Voices from the Field

The following quotes are from teachers and students who field-tested Guided Spelling lessons for grade 5. During the first several months of school, they had taught the spelling lessons from the basal reading program selected by the state in which they live.

Here's what teachers are saying:

Engaging and Involving Students

With Guided Spelling, the students are involved. They are active. They are a part of every piece of spelling each word. They are engaged the entire time. With the traditional method, they are just busy writing the word three times or in a sentence or finding the words in a word search. The traditional activities do not teach the thinking!

Understanding WHY

It's not just that they are spelling the words correctly, it's that they understand why. They understand the content, and their writing improves. It's a huge difference in their writing. It's amazing to see the kids who struggled with their spelling—now, with Guided Spelling, it's a totally new world for them. Since we started the program, they have gotten so much better—even those who struggle—and they're getting the concepts of suffixes, prefixes, and base words. They are getting it!

Moving from Guiding to Independent Thinking

The way the lesson is constructed, it is helpful to students at all levels of spelling ability. It starts very guided. I help them pronounce every syllable in each word. Together we break down all of the spelling words. There is so much initial guidance. But, as the lesson progresses, we gradually let go of the guidance, and toward the end students are independent and apply the strategies and ideas on their own.

Here's what students are saying:

Learning Syllables Unlocks Spelling

What we did today that was helpful was the syllable part. That helps me a lot because when you sound out the syllables, you know how to spell it.

No More Guessing

With Guided Spelling it guides you along. You go step-by step through each word. It's easier. With the other spelling programs they just say, 'Write this word.' And you have to guess how the word is spelled.

No More Memorizing

Memorizing for me is really hard, actually. I can barely memorize anything. It's easier to learn the syllables than just practice writing words. The teacher helps you on that. I like the Guided Spelling way because you don't have to memorize—you just know it is the right way 'cause you learned it.