Fox Chapter 3: Based on your experience and your reading of this chapter, do you think "invented spelling" (in which children spell words the way they think they sound) helps or hinders young readers?
Before the start of my student teaching experience, I was opposed to "invented spelling." It seemed to establish poor spelling habits. As a parent I loved the invented spelling of my own children but I thought that surely my children would learn how to spell words properly once they started school. I frowned upon teachers who allowed misspellings to go uncorrected.
Teachers began explaining to parents that they ignored misspelled words when they wanted their students to focus on writing, to get their thoughts on paper. Students who are preoccupied with spelling are not concerned with the thoughts that they want to express. However, this procedure of ignoring spelling for the sake of writing is different from actually encouraging the writing of words spelled incorrectly.
In my main placement Kindergarten class, the students write in their journal everyday. The teacher demonstrates what journal writing looks like. She has an idea that she would like to write down. She draws a picture of the idea. Then she attempts to put the idea in writing. She says, "I like apple pie." Then asking for help from the students she begins to write I l a i. The long sound of the letter i is what the students hear. If students say that they hear the /l/ in apple, she adds it.
I now see that invented spelling encourages students to listen for the sounds that they hear in words, not just memorize the way that words are spelled as if there is no association between sound and spelling. I am now a supporter of invented spelling.
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