Spelling has always been a difficult area for me to teach and has been a difficult area for my students to learn. It is an area where I have found few resources or recommendations leaning one way or another toward a specific form of best practice. Because I currently teach students with special needs, this lack of preparation becomes even more important because not only do my students struggle with spelling, but I also need to adapt my instruction to meet their learning needs. My problem is determining the best way to use a center-based approach to teach spelling. I am currently using a variety of centers as part of my spelling instruction. Students are given their words, and then each day they can choose which center to visit, as long as they don’t visit the same center two days in a row. Students may choose to practice their words using play-doh (by writing the words in the play-doh or rolling out the play-doh to make the letters), using letter stamps, using magnetic letters, or by writing their words twice on either a white board, chalk board, or paper. I am not sure whether this is an effective practice for my students or not. My research question is what is the most effective way to use centers as a means to improve spelling proficiency with special education elementary age students?
Researching the most effective way to use centers as a means to improve spelling instruction is based on both cognitivist theory and multiple intelligence theory. Cognitivist theory focuses on memory development and how the brain functions while creating memories (Trumbull & Pacheco, 2005). This is relevant because learning how to spell relies heavily on the memorization of rules and patterns. In addition, there are many words that don’t follow spelling rules, and their spelling must be memorized independently from other words. It is important to understand how the brain forms memories in order to build the strongest pathways to solidify learning. Multiple intelligence theory focuses on the different ways that students learn and emphasizes building upon an individual’s strengths when creating lessons so that students can perform in ways they are most comfortable (Trumbull & Pacheco, 2005). Since this study is looking at using multiple modalities at the different centers, considering the multiple intelligences is important. Students need to have the option to choose a center that best fits their learning needs in order to have the greatest possibility for improvement.
Researching the most effective way to use centers as a means to improve spelling instruction is based on both cognitivist theory and multiple intelligence theory. Cognitivist theory focuses on memory development and how the brain functions while creating memories (Trumbull & Pacheco, 2005). This is relevant because learning how to spell relies heavily on the memorization of rules and patterns. In addition, there are many words that don’t follow spelling rules, and their spelling must be memorized independently from other words. It is important to understand how the brain forms memories in order to build the strongest pathways to solidify learning. Multiple intelligence theory focuses on the different ways that students learn and emphasizes building upon an individual’s strengths when creating lessons so that students can perform in ways they are most comfortable (Trumbull & Pacheco, 2005). Since this study is looking at using multiple modalities at the different centers, considering the multiple intelligences is important. Students need to have the option to choose a center that best fits their learning needs in order to have the greatest possibility for improvement.
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