Attended a PD. course after school concerning the use of the new online SpellWrite site to improve childrens' spelling. I have battled with spelling in the classroom over the years, and this year in particular I have a band of 'high-needs' spellers in the class. Because of this I was looking forward to the course and what it could offer me.
First, the positives. It did look like a site I could use in some form in the classroom. Being a 'Spell Write' programme it very much linked spelling with writing, arguing that words cannot be taught in isolation. Lists need to be formed from a student's writing, with some topic work relative to what is being studied in the class at any given time. Within my Work Work reading rotation the children could input their spelling words into the Spellwrite program and use the program to learn them at home. It had a really nice Look cover write function that would be useful.
I was however quite disappointed because I was hoping for more of a how to get your children to spell lesson. I felt that it was a sales pitch without too much substance. This was the general consensus of the other attendees to the PD session. There is a $50 per class charge for the program at this stage I will probably purchase it out of my classroom budget and give it a trial run for a term or so.
Spell-Write Online
