Demanding Curriculum

My son has always been an excellent speller. In fact, it’s been a pretty rare occasion that we even have to practice his weekly spelling words. There was a short period of time where I was a real stickler about it, but it didn’t take me long to realize that it really wasn’t necessary for him. He would often get 100% on the pretest, and if he didn’t, whatever practice exercises they did at school were enough that he would usually ace the final test on Friday.

As a parent, I wished that he were more challenged in this area. He would often mention to me that the spelling tests were “dumb”, and I can’t say I blame him. It’s hard to feel like something is worthwhile when it takes that little effort.

In my first field experience as a junior in the elementary ed program, I was able to work with an amazing fifth grade teacher named Michelle. I learned so much from her, but one thing I especially loved was that way she handled weekly spelling words. She gave an assessment at the beginning of the year to find each child’s level, and she went from there. Each child had their own unique, personalized spelling list each week, depending on where they were. At first, I couldn’t understand how she possibly had time to do that for her large class of 30+ students, but I soon learned that it was because she was so organized about it, and because she delegated as much of the work to students as possible. Students were responsible for helping one another practice words throughout the week, and even giving each other the spelling test on Fridays, as well as grading. Michelle would monitor and check the student’s work, of course, but it was awesome to see how much responsibility the students were able to take on. I wish I could’ve been there to see it all from the beginning of the year. The bottom line is, there was not even one student in her class who was not challenged by their spelling words each and every week. When they did well on a test, they knew it was because they studied hard and earned it. Further, they all felt a sense of accountability for making sure that their spelling time ran smoothly.

Tomlinson says, “Demanding curriculum and instruction also means the teacher ensures that every student develops the habits of mind necessary for success in school and life.” I got to see this in action in Michelle’s class, and it was an amazing thing!