For the final research project, students are required to have 10+ sources of information, and not all of them can come from the internet, staunching the flow of blogs and message board cites before they start. Use of a library search engine is recommended as most college libraries pay fees to access appropriate research sites for college-level papers.
One student complained that information on her topic is scanty, which surprised her because she thought her topic was bigger than the information she found. So, I asked to see her "see also" list, the list of words related to the topic that could help her find info.
You see, the problem is that "asthma" is not spelled "asma," a spelling that does (somewhat) limit the available source material. I tried to explain the correct spelling of the word without guffawing, but I'll admit I was smiling a touch as I did so. She strongly defended her spelling of her research topic, so I demonstrated on the computer how many sources are available with "my" spelling of the word.
Never did I realize that it is I who am wrong! She did see it on a billboard, as she claimed, and it is spelled "asma." However, it's a billboard written entirely in Spanish about "de atac de asma." For some reason, she only saw the "asma" part, not all the other Spanish words on the billboard, and that became her spelling.
We don't teach spelling these days because it's all about the student's engagement in the writing process: did they try their best? That's good enough. As the student assured me, "asma" sounded right, which, I guess, makes it close enough for college work?
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