We may have talked about this briefly before in class-- why do some teachers/schools feel that spelling tests are not useful? Just wondering. I am sure some teachers/schools think spelling tests are more about memorizing and that students aren't actually learning anything by memorizing.
I could always research this on my own but I am just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about this.
11 comments:
I could see why people think spelling test are useless but I could also see why people see them as useful.
They maybe useless because kids are just learning a set of 20 words for one week. Who knows how long they will actually remember these words. That would be interesting to research. And how do some teachers decide what words to put on a spelling test. Plus, I have read a lot about how inventive spelling is actually really useful. So who knows?
I could see how spelling test could be useful because kids are learning new words weekly and they are getting used to studying which they will be doing for a long time!
Anyways there are pros and cons to spelling test and I haven't really decided how I feel about them.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone :)
I think that this would be a really interesting topic to research. I remember that when I was a student, spelling tests were all about memorization. Maybe most schools do not see them as a valuable tool because students are just learning a few words that they may never use in their vocabulary. Spelling tests might be good if they tested sight words that children use often. That way, teachers could be sure that students would not just be studying for words that they might never use. There are also so many other alternatives to learning words like word activities, that some teachers might think that spelling tests are outdated and not as useful.
Thanks for replying! Yeah. All of those things definitely make sense and they were pretty much what I was thinking as well. I feel like spelling tests aren't hindering kids learning. I think they get boring and monotonous but at least they expose kids to new and possibly challenging words.
Another questions:
At what grade do you stop giving spelling tests?
I've heard this issue discussed in our school recently. Many of the teachers there also feel that spelling tests have no real value to their students. I would also be curious to find out which side of the issue research supports. If spelling tests are mandatory in our future schools, what kinds of supplementary lessons could we implement as teachers to help our students actually become better spellers?
I debate whether spelling tests are useful myself. When I look back to my elementary school experiences I remember getting spelling lists and memorizing each word before the test, only wanting to pass the test but forgetting how to spell shortly after. I think of the other ways we could teach our students how to spell words other than tests, and from what I have observed I feel incorporating songs and poems into the spelling curriculum has been most effective.
I have heard this too actually, and pretty recently. My children's literature teacher is a vice principal and she stands strong in saying that spelling tests are not used effectively. She feels that students memorize the words and do not remember them after the test. She thought that the purpose of spelling should come from experience and exposure to it. I thought it was an interesting thought, whether or not anyone would really go through with it and be done with spelling tests I don't know, but it was an interesting idea. I am glad you posted this because after she talked about it in class I thought about it for a while. I took spelling tests in elementary school and guarantee it was more scary because of getting them wrong as opposed to helpful and something I learned from.
Pauline- I took spelling tests in history my senior year of high school. They were actually really helpful
I think that spelling tests are like many other forms of teaching: It works for some kids and not for others. For me as a child, I think spelling tests were a good way for me to learn words and how to spell them. But I know for others, it was not really the best method. I think we must treat our students as individual children. As difficult as I am sure it will be, I think we should constantly be changing our teaching in ways that best fit our students at that time.
I think that this is a great question to think about. I personally think it is great to give spelling tests.
I remember taking spelling tests in elementary school. I agree with Jenny, this technique doesn't work for all students. I do agree that most students will just memorize the words to get a good grade on the test. I also believe that this can also help in other ways. Although they just memorized the word(s) for the test, the word could be stuck in their head and when they go to spell it in writing for example, they will remember that particular spelling test. On the flip side, some students just don't care at all.
I think spelling tests are a good thing but you should also incorporate other ways to help students with their spelling.
Spelling tests is also something that I will struggle with and go back and forth on about puttin in my classroom. I took spelling tests weekly through out my elementary career and I can promise you I am one of the worst spellers out there. So it did not work for me. In my 1st grade classroom, my teacher gives spelling tests but also works on spelling weekly during class so its not all homework and memorization. She gives them time each week to write out all there spelling words 3-5 times in a "cool" way. For example they can write them in markers, in bubble letters, on poster size paper, etc. I think the kids like this activity because it includes a little bit of art work as well as spelling.
I wonder the same thing....I know the school that I am student teaching at just adopted a whole new spelling program. It is very different and doesn't involve as many tests and they get all of the spelling words or most frequent words all at once. My teacher was not very happy about this so it should be very interesting!
Post a Comment