Whole Class or Individualized Spelling Lists

For many teachers, finding the best way for children to learn spelling is an ongoing process of trial and error.  Varying by grade and curriculum, spelling lists can focus on many different aspects of the school year.  Traditionally, teachers give the whole class somewhere between ten to twenty spelling words each week, with a test given on Friday.  From personal experience, I know this is not always the best fit way to teach grammatically correct spelling to each student.  As an inherently blessed speller, unlike many of my friends, I found these tests ridiculously easy.  I would breeze through the homework in about 5 minutes per night doing assignments such as copying the word five times, writing the definition, making it into a crossword puzzle, and using it in a sentence.  Each of these assignments were more like time consuming chores to me rather than instructional practices.  Now that I have begun my curriculum in teaching as an undergrad at Auburn University, I have learned about some different approaches in this area of teaching instruction.  Individualized spelling lists generated from a preknowledge quiz of words in an age appropriate word bank can be determined at the beginning of the week.  From this list of misspelled words, ten to twenty words can be chosen at the appropriate level for the child's learning.  Of course, some children may have a tremendous deficit in this subject in school, but it can be met halfway by having a few more challenging words included in this area while mostly staying in the present level of functioning.  From these individualized lists, more effective assignments can be given.  Things such as word relations can be created to relate spellings of these words to other commonly known ones such as nice (dice, lice, mice, rice) for younger or lower level learners.  Also creating stories with related words in a list help as well. This allows them to use them in a way that is meaningful to them, not just in a sentence that does not always makes sense. Individualized spelling lists allow above, on, and below level learners to see success in this subject while also showing progress over the course of the year.  It also creates a sense of ownership of the list, because it words that are determined by the student and not generated by the teacher.  Individualized spelling may not be the most time efficient way to teach spelling as opposed to a book generated list, but it is far more effective in the long run.