Traditional Spelling vs. Developmental Spelling

All my childhood career, until I reached high school, I had to learn a list of words and spell them correctly.  Sometimes my teacher would have me and my classmates write sentences using the spelling words, too.

As a middle school teacher, I struggled with my students learning how to spell specific words.  I was more concerned about them learning the meanings, and using them properly, than knowing how to spell them.  However, I was encouraged to have them know how to spell them, too.  This is where my students failed most, and I felt it was so unfair to them.  Mainly because at this point in the game, I felt that my students were passed the point of needing to learn how to spell the words, and that it was more important for them to learn their meanings instead.

Last year, as a first time 3rd grade teacher, I followed what most of my colleagues were doing, which was having students study 25 words and spit them out after a week of studying.  I was comfortable with this because this is how I had learned my spelling words.  

Last week, while talking to my new colleagues in my new building, I was introduced to the concept of Developmental Spelling.  I looked it up, and learned that it's basically learning how to spell using phonics.  Now I'm looking at the Whole Language vs. Phonics issue.  In all honesty, I didn't realize that there was still a debate.  However, as much as I love having the choice to take the approach I feel is necessary to meet my student's needs, I do feel that I should at least take a closer look at what Developmental Spelling is and how to approach it with my 4th graders.

This leads me to my question.  If anyone has any advice or suggestion as to how this works, I would love to hear from you.  I will be meeting with my colleagues soon about it, but would like to have more insight on the topic, and at least sound like I know what I'm talking about.