Answer to Question 1
o Did you consider writing about someone else first?
o Were you thinking about how your audience might respond as you selected the person or were you writing for yourself?
o What was your decision-making process?
Answer to Question 2
Children need instruction to become better spellers. Spelling instruction varies by the stage of the speller. Pre-phonemic and early phonemic spellers, for example, have different spelling needs than do children in the transitional stage. Spelling instruction must be responsive to children's individual needs. When teachers can select the words that children will learn to spell, they should select words that reflect the spelling features that students use but confuse when they write, various spelling patterns, and sight words (at the lower levels). Instruction should focus on helping the students understand how words work. Teachers should use a test-study-test method because it is equally successfully with good and poor spellers. The spelling program should focus on each student's word needs, provide direct instruction based on the students' spelling stage and demonstrated knowledge, celebrate each student's growth without comparing a student's growth to that of other class members, and support invented spellings as developmentally appropriate for writers and not as errors.
