KIN
03-29-2008, 12:27 PM
I asked on the SWR loop about my ds that is a natural speller. Wanda Sanseri (author of SWR) replied to me there. I found her reply very helpful and thought some of you might too! Some of it may be confusing if you don't use SWR, but her take on not stopping spelling is very interesting. Here it is:
Dear Kathy,
You have the blessing of a child that learns spelling more easily
than others, but I'm glad that you realize that it would be a big
mistake to stop spelling. It would. I want to remind you that are
not even half way there. Some natural spellers run into a brick wall
as the level gets harder without the type of tools you have to give.
The same thing happens with a student who can play piano by ear.
Even a student with natural gift, need systematic training to make
full use of the gift.
You say he is in second grade and showing mastery at about fourth.
This is great. While you should be pleased, I want to also put this
into perspective. That level is actually at the average range for
students trained in a Spalding-Orton type approach such as SWR.
We believe that the ideal time for a child to master the broad
picture of spelling (Sections A-Z) is in the elementary grades. I'm
puzzled why when he is doing well, you slowed down the recommended
pace from 40 words a week to only 20. You have not yet reached his
tension of learning point. You have not stretched him yet. You
don't need to slow down when the level is so easy for him. You need
to keep the movement up to get him to a place where he will become
more engaged and stimulated. Please keep moving. Ideally by the
end of fourth grade, you will have finished, at least once, teaching
all the words in the program. That means that in the next several
years your goal should be to cover spell levels Grade 4 to Grade13.
You have nine grade levels to cover in just a few years. It is not
time to sleep. The ideal is to expose him to the various spelling
scenerios ahead while he as at the best time in his life for language
learning. This sets the stage for him to self teach new words for
a lifetime.
Smile. Be happy that he gets it easily so far, but keep plugging
away giving him a fuller foundation than even a natural speller can
ever do from himself. That will truly help pave the way for strong
grammar, composiition, and comprehension skills.
I had a son who could work out algebra problems in his head. He did
not understand why he needed to to write the steps out on paper. I
did not let him fully off the hook because I knew that soon there
would be problems that he could not work out in his mind. He
needed to clearly have the steps in place to be able to move to the
next level. I saw this as an exercise in logic. I had a long term
goal bigger than his ability to do the easier problems. I see
fingergrams in the same way. It is a way for the student to
reinforce the mental process before writing. Do you have him drive
your fingers? I'm finding that many teachers are doing all the
talking and letting the child just passively observe until he
writes. It is best to engage the student in dictation much
sooner. Say, "Pencil down, eyes on me." As he gives you each
sound, you show the matching fingergram. You can do this quickly.
Then he picks up his pencil to write. I would maintain that
practice even with the words that he seems to already know. You may
want to even throw in a few bonus words here and there that might
stretch him, words that are new vocabulary for him. Some children
do not grasp the value of our dictation process until they apply it
to words they have never seen.
Blessings,
Wanda Sanseri
Dear Kathy,
You have the blessing of a child that learns spelling more easily
than others, but I'm glad that you realize that it would be a big
mistake to stop spelling. It would. I want to remind you that are
not even half way there. Some natural spellers run into a brick wall
as the level gets harder without the type of tools you have to give.
The same thing happens with a student who can play piano by ear.
Even a student with natural gift, need systematic training to make
full use of the gift.
You say he is in second grade and showing mastery at about fourth.
This is great. While you should be pleased, I want to also put this
into perspective. That level is actually at the average range for
students trained in a Spalding-Orton type approach such as SWR.
We believe that the ideal time for a child to master the broad
picture of spelling (Sections A-Z) is in the elementary grades. I'm
puzzled why when he is doing well, you slowed down the recommended
pace from 40 words a week to only 20. You have not yet reached his
tension of learning point. You have not stretched him yet. You
don't need to slow down when the level is so easy for him. You need
to keep the movement up to get him to a place where he will become
more engaged and stimulated. Please keep moving. Ideally by the
end of fourth grade, you will have finished, at least once, teaching
all the words in the program. That means that in the next several
years your goal should be to cover spell levels Grade 4 to Grade13.
You have nine grade levels to cover in just a few years. It is not
time to sleep. The ideal is to expose him to the various spelling
scenerios ahead while he as at the best time in his life for language
learning. This sets the stage for him to self teach new words for
a lifetime.
Smile. Be happy that he gets it easily so far, but keep plugging
away giving him a fuller foundation than even a natural speller can
ever do from himself. That will truly help pave the way for strong
grammar, composiition, and comprehension skills.
I had a son who could work out algebra problems in his head. He did
not understand why he needed to to write the steps out on paper. I
did not let him fully off the hook because I knew that soon there
would be problems that he could not work out in his mind. He
needed to clearly have the steps in place to be able to move to the
next level. I saw this as an exercise in logic. I had a long term
goal bigger than his ability to do the easier problems. I see
fingergrams in the same way. It is a way for the student to
reinforce the mental process before writing. Do you have him drive
your fingers? I'm finding that many teachers are doing all the
talking and letting the child just passively observe until he
writes. It is best to engage the student in dictation much
sooner. Say, "Pencil down, eyes on me." As he gives you each
sound, you show the matching fingergram. You can do this quickly.
Then he picks up his pencil to write. I would maintain that
practice even with the words that he seems to already know. You may
want to even throw in a few bonus words here and there that might
stretch him, words that are new vocabulary for him. Some children
do not grasp the value of our dictation process until they apply it
to words they have never seen.
Blessings,
Wanda Sanseri