Comments on: If the kids can’t spell, teach them http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/ An Irish woman's social, political and domestic commentary Sat, 19 Mar 2011 23:50:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Giulio http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/comment-page-1/#comment-120118 Giulio Thu, 04 Oct 2007 23:27:45 +0000 http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/#comment-120118 <strong>omof...</strong> CZ Print Job Report is a tool allowing you to view ... omof…

CZ Print Job Report is a tool allowing you to view
…

]]> By: Rowan Manahan http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/comment-page-1/#comment-66580 Rowan Manahan Thu, 03 May 2007 16:07:17 +0000 http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/#comment-66580 Leon: As long as she's paying for the credit, that's okay by me. My mother is 81 this year and finally succumbed to my pleas to become a Silver Surfer recently and has never looked back. She regularly runs her battery dry on her MacBook, she gets so engrossed in "mooching around the google" as she puts it. I cannot begin to imagine how my cherub will be getting her information, even in a decade's time. It's going to be an interesting ride ... Leon:

As long as she’s paying for the credit, that’s okay by me. My mother is 81 this year and finally succumbed to my pleas to become a Silver Surfer recently and has never looked back. She regularly runs her battery dry on her MacBook, she gets so engrossed in “mooching around the google” as she puts it.

I cannot begin to imagine how my cherub will be getting her information, even in a decade’s time.

It’s going to be an interesting ride …

]]> By: Teach42 - Education and Technology, by Steve Dembo » Teaching facts or teaching to think? http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/comment-page-1/#comment-66301 Teach42 - Education and Technology, by Steve Dembo » Teaching facts or teaching to think? Wed, 02 May 2007 16:03:24 +0000 http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/#comment-66301 [...] to a Tweet by Darren, I found this article on GUBU. It’s a great write up of Darren’s “Distributed Teaching and Learning” [...] [...] to a Tweet by Darren, I found this article on GUBU. It’s a great write up of Darren’s “Distributed Teaching and Learning” [...]

]]> By: leon http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/comment-page-1/#comment-66260 leon Wed, 02 May 2007 11:02:31 +0000 http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/#comment-66260 Gerry, yes it was intended as an insult. By the way Rowan your little cherub could google it on her phone. Never even your wit to a wean. Gerry, yes it was intended as an insult.
By the way Rowan your little cherub could google it on her phone.

Never even your wit to a wean.

]]> By: Darren Kuropatwa http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/comment-page-1/#comment-66209 Darren Kuropatwa Wed, 02 May 2007 06:46:17 +0000 http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/#comment-66209 Thanks for the kind words. Reading the comments here got me thinking. Any teacher will tell you, you haven't really learned a thing well until you've had to teach it. That is one of the underlying ideas behind Scribe Posts. Student's spelling, grammar and diction tend to be better when their work is published online as opposed being written for an audience of one; the teacher. My students are currently working on open ended long-term projects where they choose the content, the due date and how they wish to present their work. It's called <a href="http://expertvoices.blogspot.com/2007/03/assignment.html" rel="nofollow">Developing Expert Voices</a>. The way <a href="http://expertvoices.blogspot.com/2007/03/assessment-rubric.html" rel="nofollow">the rubric</a> (<a href="http://adifference.blogspot.com/2007/03/developing-expert-voices-rubric.html" rel="nofollow">created collaboratively</a> with all the students) is set up, they can attain very good grades without "going over the top" in their efforts. The levels of achievement in this project are described as Novice, Apprentice, Journeyperson and Expert. Very few students have been pursuing anything less than Expert Level work in all aspects of their projects. When I asked them why, they said: "Mr. K., it's being published on the internet. Forever ... I want it to be the best it can be." Now they still make errors in spelling, grammar and diction but far less than they do on their written work in class; because they are aware of their audience and want "it to be the best it can be." And all this ... in a math project. Technology can be used to enhance and amplify learning. New tools require new pedagogies. Your little one is right. Why memorize what all the "counties are in Lengster (sic)" when they are a Google search away. Isn't that what you would do if you needed to know the names of all the suburban areas around Winnipeg, Canada? A more authentic task might be to research how the counties acquired their names and write a historical fiction piece on one or more of them. This embeds a research component in the assignment and helps to make the learning sticky. Once kids know the stories behind the names of the counties they are more likely to remember them ... and be able to tell you a whole lot more about the world they live in. Thanks for the kind words. Reading the comments here got me thinking.

Any teacher will tell you, you haven’t really learned a thing well until you’ve had to teach it. That is one of the underlying ideas behind Scribe Posts. Student’s spelling, grammar and diction tend to be better when their work is published online as opposed being written for an audience of one; the teacher.

My students are currently working on open ended long-term projects where they choose the content, the due date and how they wish to present their work. It’s called Developing Expert Voices.

