ABSTRACT
Effective writers focus on spelling, grammar, and punctuation during the editing stage, not before. Temporary spelling enables students to do this. Here, students use letters to temporarily hold the idea while they are in the drafting and revising stages. Using temporary spelling, students can (a) write before they have mastered conventional forms of spelling, (b) focus on higher-order thinking involved in writing, and (c) develop phonemic and phonetic awareness used in reading. Word class is a self-selected approach to spelling instruction. Here the class generates a group of words based on a topic or theme, a spelling pattern, or their lives. Students then select the words they wish to study each week. Spelling is related to the ability to store and retrieve letter patterns. Effective spelling instruction focuses on this storage and retrieval. Several activities that can be used with any type of spelling instruction are described here.
