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Home : 2005 : April : 14

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By Mary

I don't think that anyone thinks it's a waste of time. Which research have you read that says that? I read many professional journals and am pretty current on educational research, and I must say that I haven't read any
articles that say it's a "waste of time." I can't really speak for anyone else, but what I'm saying is that while these things are important and do have their place, they should not be a major part of a good language arts curriculum. I give specific minilessons to kids in writer's conferences, on those aspects of spelling and grammar for which they demonstrate a need.
If a student's

grammar is poor, or their spelling is bad, I will mark them down for it. If their handwriting is illegible, I refuse to try to read it. But I do not teach handwriting at all in sixth grade, and the other two areas receive much less attention than reading comprehension, sound logic, attention to detail, organization, writer's craft, inferring, research techniques, etc.

Did you say "spelling and grammar errors?" Have you seen the spelling on some of the posts on this board?! Just because some people don't spell all that well doesn't mean that they aren't also highly educated. Spelling is a visual imaging skill.