The way the rubric (created collaboratively with all the students) is set up, they can attain very good grades without “going over the top” in their efforts. The levels of achievement in this project are described as Novice, Apprentice, Journeyperson and Expert. Very few students have been pursuing anything less than Expert Level work in all aspects of their projects. When I asked them why, they said: “Mr. K., it’s being published on the internet. Forever … I want it to be the best it can be.”

Now they still make errors in spelling, grammar and diction but far less than they do on their written work in class; because they are aware of their audience and want “it to be the best it can be.” And all this … in a math project.

Technology can be used to enhance and amplify learning. New tools require new pedagogies. Your little one is right. Why memorize what all the “counties are in Lengster (sic)” when they are a Google search away. Isn’t that what you would do if you needed to know the names of all the suburban areas around Winnipeg, Canada? A more authentic task might be to research how the counties acquired their names and write a historical fiction piece on one or more of them. This embeds a research component in the assignment and helps to make the learning sticky. Once kids know the stories behind the names of the counties they are more likely to remember them … and be able to tell you a whole lot more about the world they live in.

]]> By: KM http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/comment-page-1/#comment-66070 KM Tue, 01 May 2007 17:37:43 +0000 http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/#comment-66070 And of course that should be Characteristics - go on, spell check it ! And of course that should be Characteristics – go on, spell check it !

]]> By: KM http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/comment-page-1/#comment-66067 KM Tue, 01 May 2007 17:28:59 +0000 http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/#comment-66067 My son is 7 and from aged 9 onwards all his schoolwork will be submitted in typed form (we are in CT). They begin keyboarding (i.e. typing) next year in preparation. He has used the argument already that spellcheck will catch his mistakes, which is not always true, but for a 7 year old it's not the worst piece of logic I've heard out of him I wonder if more of the spelling errors occur as a result of their phonic-based training in early reading skills. Up until this year it was fine for him to write everything exactly as he heard it in his mind eg appel, hawyee (that's Hawaii btw). I had to bury my Mercy sisters' approach to stop cringing. On the other hand I would prefer to have an original thinker than a perfect speller. There is something a little disturbing about the Spelling Bee types. I always thought Clare should be part of Connaught. It had all the charachteristics- emigration, good hurlers, music and mucksavagery. My son is 7 and from aged 9 onwards all his schoolwork will be submitted in typed form (we are in CT). They begin keyboarding (i.e. typing) next year in preparation. He has used the argument already that spellcheck will catch his mistakes, which is not always true, but for a 7 year old it’s not the worst piece of logic I’ve heard out of him
I wonder if more of the spelling errors occur as a result of their phonic-based training in early reading skills. Up until this year it was fine for him to write everything exactly as he heard it in his mind eg appel, hawyee (that’s Hawaii btw). I had to bury my Mercy sisters’ approach to stop cringing.
On the other hand I would prefer to have an original thinker than a perfect speller. There is something a little disturbing about the Spelling Bee types.

I always thought Clare should be part of Connaught. It had all the charachteristics- emigration, good hurlers, music and mucksavagery.

]]> By: Rowan Manahan http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/comment-page-1/#comment-66066 Rowan Manahan Tue, 01 May 2007 17:18:35 +0000 http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/#comment-66066 I tried a tack with the cherub which seemed to work. "What if you were a grown-up in your car and you were lost? THEN you'd need to know where all the counties in Lengster are, wouldn't you?" Ha! That showed her! I tried a tack with the cherub which seemed to work. “What if you were a grown-up in your car and you were lost? THEN you’d need to know where all the counties in Lengster are, wouldn’t you?”

Ha! That showed her!

]]> By: Sarah http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/comment-page-1/#comment-66030 Sarah Tue, 01 May 2007 13:49:08 +0000 http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/#comment-66030 Waterford was the one that always gave me difficulty. I was always sure it was in Leinster until my site finder job in Digifone put Waterford into the Munster division. I was sure it was a conspiracy to take a county from me, the Leinster girl, until a colleague insisted it was actually in Munster. oops! Waterford was the one that always gave me difficulty. I was always sure it was in Leinster until my site finder job in Digifone put Waterford into the Munster division. I was sure it was a conspiracy to take a county from me, the Leinster girl, until a colleague insisted it was actually in Munster. oops!

]]> By: Gerry http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/comment-page-1/#comment-66017 Gerry Tue, 01 May 2007 12:32:19 +0000 http://www.sarahcarey.ie/2007/05/01/if-the-kids-cant-spell-teach-them/#comment-66017 I can't figure if you are being insulting or not there Leon? I hope so. google hasn't invented external sources of information, it's just made them easier to find. it's as important today to as it ever was to memorise the counties of leinster. I can’t figure if you are being insulting or not there Leon? I hope so. google hasn’t invented external sources of information, it’s just made them easier to find. it’s as important today to as it ever was to memorise the counties of leinster.

]]>