Winning a Spelling Bee--is that a good thing?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Now that my own 3 are out-of-the-nest, I must over-focus on my 12-year-old niece.</p>

<p>From her rural community, she just won the district spelling bee and is going to the state level. Last year she missed reaching the state level, so it’s a step up for her, and she’s feeling proud. </p>

<p>She’s always been a GREAT reader. </p>

<p>After writing off a warm congratulatory note, I began to think of all these negative things I’ve read about spelling bees! Oh my: there’s Myla Goldberg’s book “Bee Season” where the girl ditches winning the final round to try to heal her dysfunctional family. </p>

<p>There’s “Akela and the Bee” which trots out all of these cultural stereotypes to show an Asian boy who’s overpressured, and an African American mom who doesn’t grasp what it means for her daughter to achieve…at least she has an AA mentor to make her study her Greek roots and use the jumprope to reinforce her memory kinesthetically! Thank goodness for him!</p>

<p>There’s the episode of Frasier (TV sitcom now in re-runs) where Kelsey Grammar’s nephew cheats due to pressure, but finally comes clean and the Dad recognizes his redemption as superior to the winning of the Bee.</p>

<p>Anyway, I dearly love this little niece of mine, but feel so far away from Middle School culture.</p>

<p>PLEASE, does anyone have any WONDERFUL, happy stories about Spelling Bees, regardless of outcome? I only want to be a supportive auntie. Just hearing good stories where kids even lost but ended up better for it; or won and didn’t turn into monsters…?</p>

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<p>Get a copy of the documentary called Spellbound, which followed, I believe it was, eight competitors in the National Spelling Bee. Excellent documentary. Or if the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee tour comes to Buffalo, take her! :)</p>

<p>We didn’t have spelling bees where my kids went to school but one of my Ds was such a spelling whiz that the teacher she had in 3rd grade couldn’t find a vocab/spelling list that challenged her in the least. Eventually, she just had my D make her own list each week, and the teachers at that school had their own bee in the staff room to see if any of them could get even one word correct!</p>

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<p>Nice, bright kids won the spelling bees at my school every year. I know that isn’t the same as going to state, but still - it was always nice for them. They’d get some sort of prize, and their friends would be happy for them. I never won a spelling bee in my life, but competing was fun. I mean, how often do kids get to compete for something brainy instead of sporty?</p>

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<p>I loved “Spellbound.”</p>

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<p>My D won her school spelling bee in 6th grade, and was a very proud moment. She studied for the city bee to an extent, and did quite well, number 11 in our city, out of 50. Unless a driven perfectionist, spelling bees are potluck. Many easy words go by, and whether you get the easier or harder word is luck of the draw. For a few minutes in that city bee, we thought she’d win, as they were dropping like flies on the what seemed to us, not difficult words. Then she was hit with palladium, and was out. We were just proud that she got as far as she did, and was one of those moments you look back on fondly. </p>

<p>Now there is a girl in our neighborhood who is out and out brilliant, won the state as well as possibly the national bee. That is another level. As with music, some take it to a high level of competiveness, some enjoy the honor and process of getting however far the competition will allow at their particular time and place.</p>

<p>Both my Ds were very good spellers. One of those odd skills that hits some. We used some sort of ACT word book as a spelling resource list in early elementary for one D.</p>

<p>What my girls really wanted were geography bees, but unfortunately those don’t exist in our area. Wonderful for the academically talented to have a venue for public pride, not just the athletes and musicians.</p>

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<p>Over thirty years later, every time I see the word I missed at my district bee, I cringe!</p>

<p>Does anyone remember the United Way commercial where an NFL player had to spell “chrysanthemum”, and the girl next to him got “cat”?</p>

<p>I second the Putnam County idea - went to it in Rochester two weeks ago so it may just come to Buffalo, watch out for it! They interviewed me to be one of the four from the audience that gets to participate, but I said I have been banned from family games because I always win and that must have disqualified me, they picked my dentist’s wife instead…</p>

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<p>I always liked spelling bees and in the class ones was usually the last one standing despite not studying the words like I was supposed to. I think I inherited it though because my mother has always been a great speller and awesome scrabble and crossword player. </p>

<p>If nothing else, if your niece is a great speller then it seems that she’ll do very well at writing and if she does well at writing she’s likely to do well in HS, college, and in business.</p>

