Speling(?): What EVERY educator MUST know to teach Spelling effectively

I read an interesting article by Sinclair & Williams on the effective teaching strategies for Spelling as a literacy component just the other day and wanted to share with you what I learned. A few weeks ago, my professor, adviser and someone with the greatest impact on my graduate career taught me about the 6 different types of syllables! My entire life, I didn't know there were various syllable types. Between the article and what she taught, I started to think how much I wasn't taught in elementary school. I won't blame my teachers because they themselves weren't educated on how to effectively to teach Spelling. For many years, teachers were and some still are simply focused on spelling errors and not WHY the errors are made. Long gone are the days of flashcards, rote memorization of random words, and teaching Spelling in isolation. Spelling is a component of literacy that can affect reading and writing however not the most important component. Too often the focus is on the errors and correcting misspelled words. However, it's time for educators to shift the mindset to the spelling patterns, what the student IS doing correctly and what they DO know about the concepts of spelling. First of all, let me inform you that they aren't called Spelling rules but rather concepts. Unfortunately, spelling concepts in the English language aren't concrete enough to be called rules.

Important things to know before I share what I've learned:

26 letters in the alphabet
6 vowels and the rest are consonants
44 phonemes (sounds)
6 syllable types (closed, open, vowel-consonant-e, vowel team, r-controlled, and consonant-le)

Let's talk about them:

Closed Syllables 
Closed syllables have one vowel, followed by one or more consonants. The vowel has a short
sound. Examples: in, an, pot, trash

Quick Tip: Be sure your learner is very familiar with short vowel sounds!

Open Syllables
An open syllable ends in one vowel and the vowel says its name (long sound).  Examples: why, go, flu, she

Quick Tip:
-U can sound like U as in (U/tah) or oo as in (flu).
-Y can sound like I or E as in fly or la/dy.

Vowel-Consonant-E Syllables 
In this syllable type, there is a vowel followed by a consonant and silent e. The silent e makes the
vowel before it say its name (long sound). Examples: fake, pile, smoke, pale

Vowel Team Syllables
This syllable type contains two vowels next to each other. The vowels make one sound. About 
fifty percent of the time, this rule will apply to double vowels: If two vowels go walking, the 

first one does the talking and says its name. The other vowel stays quiet. Examples: play, waive, steam, flea

R-Controlled Syllables
In r-controlled syllable types, a vowel is followed by the letter r. The r "controls" vowel, and
gives it a different sound that is neither long or short. Examples: car, bar, sailor, regular

Consonant-le Syllables 

Consonant-le syllables are normally found at the end of a word. They consist of a consonant 

followed by the letters le. The le sounds like UL. Examples: tur/tle, bub/ble, sut/tle, sta/ble

Well, that's all for today! I hope you find this helpful. Take some time to teach these concepts to your scholars! I'm sure it will help them achieve spelling and ultimately more literacy success as it pertains to reading and writing.

Sincerely,

KC