The spelling program that was used in my school was Rebecca Sitton, but very few of the teachers were satisfied with it, which is why I instituted my own spelling program. My individualized spelling program can be used alone or in concert with any other program. It is based on the premise that students need to know how to spell those words that are used in their everyday writing.

Using the Sitton program and the assigned words for the week, I gave a pretest (called a preview) on Monday, and anyone who got 100% was excused from all the weekly assignments. There were spelling springboard activities that were assigned each week to those students who had not mastered the words. (I can send you a list of those if you’d like.) Most teachers knew that there was very little correlation between their weekly spelling scores and their everyday spelling ability, and so I incorporated an additional individualized program.

In order to prepare for this, I took one computer CD and formatted it to contain a file for each student. For example, on the top of a blank page, I would type the name of the student and allow a page or two on which they typed their own spelling list. When I returned students’ work on which were highlighted misspelled words, they each took turns going to the computer, accessing their file, and correctly typing in their misspelled words. The words that I had my students type came from whatever sources I chose. When I corrected a paper (be it homework, class work, rough draft, final draft, science, reading, spelling) I would highlight a misspelled word that I knew that particular child could and should learn to spell. The words I highlighted varied from student to student, which is why this program is truly individualized. I would highlight a word such as they on one student’s paper and not highlight necessary but on another student’s paper, I would highlight a word such as irresponsible. In other words, I based student’s words on his/her needs. The student then knew to go to the computer, open up his/her file and type in the word correctly. When I had time, I would take the CD home and check the students’ files. When I saw that a child had typed in at least 10 words, I would print out two copies of the list, indicating on the bottom the date of the upcoming individualized test. One copy was for my files and one was for the student. As the other children had Silent Reading Time, I would administer the tests. I would not schedule more than 4/day because I did not want to get bogged down. After testing the students, I would open their files and type a "T" after those words which were on the test, followed by an * if the word was spelled correctly. In that way, I could keep track of those words that needed to be repeated on a subsequent test. These files were kept throughout the year. The student was automatically tested on those misspelled words on the following test. Words were repeated until they were mastered. If a child misspelled a word such as their 5 times during the year, it was typed on the list 5 times and he/she was tested on that word 5 times. Words were repeatedly tested until they were mastered. Their everyday spelling dramatically improved.

For more information on individualized spelling, send an email to Ellen Gabor at mail@e-tme.com.

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