The transcription strand of the writing rope includes skills that schools used to view as the most important in writing. In many classrooms, students learned little more than handwriting and spelling in the writing classroom. While these skills are important, recent years have seen a decline in the focus on these skills. Instead, students are learning the art of composition as opposed to mechanics. The writing rope suggests an appropriate balance, with approximately 1/5th of writing instruction focusing on these more technical aspects of the writing process.
How to Teach Spelling
One of the least effective ways of teaching spelling is through lists of spelling words. While this practice was popular for decades, research has shown that it is one of the least efficient methods for teaching kids how to spell (this does not include vocabulary lists, which sometimes encourage students to learn how to spell words in addition to being able to define them and use them in a sentence). Teachers no longer introduce spelling words on Monday, quiz students on these words on Friday, and then never use them again. While classroom time is much more productive now, it is still important for students to learn how to spell. This is best done through learning the rules of the language as opposed to how to spell words in isolation.
One of the best ways to teach students the rules of the English language is through explicit instruction in encoding (spelling words based on phonics rules as opposed to memorization). Early writers use “invented spelling” as they become familiar with the correct way to spell words. Invented spelling is when students make close approximations of words.
Handwriting
Schools have always taught students how to form letters. Without that explicit instruction, how would young children ever learn how to write a sentence? For a long time, early grades placed a tremendous amount of emphasis on the importance of penmanship. Fortunately, schools now recognize that along with spelling lists, drilling perfect handwriting is not the best use of instructional time. But the pendulum seems to be swinging back slightly, as schools realize that teaching handwriting serves more of a purpose than just producing legible writing. Since virtually every subject requires students to hand write at some point (with the only possible exception being a typing class), it stands to reason that they should feel fairly comfortable with it. Practice makes perfect, but practice also helps reduce unnecessary effort later on.
Handwriting Skills
Teaching handwriting involves more than just how to form letters. It also includes letter sizing, spacing, and organization of physical words on a page. Many students with visual-spatial challenges have trouble keeping their writing neat and legible. These students might be able to write letters and words that are easy to decipher, but their lines are crooked. Sometimes their writing starts to trail off at the end of the line, making the last few words illegible. All students, but especially students who struggle with this, need plenty of opportunities to write where the sole focus is proper spacing, sizing, and physical organization of their writing on the page.
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