce handwriting smoothly and easily frees up the writer to focus much more on the correct spelling of the words ( Sumner, Connelly and Barnett, 2013).
Best Practice 2: When studying words, use visual methods of presentation as much as possible such as underlining common letter clusters, patterns,sequences and families-look for common links-explore with the children!

5. Auditory discrimination
A speller needs to be able to hear spoken words clearly, identify the separate sound units making up the words and possess the ability to record these sounds on paper with correct letters and groups of letters: for example, being able to detect the difference between the spoken words ‘thirteen’ and ‘thirty’, and between the sounds /f/, /th/, and /v/ ( as in finger, thumb and velvet). This must be taught. Best Practice 3: Ensure good teacher speech and modelling of new spellings allied with the teaching of letter to sound relationships. Ensure that phonic knowledge is quickly applied to everyday reading and writing.

6. Towards a self monitoring strategy
When faced with a new word to learn encourage the students to ask themselves:
Can I spell this word as it sounds?
How many syllables can I hear in this word?
Can I break this word down into parts that are easier to spell and remember?
Does this word sound a bit like another word I can spell?
Does the word I have written look correct?
It does not matter if I make a mistake!
When writing ( or proofreading) encourage the students to say to themselves:
Is the word that I think is misspelt displayed in the class?
I will write this word three possible ways on my whiteboard, then I’ll choose the one that looks correct.
I’ll write the word as best I can, then come back and check it when I get to the end.
Could I find this word in a dictionary?
I’ll ask Megan; she’s a good speller.
Best Practice 4: Create an environment where students are not afraid to make mistakes.

7. Specific strategies
Look –Cover – Write- Check : excellent for all student groups.
Repeated writing: 5 to 10 times: good only for the engaged student or just a mechanical exercise!
Multisensory Approach: get student to finger trace over a target word while sounding out the letters. They then write the word in the air using large arm movements to reinforce shape and letter sequence. Excellent for sig. + SEND.
SOS ( Simultaneous Oral Spelling) : Multi sensory/repetition based. Effective for adult interventions.
Exaggerated Pronunciation : Simple but effective. Teacher and student pronounce a word by saying it exactly in the way it is written-WedNESday; FebRUary; valuABLE. The student can copy and practice writing the word(s) as written here. Good as a 1:1 strategy (TA?).
Mnemonics: Fun and beneficial, especially for young students. Can be used whole class, groups or 1:1. Can be made visual by designating a picture to the word.

8. Specific strategies
Old way/New Way: Used where a writer habitually misspells certain words and the errors have become firmly established. A memory of the old word is used to activate an awareness of the new word:
Student writes the word as usual (incorrect). Teacher/student agree to call this the ‘old way’.
Teacher writes correct spelling. Both parties agree to call this the ‘new way.’
Teacher/student discuss similarities/differences between old/new way spelling.
Student writes ‘old way’ spelling and moves straight onto ‘new way’ spelling verbal describing what they are changing.
Repeat 6-10 times.
Approach may benefit more able student-again, labour intensive
Technology : spell checkers, computer aided software etc. Excellent for students with learning disabilities/Dyslexic traits.

9. Summary
Make it fun!
Allocate a specific time for the discrete teaching of strategies, practise, proofreading and self correction.
Teach a core vocabulary of high frequency words to mastery level.
Make your classroom a spelling friendly classroom (dictionaries, displayed high frequency words, topic specific words, computer access).

10. The following is a list of spellings to be learnt by a class at Rush Green. The class consists of 3 students! A high ability student, a mid ability student and a student with sig. + SEND. For each word, consider what strategy you and your TA may adopt to ensure each of the three students learns how to spell each of the seven words.
Spelling
Strategy for HA
Strategy for MA
Strategy for SEND+
knife
hatch
colour
superfluous
batch
their
there
catch