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9. The right to be valued as a human being regardless of your spelling
This last right, although not focused on how to help children be better spellers, is nonetheless perhaps the most important. I hear countless stories of students who refuse to write because they're self-conscious about their spelling, and of adults who feel that they're stupid and have limited job prospects because of their spelling. We need to destigmatize spelling, to help students realize that being a good speller is a combination of doing enough reading so that you've seen a lot of words in print over and over again, and taking the time to develop strategies like taking an extra second to get a word right or learning how to use a dictionary. Let's work hard to help students become better spellers, but let's also help them realize that society places far more emphasis on spelling than it deserves (in what other area of life do we expect 100% perfection?) and that your self-respect should never be dependent on whether you know how to spell because.
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