ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCESTEACHING SPELLING: COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS
Planning Points
Approximate Time Needed: Five to ten minutes at the beginning of class each day for a week
Lesson Objectives:
Students will learn the spellings of commonly confused words, such as homonyms.
Materials Needed:
- an overhead
- writing sample with commonly confused word
Description
Students should be working on a writing assignment while the teacher completes the following steps, so they can apply the concept to their own paper.
The teacher presents a five-minute lesson on commonly confused words. First, she puts a list like the one below on the overhead. Students are asked to fill in the blanks with words that sound like the first one but have a different spelling and meaning.
Common Spelling Errors: Confused Words
your ___________
to ___________ ___________
its ___________
their ___________ ___________
college ___________
effect ___________
chose __________ _
lead ___________
than ___________
want ___________
After completing the list, ask students why a spell-check on a computer would not "catch" these words. At the beginning of class each day for several days, the teacher can put the following examples of homonym misspellings on the overhead.* Students are asked to underline the homonym, explain what it means, the correct spelling that's needed, and its meaning.
Full coarse meals
No bear feet allowed.
The pistol of a flower is its only protection against insects.
On Thanksgiving morning we could smell the foul cooking.
Carats, 2 for 39 cents
Our sauce compliments our salad.
Panel Agree To Much Sex on Television
Mr. & Mrs. Garth Robinson request the honor of your presents at the marriage of their daughter Holly to Mr. James Stockman.
Lederer, Richard. Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language. Charleston: Wyrick: 1987.
In the next mini-lesson, the teacher should handout a sample writing assignment that has commonly misspelled words and place a transparency of the handout on the overhead. The teacher instructs the students to skim the assignment backwards, starting with the last word and skimming their finger under each word until they reach the beginning of the piece. They are told to circle any word that is a homonym, and if it is misspelled, to fill in the correct meaning. The teacher records the class' answer on the overhead.
In the next mini-lesson, students are instructed to exchange papers, so they can peer edit for one another. They should follow the same instructions above as well as circle any words they know are misspelled, regardless of whether they are homonyms.
Other ideas for spelling mini-lessons can be found in Nancie Atwell's Lessons that Change Writers. She includes "The Truth about I before E," "Root Words and Prefixes," "Suffixes: To Double or Not?," "Other Suffix Rules That Mostly Work."
She also has a useful checklist students can use to proofread for spelling errors.
Additional Notes:
Students could choose five to seven of the commonly confused words they tend to misspell. On a given date, a partner can test them. Atwell suggests the following format:
Tester: Say the word, use it in a sentence, and say it again.
Speller: Print the word.
---Do the whole list, then:
Tester: Spell each word out loud slowly, so the speller can proofread.
The teacher can use a rubric with a designated section for grading spelling only.
Grammar or Writing Focus: Spelling Commonly Confused Words Correctly
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|
No evidence you learned how to improve this area. |
Some improvement in this area of writing; continue to work on it. |
Paper shows mastery in this area. |
Teacher's Notes
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