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<p>paying3T, I looked up the dates for the Bee tour and it looks like it was in Buffalo already, last month. It’s here in Toronto right now til Sunday. Then it heads west and won’t be anywhere close until Cleveland in May.</p>

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<p>Winning a spelling bee is a terrific accomplishment for a child, something they can be proud of. Generally shows that they read a lot and/or can picture words in their head, and that bodes well for the future.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, won’t help in any way with college admissions, and now that spellcheckers are everywhere, it’s become more about whether or not it’s the right word than whether the word is spelled correctly (they all are).</p>

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<p>Thanks, I hadn’t even heard of Spellbound! Will check that one out.</p>

<p>Maybe I can catch “Putnam” in NYC…great to have another excuse to go there. ;)</p>

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<p>I have a bit of spelling bee baggage.</p>

<p>Each week in second grade, our class had a spelling bee. Each week, I won. Finally, after several weeks, my teacher asked me to become her “assistant.” I knew she was trying to give other kids a chance to win. Fine. I had accrued quite a number of prizes already; they were plastic eggs from our local bank.</p>

<p>Then, the next year I was at a new school, and my teacher nominated me for the schoolwide spelling bee, the winner moving on to the citywide bee!!! Uh, unfortunately, she had not told me of this honor until the morning of the written test so I didn’t get to study at all, like the other kids. Still came in second, but I coulda been a contenduh!!!</p>

<p>Loved “Spellbound,” by the way.</p>

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<p>My son won his middle school’s spelling bee as a 6th grader. He got his picture in the newspaper, and despite the dorkiness of spelling bees in general, was much admired for at least 24 hours by his classmates because it was so cool for a 6th grader to beat out the 7th and 8th graders in ANYTHING.</p>

<p>Then he went to the district bee and was the first one eliminated. The very first. </p>

<p>Oh, well, at least he hadn’t prepared for it or anything.</p>

<p>He won the school bee on “opaque” and lost in the first round of the district bee on “dormitory,” which he spelled “dormatory.”</p>

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<p>I don’t have a lot of “help” to give here but while we are sharing…</p>

<p>Paying3tuitions…The 29th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is no longer playing on Broadway, sorry to say. I saw it there with my kids…very entertaining and clever. I wish your niece could see it! </p>

<p>AlwaysAMom…by chance might you see Spelling Bee while it is in Toronto? My daughter’s very good pal is playing Logainne on the tour. She went to theater camp with her for many years and was in many shows with her. My D always looked up to her. Then, my D landed at the same college program in musical theater, though overlapped just one year given the age difference. We are so proud of this talented friend to be cast in Spelling Bee right out of college. As a fellow Tisch parent, I’m sure she’d love to see you there (maybe your daughter and D.S. even knew one another?)</p>

<p>Similar to what AlwaysAMom wrote regarding one of her daughters, my youngest child, in particular, was a very advanced speller, likely due to being an avid reader and writer from a young age and so it was tricky with spelling class at school. In third grade, she was sent to the sixth grade for spelling lessons. She then topped out of the curriculum and did have some specialized individualized lists meeting with the principal during spelling class time for that. But then the principal thought the kid really did not need spelling as it was a non issue for her and so for the last two years of elementary school, she got to do an independent study during spelling period, supervised one on one by the principal and what she did was to write her own musicals…scripts and music…I recall one being 90 pages long. (I have to smile as my daughter is now doing this very thing in college) We really loved our elementary school. Then, I remember that the principal was going to take a spelling team to a spelling competition for the region. She asked my D to be one of the four kids for the team. So, this was like a spelling bee but it was a team event. </p>

<p>I think the spelling bee with your niece is a very cool thing. My older D got to be in a Geo Bee in middle school and I recall her team in some state final at the State House. I think academic achievements like this are really cool and are to be celebrated. </p>

<p>Maybe you can make some cute good luck package for her…like alphabet soup, scrabble, letter magnets for the fridge, etc.</p>

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<p>Amazing that people remember the word misspelled or the dealmaker winning word. I guess that’s the nature of keen competition, being on stage too, yes?</p>

<p>Alphabet soup care package…great idea. Tomorrow’s fun. Thanks to soozievt.</p>

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<p>Susan, I was supposed to see the show last week but had to be out of town so one of my Ds and her b/f were lucky enough to see it instead. :slight_smile: They had not seen it in NYC (as the rest of the family already had - some more than once!) and they both enjoyed it tremendously. I knew that the girl playing Logainne was a Tischie. I honestly can’t remember if my D knows her or not but I remember a conversation we had in the fall about the tour and DS being cast and my D remarked on DS’s involvement with Shifting Ground Productions (I’d bet that your D is familiar with this group). My D knows several of the Tischies who were/are a part of that. If I’m not mistaken, there’s another Shifting Ground kid in the Bee tour, playing Leaf.</p>

