Sunday, October 18, 2009
Technology and Spelling
In the last couple of weeks I have started to correct student assignments in my placement. Most of the students do their essays by hand, and I have noticed that there are a lot of spelling mistakes throughout their work. A lot of the mistakes are obvious to me, but I do spend a lot of time with a dictionary next to me as well to make sure that I am giving them the right corrections in return. I have started to wonder whether I actually had more knowledge on spelling at their age or whether I just had my computer to correct my mistakes. In continuation of that thought I wonder if the computer hinders or helps us with things like spelling. It is distracting for me to read a paper filled with spelling mistakes, but is it really better for the student if they type it on the computer and the computer corrects their mistakes rather than the student learning it on their own? Something to think about.
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Megan, that is an interesting thought. I think you are very right. I feel like I have a harder time spelling than I use to. Everything is highlighted in red if it is wrong on the computer. To take it a step further, I was writing Eugenie a card and wrote "I hope u get well soon." I realized what I had done and could change the u into a y, but how scary. I even use text lingo now. It is the same in math too. Every student has a calculator on their cell phone. It is amazing how many students can't do simple math. I'm curious will this will go over time.
ReplyDeleteYeeaahhhh I'm starting to come across the same thing when grading student work. Looking back, I feel that I probably made a lot of those mistakes at that age, too. It wasn't until college that someone finally corrected me, and I always thought, "how embarrassing, shouldn't I have learned this in high school?!"
ReplyDeleteI think in many ways a computer does hinder student writing. Even in my own experience, writing by hand takes forever because I have such a hard time spelling, so I'm constantly looking up words. I wish that growing up I would have paid more attention to spelling, but having a computer in my home since elementary school prevented me from ever really giving much thought to it.