SPELLING & WRITING

Spelling & Writing
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Spelling and word study are an integral part of the total writing program.
Smart Words acknowledges that:

• Spelling skills should be taught and practiced separately to expressive writing.
• To be a competent writer one must know how to spell.
• Students do not learn to spell competently simply by writing.
• The program separates spelling from text writing, where the emphasis is on communicating ideas.
• Correct spelling helps us gain meaning from a written text.
• Smart Words emphasizes that the value of feedback is constructive and it should provide information for the student to accurately spell similar words in the future.
• The program accepts all spellings as indicators of the student’s knowledge and strategy base.
• Incorrect spelling attempts form the basis for further teaching sessions.
• The process of understanding the spelling of words may take time before the information moves from short term memory to long term memory.
• The brain works more efficiently with one cognitive task at a time.
• The writing process is cognitively loaded with many demands on the writer at the same time.
• Accuracy in spelling in writing will be evident when the spelling of a word is automatically retrieved from long-term memory.
• Dictation is important in the process of learning how to spell a word to spelling it correctly within a sentence.
• Writing is a layered process and each skill must be taught, applied, and consolidated for students to become proficient writers.