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<p>Yes, it is a very good thing! The reading and the qualities of intellect that make a person a naturally good speller have a lot of carry-over later on. </p>

<p>While I agree with yayverily that there is always spell-check, there is actually a lot of insight to be gained from the study of word origins, root meanings, passage through different languages, and the relation of all of these to the correct spelling of words–and useful insight can be gained from any level of preparation that’s interesting or realistic for your niece.</p>

<p>Realistic expectations are important, though. It’s been a long time since a quick run-through of a list of about 2,000 words could get a speller anywhere (specifically, it’s been about the length of time since I was in the Bee).</p>

<p>I’ve read “Bee Season.” It’s interesting as a novel, but not much connected to the reality of the Bee. A better source on the National Spelling Bee is “American Bee” by James Maguire (I’m not related to him, and not connected with the Bee).</p>

<p>For most people, success in the bee comes down to luck, at some point. There are exceptions: Kerry Close, who won the national bee in her 5th (?) appearance in it is one–I strongly suspect that she knew the entire list by the time she won (I’m not related to her, either). Serious national competitors do a lot of preparation, often over several years.</p>

<p>A good source of prep info is <a href=“http://www.spellingbee.com%5B/url%5D”>www.spellingbee.com</a>, which contains the Consolidated Word List, Carolyn’s Corner, Spell It! and book references. I’m not sure what happened to the Paideia–if you Google Paideia spelling bee, you should find a connection to the 2007 audio version, and possibly earlier years. </p>

<p>But there is no need to cover it all! Anything your niece learns might be useful, and she should just have fun. I have only fond memories of the bee. Spellers meet a lot of people, and the overwhelming majority of them are great to know!</p>

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<p>My son won the school wide bee as a 4th grader competing against fifth and sixth graders. I still laugh about his final word–“titan.” As soon as the announcer said it, I knew he would correctly spell it as he’s a sports fan and some college team is named the Titans (Tennesse maybe?) I also laugh about the mother that was mouthing the letters to her daughter when it came down to the daughter and my son. </p>

<p>I think he was eliminated in the second round at the county wide bee. He was more interested in getting out of there and heading out of town for Spring Break than a spelling bee. He didn’t prep for it. </p>

<p>He won the top prize at his school science fair that year also. He still has quite the reputation among his grade school friends. The middle school friends just take him to be another smart kid among many. I think that’s MUCH better for his ego ;)</p>

<p>I hope your niece has much fun with it.</p>

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<p>I should say that I came nowhere close to winning–won the district bee only once and placed 62nd in the National Bee–and that was only because there were far fewer competitors back then.</p>

<p>Am I better for it? Well, probably not–but my first real mentor in science knew that I had won the local bee, and took it as a sign of some ability.</p>

<p>Considering the subset of the national winners that I’ve seen since the Bee has been televised on ESPN, I have been impressed by all of them–they seem to be, seriously, great young men and women. No need to worry there!</p>

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<p>My younger son did the geography bee in middle school. He didn’t study for it – he loves history and plays military/Civ video games, so he gained his knowledge by osmosis. Came in second place in the school twice – he can still tell you which two countries that border the Med and the Atlantic that lead Europe in olive production (and something about Saskatchewan).</p>

<p>He had a good time, didn’t study, didn’t stress out about it and got a t-shirt and acknowledgment at school. </p>

<p>I’d encourage your niece to enjoy; this may lead her to further interests down the road.</p>

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<p>Sorry for the side bar…</p>

<p>AlwaysAMom…my D certainly knows Shifting Ground Productions as she has been one of their performers/singers, as well as accompanists. The three founders of Shifting Ground are all friends of my daughter’s for years, having spent many summers together at theater camp and performing in many casts together. Recently, my D cast and musically directed one of the founders in a professional show in NYC. They have all graduated from Tisch. </p>

<p>The boy playing Leaf is a graduate from U of Michigan’s BFA in MT program. My D has met him before, though they are not friends. I also knew of him for years because he had the same NYC agent as my daughter (he has been on Broadway as a child). His sister played Olive on Bdway and was nominated for a Tony for her performance in Spelling Bee.</p>