Unlocking the Mystery of Developmental Spelling

If you want to teach, you should have a minimum knowledge of the students, their age and what is most appropriate and convenient for them; and because I am an early childhood educator, I know that I should search for techniques and strategies to teach the basics of the language and how they should be developed. 

While searching for a webinar to attend, the title "Unlocking the Mystery of Developmental Spelling" took my attention because spelling is important and could change the whole meaning. Although this wasn't my first webinar experience, I really wanted to share my experience in this one because I felt that it was a beneficial one and I enjoyed it as well. In this webinar, Christine Wei, M.Ed., ELA Content Writer at Square Panda, discusses the significant role invented spelling plays in helping children solidify their understanding of the alphabetic principle as they take their first steps as authors. She shed the lights on the stages of spelling development and the factors that may contribute to children’s non-conventional spelling in the early stages.  

 The presenter introduced ways to help teachers identify their students’ spelling stages and provided practical tips for planning developmentally appropriate explicit spelling instruction to help students progress towards conventional spelling. Then, she suggested a plan to enhance students’ spelling instruction through the use of adaptive multi-sensory learning games. 

While she was explaining, I was recalling all what I've witnessed in KG3 last year during my observations. One of the students wrote the high- frequency word "like" as "laik" for example and this is what she was talking about in the developmental stages of spelling where children develop from the "Pre-communicative stage" to the "conventional stage". The example of the girl can be classified for the "Transitional stage".  

Implementing newly learned information in real life is one of the tasks one should do to develop and progress. Usually, I try to find TED talks that may help me in a way or another; being introduced to webinars was an effective thing because it allowed me to receive answers to my questions.