"Teaching reading IS rocket science." — Louisa Moats ...and so is teaching WRITING!

I am hitting my head against a wall again this year. Kids can't spell! I am trying not to get discouraged and to continue to think of new and inventive ways to help them, but the sad truth is, this is an area of weakness for me and the rest of my district. We are not graduating strong spellers. Now I am starting to question why. I have only taught for a short time (5 years in my own classroom), yet I have seen the trend. I work with intelligent people. They must have noticed this issue as well. Is the real problem that no one knows how to correct it?

Last year I (officially) made it my goal to find a program to help me deal with this horrid trend and maybe even reverse it. I have had my eyes peeled for a research based program that has yielded results, but I haven't really had a great deal of time to look or any great leads. I haven't even heard of a successful one. When I ask other teachers, they all give me the same old line about it being an age old problem. Some mention that they work on roots and affixes, but that is a bunch of bull. We all try to do that, but if it is not a true, consistent, and researched program, I can't waste my or the students' time. So I continue to search.

My colleague in the special education department suggested a program that she learned of at a conference a few years back. When I tried to read through it, it became more than apparent that I would need to spend whole class periods all year long giving intensive support in a one-on-one format. So although it was probably effective, it was not feasible.

Having been frustrated for far too long, I sought out the help of my friend, the literacy coach. She has passed on an actual program (The Continuum of Literacy Learning by Gay Su Pinnell and Irene C. Fountas) that it is designed for middle school kids in the regular education classroom. It involves lessons that must be done everyday for ten minutes. Although this doesn't seem like much, we all know that it will require a lot of pre-planning and even some sacrifices in other areas, but I think it will be worth it.

I don't think that this will be the end of bad spellers or the answer to all of my problems, but it is a start.  It is a place to begin with some real guidance and research to back it up. I have decided to really stick with this for at least a couple of years.  To monitor progress, I will be using the NECAPs and NWEAs as well as in-class observations. If it isn't successful, I will seek out another program and another until I get it right. If it is successful, I will personally approach the rest of the teachers that are struggling with this issue, but there is a long way to go before then.