LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — Penn Manor School District will be implementing a new way of teaching students how to spell. Instead of the traditional spelling test where the words are given on Monday and students are quizzed on them on Friday, students will have to show they know how to spell and use the word correctly in a sentence.
“We are evaluating students' spelling ability within the context of what they’re writing,” said Krista Cox, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction at Penn Manor School District. “We’re changing where we’re evaluating—instead of evaluating outside of writing, we’re evaluating inside, where it makes the most sense.”
Cox says the administration has been examining how it's helping students to read at the elementary level. The focus turned to structured literacy to make sure students are receiving literacy skills and are incorporated into speaking, listening and writing.
“We realized we were spending a lot of time on pre-test and post-test and a list of words that might not relate to what we’re covering—instead, we can focus some energy on the vocabulary that might be more relevant to the story and build a skill in our students that they’re starting to be aware,” said Cox.
Cox also says there’s a difference in tools that students are using to help them learn new words that many didn’t have in the past. Computers and tablets are used by many students during lessons and are often used to compose essays, paragraphs and sentences.
“One of the things as teachers, we try to help them use those tools that are right in front of them,” said Cox. “There’s the red squiggly line that tells you something’s wrong, but we do need our kids to understand what that line tells us.”
The transition for switching the format for spelling is already underway. The new format will be implemented in all seven schools in the Penn Manor School District for students in grades third through sixth.
“We are transitioning based on how quickly teachers want to move this year, and they’re working with their building principals… but I don’t see us bringing the Monday/Friday spelling tests back,” said Cox.