I have heard plenty of arguments both for and against spell-check. On one side, there is the spellcheck is the enemy and is killing the English language. I've heard, "Students are lazy, they assume spell check will fix their work, they don't even look it over"; "Students language is becoming basic because of spell check", "students don't know how to spell anymore".
On the other hand there are the supporters of spell check, "helps students become more independent in correcting their spelling", "they have and use it in their day to day use".
I will openly admit I'm pro spell check for my students, however, like all the tools our students use, they need to be shown the purpose and proper use of the tool to be effective. For example, just because a student in Gr. 1 knows how to navigate an Ipad, does not necessarily mean they know how to use an Ipad to support their learning. Chances are they know how to access their favourite show on YouTube and get to their favourite game, maybe even go and download some new games; don't confuse this with knowing how to use an Ipad for learning. Just like knowing how to open and create an email does not mean I know how to effectively communicate via email. That being said, just because a student knows that the little red underline means a word is spelled incorrectly and that they can right click on the word to get suggestions, does not mean they know how to effectively use spellcheck to improve their writing or communicate effectively.
So, how often do we as teachers take the time to show a student how to use spell check? Do we model and explain the importance of reading over their work even if there aren't any underlined words? This is not just for grammatical reasons either, reading over their work for grammatical corrections is important, but I mean to read for spelling too. Right now I currently have multiple words underlined, but they're not spelled incorrectly, spell check can be used to teach the difference in spelling between countries that have the same language in that case. I also have the word YouTube underlined right now, but it's because I didn't capitalize the y and it's a proper noun...have we ever thought about using spellcheck to teach the use of proper nouns?
What about using spellcheck as tool for expanding students' vocabulary? Showing students the importance of finding out what all of the different "suggested words" mean vs. telling them to pick the one that makes sense. Perhaps getting students to think about why there are so many different suggestions based on the single word? Why would spellcheck give so many different suggestions? Encourage students to explore the different meanings of the words including the one they actually meant to spell. Could there be another word that would give their message more meaning or a more clear message? I know I have come across words I didn't know existed because of a misspelled word, why not embrace this?
All to often spell check is seen as "the devil" and avoided by teachers and students just use as best they know how, right click, pick the first word that is suggested. Sometimes it is avoided because "they already know how to use it", right click, pick the first word that is suggested. However, I think spell check should be embraced and taught as an effective tool to increase students' vocabulary and communicate more effectively. Do you teach how to use spell check?
