CHECK Strategy

Knowing how to spell (or spellcheck) words, on your own, without automated programs like Microsoft's spellchecking or iPhone’s autocorrecting, is so important. 

I think that writers (be that an early elementary student or a novelist) need to be able to spell; phonetics are fundamental to this process. As children, knowing the letter sounds would definitely improve spelling (as described in the BlackBoard text) IF the word they are trying to spell is phonetically correct.. The trick to this is, of course, the thousands of complications and “exceptions” in the English language to phonetic sound. With the CHECK Strategy, though, children could get close enough to the correct spelling — with use of phonics. 

Automated spellchecking and “autocorrecting” are so common now, though, and with the ever-growing popularity of technology and devices (iPhones, tablets) a lot of kids probably don’t understand the importance of this basic skill — knowing letter sounds, knowing how to sound out a word, knowing how to correct their errors in spelling. The reality is that spellcheck and autocorrect are both susceptible to failing the writer. These automated programs don’t catch everything, especially if the writer isn’t able to spell in the most basic sense; these programs will not be able to “fix” the word if it’s not at all close to the target word. They don’t catch homophones, words that are truly words (an instead of can), words that are double typed (ex: the man man drove to work) or words that aren’t typed at all (ex: the drove to work). Automated programs also make us as writers lazy and don’t enhance or develop our skills (Winter-Hebert, "8 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Just Rely On SpellCheck”). 

According to an article from 2005, "one study reported that spell checkers usually catch just 30 to 80 percent of misspellings overall (partly because they miss errors like here vs. hear), and that spell checkers identified the target word from the misspellings of students with learning disabilities only 53 percent of the time" (Moats,  “How Spelling Supports Reading").

There is also an obvious tie from spelling to reading. Again, letter sound knowledge is important. 

It’s great that we have advanced technologically and that spellchecking programs even exist, but, I believe, there’s no better “check” than re-reading your work (or having someone else read you work).  

Resources:

Moats, L. (2005). How Spelling Supports Reading. Retrieved January 16, 2016, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-spelling-supports-reading

Winter-Hebert, L. (n.d.). 8 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Just Rely On SpellCheck. Retrieved January 16, 2016, from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/10-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-just-rely-spellcheck.html