Franklin Children's Dictionary & Spell Corrector

A few years ago, I was frustrated with figuring out how to get students to spell words correctly in their writing on their own.  Telling students to look words up in their Quick Word books or the dictionary just wasn't feasible for students who didn't know how to spell the first 2 or 3 letters of the word. Plus, the person that usually ended up correcting their spelling was a parent.  I spoke about my concern with the special educaiton teacher at our school, and she introduced me to the Franklin Children's Dictionary and Spell Checker.  She said she used it with great success with the students with whom she was working and gave me a catalog so I could order a couple of them for my own classes.  They immediately became a big hit with my four classes of 5th grade English, and sometimes it would take a week or two before all the students had access to this incredible tool.  As a result, a couple students purchased their own and would bring them to school to share them with all of the classes.  Only having students for an hour a day at my previous school, just having a few of these did make it difficult to finish writing projects in a timely manner.

Although there are many great aspects about this electronic device, what appealed to me most was that it had a sound function.  So any student can press the speak button, and it will speak not only each word it thinks you may have intended to spell, but it will also speak the definition of the word.  This is especially helpful for my struggling students who may not be able to read the definition on their own and need the auditory piece to support the visuals.  It also helps students know if they are spelling the word they intended to spell.  For example, often times a student will write "were" when they actually meant "where".  The Speller will say "were", and I can ask the student if that is the word he/she really wanted to use in a piece of writing.

The video below will give you more information about the Franklin Children's Dictionary and Spell Corrector, but for some reason it doesn't highlight the sound function.  Also, Franklin has recently updated this device to include something to help students with their handwriting.    The most important parts about this technological tool is that students are excited to use it to correct their spelling in their writing, and it gives them the confidence to be able to spell the words correctly on their own without having someone correct their words for them. 

It's important to note that I don't allow students to use the Franklin Speller until they have written a first draft of something.  Otherwise, they would become more focused on the Franklin Speller than they are on recording their thoughts.  I want them to focus on the content, and I tell them they can always go back and fix the spelling later.  Once a first draft has been completed, students are asked to circle words that look wrong so that they can double check the spelling of those words.  Then I ask parents to circle words that are spelled wrong, but I also ask them not to correct the spelling for them.  That way students can correct these words on their own by using the Franklin Speller.  As a last resort, I will circle words that appear to be spelled wrong.  Because I only have 4 of these devices in my classroom, students usually have to wait in line to use it.  It's my dream to have one Franklin Speller for every 4 students in my new classroom (and those of my colleagues).  See the video below, or pick one up for yourself, and you will understand why.