When 4th grader, K, read her personal narrative to the class for feedback, her classmate suggested, “Don’t say ‘nothing,’ say ‘complete darkness.'”
K said, “I can’t use that word because I don’t know how to spell it.”
So there was the clue we’d been looking for to explain why K’s writing was so much simpler than we suspected was going on in her mind. No wonder her sentences were simple and her stories pretty flat. She only used words she already knew how to spell.
We were sad that she didn’t get that she could keep expanding the words she had in her head. We thought if she doesn’t get that, maybe others don’t either. We made a chart: “Things you can do when you don’t know how to spell a word you’d like to use in your writing.” Then we asked the kids to brainstorm.
Most of their ideas involved the various people they could ask for help–friends, older siblings, teachers, principal, parents, school nurse, librarian, PE teacher….everyone they could think of in their learning community. I thought of all the times we’d say to students who asked how to spell a word: “Go look it up.” As if they were being lazy by depending on us instead of being independent. The reality is that if you don’t know how to spell a word, it is hard to find it in a dictionary or book. In the end, using the word however they get the spelling of it, will help them own it for future use.
When their teacher asked if they had any last ideas, as a group they made up a plan to help each other expand their repertoire of words they could spell and use.
- Every time someone found out how to spell a new word, s/he would write it on the word wall.
- In sharing time, they’d read where they had used it in their writing to the class.
- They could discuss other ways it might be used.
- Kids who wanted to use it sometime would write it on a special page in their journals.
- When someone used one of those words they would report to their class and read the excerpt where it was used.
On my drive home that day, I thought about times I had been stopped in pursuing a challenge by a lack of skill or knowledge when it mightn’t have been as hard to access as I imagined. When I thought of times I had overcome obstacles in writing, in teaching, in life, I was like the kids with their spelling. I went to other people for help, for their knowledge, their skill, their feedback and ideas. I don’t think I’m lazy or dependent but I am human and human beings depend on each other. We are better together.