Holistic Writing and Spelling

[popowich]

Hello,

I'm having some trouble finding a nice definition and review for this topic on google, but basically what I'd like to talk about is kids being taught that "close enough" is OK. It's not good when the only requirement for writing is that "your thoughts are on paper now, great!", or that the spelling is "close enough". What's up with this? Is this kind of teaching a state, district, school, or teacher preference? Any good information sources for this topic?

-Raymond

[THERESA]

My oldest daughter came home from Kindergarten with things she had written all the time. The first time I read her first sentence, I was ecstatic. As the year went on, I noticed that her spelling was all phonetic and it was never marked wrong or even corrected. It was driving me insane. I can't stand seeing things misspelled. When I met with her teacher, I mentioned it and the teacher told me that as long as what they are writing makes sense, spelling doesn't matter. The only time spelling matters is when they are taking spelling tests. The teacher then went on to tell me that when they got older spelling would count. I was thinking to myself how ridiculous is that? They let them spell things wrong for a couple of years and then all of a sudden they get chastised for it?? SUPER DUPER STUFF. Talk about RIDICULOUS!!! :mad:

[Kaos]

I have the same experience here with the "Close enough" theory. I don't get it at all. Why make it doubley hard on kids to learn, then relearn things. Makes no sense. I have never been a fan of phonetic spelling taught in schools to begin with, I think, sure they learn the sounds but shouldn't they really be learning the actual spelling? Here they don't even correct or acknowledge the words when they are spelled wrong in writing assignments.

I was also just told as far as math (2nd grade) parents are now to stop teaching their kids that when they add 2 double digit numbers, they are not to stack the numbers on top of each other and teach them to add a row at a time. I asked the teacher what was wrong with teaching them simple ways to accomplish the correct answer. Her response,"We want to see the entire thinking process and the simplified method isn't what our school district is striving for. I'll have to agree to disagree with that one I guess, but I will not stop teaching my children they easiest ways are typically the best :eek: