<p>Here is some information about me and the idea/app:</p>
<p>I am an elementary teacher in a small town north of Waterloo,
Ontario. As such, I have striven to use computer technology to assist
my students in their learning and to assist me in my role as a teacher.
One area in particular that has interested me has been in the
acquisition of literacy skills- specifically the ability to spell well.</p>
<p>A few years ago, after having done lots of research on the topic of
spelling instruction, I worked with a friend to create a spelling
computer program that was based on sound pedagogical principles. The
program was created for the Mac- which has always had a big presence in
schools- and we sold a few copies. The original program had its
limitations namely because of our personal limitations in terms of
programming skills and the fact that it was written in Hypercard. I
consider the program we made to essentially be a prototype, but the
underlying idea and principles behind the program are sound.
I still use program today to create activities and to teach students in
my grade five class. I would like the program to live again so to speak
and be open source. The activities it includes could be done on the
computer and and also printed for later student use. In a nutshell, the
program represents the best idea I have ever had in terms of helping
students acquire spelling skills. It could help both children and
adults learn to improve their spelling skills in English and
potentially other languages as well.</p>
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/spellinator"><strong></strong></a>The program allows teachers to select words (from predetermined word lists based on prefixes, suffixes, vowel patterns etc.) or choose their own words. The program with teacher input (depending on the activity) then creates about 4-6 activities that could be done on the computer or printed for later practice/seatwork. Samples pictures of some of the printable activities can be found here:
<br><br><a href="http://spellinator.wiki.sourceforge.net/space/filelist">http://spellinator.wiki.sourceforge.net/space/filelist</a><br><br> Original program was created for the Mac using Hypercard but it is
really just a prototype (It was called the Word Family Spelling Planner- or just Spelling Planner for short). I need your help to make this idea run on linux based computers. I'm toying with the name of Spellinator- but am open to other suggestions. My main desire is to see the idea updated and be open source so that I can create new spelling units to use with my students instead of relying on old one made with the original program which only ran on old macs.
<br><br>Thank you,<br><br>Sincerely,<br><br>Mr. Mark Stuckless<br>(aka Dante123)<br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Mildmay-Carrick Public School<br>school: 519-367-5548<br>home: 519-367-5228<br>website: <a href="http://reason2learn.ca">
http://reason2learn.ca</a>