Monday, November 23, 2009

Hoocked Aun Fonix Werked Fur Mea


I was one of those poor saps who had the privilege (cough, hack, wheeze) of learning to spell with "Hooked on Phonics." I'm not here to pick on that program per say, but would love to get feedback from writers and authors as to where they really learned to spell. Was it a tried and true systematic approach of memorization like Spalding? Or did you become the guinea pig of the next generations literarily challenged and learn via phonetic pronunciation? Do you think it helped or hurt your chances at a writer?

As for me, I'm not too proud to admit. I can't spell to save my life. I learned the phonetic way and I really feel like it hindered me in my writing life. If I could go back I'd learn another way, but alas, it is too late. What about you?

Any thoughts?

6 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I learned the old fashioned way but I'm not a great speller. Better than a lot of my students though so maybe the phonics system had something to do with that. I never gave much thought to spelling being involved with my writing. I'd think the main thing would be that a poor speller would have to spend more time and effort double checking things than a good speller would.

Natalie said...

I learned the old memorization way, and I struggle with spelling sometimes too. Thank goodness for spell check! My kindergartner is learning to read and write using phonics and I LOVE reading her sentences--they're so cute.

Stephanie Thornton said...

I learned to spell the old memorization way too and am now a certified spelling Nazi. I drive my students nuts with it. I've just discovered I habitually type villain wrong, switching the i and a. It's driving me nuts!

Dana Elmendorf said...

I don't know for sure but I heard it's in your genes. You can either spell or not. On my FB top 25 things about me I listed I'm a bad speller. Sometimes I misspell the word so bad that even the spell check has no idea what I'm spell. Heck, I'll even try it two or three times and still it doesn't have a clue. Don't blame phonics, blame your grandparents. ;)

Candice said...

I was a Spalding phonics child. I think it worked well for most people at my school, and I'm not the worst speller, but I'm certainly not the best. I frequently get my ie, ei mixed up. All I have to say is thank goodness for spell checker.

Voidwalker said...

So far I'm getting the vibe that most of us aren't the bestest spellerz :) Well aside from our spelling Nazi friend Stephanie (You go girl!)

I'm definitely grateful for the spell checking tool!