Vocabulary

                Since vocabulary is such an integral part of comprehension, it most certainly should be taught explicitly and in some context that is real to the students. My third graders at Oak Grove learn the vocabulary words that are embedded in the story, which is better than going down a list, looking up the definitions and testing on the meanings a week later. We must show how the words fit into real life, and how they are used in context, instead of teaching in meaningless isolation. Once new words are introduced to a student, I think that they must be repeated and used over and over again. Vocabulary words can be likened to learning a new language. If you don’t use the language, you will lose it. Teachers must continue to use, use, use the new words to help the students to remember the words. Also, the words should be modeled in different settings and contexts to ensure to show the diverse meanings of the word. For example, a lot of words can be used as a verb and as a noun. My kids are learning action verbs right now, and in some sentences in the workbooks, it would use the verbs as a noun, and vice versa. This confused the students greatly. I think that the more the students use the words in different contexts, the better they will remember them.

I had a teacher at another college I attended who used very rich, advanced vocabulary. I would carry a dictionary with me (this was before smart phones), so that I could figure out what he was saying. There was one word that he used quite frequently, “ubiquitous.” Because he used it so much, I picked up on it, and now use it myself. It was only because he used it so often though. This is what we have to do with our students to enhance their vocabulary.

                One thing that the book said concerning ELL’s is similar to an article I read last semester. The book stated that many teachers think that their English Learners are doing fine because they hear them speaking well, but their language is actually on a social level, not academic. The article I read was about how teachers think that math is a universal language, and these students automatically know it, because numbers are the same in every language. The problem is that these ELL’s don’t always have a rich “math vocabulary,” which can cause them to be behind in this subject as well. Teachers often times further do these students a disservice by watering down the rich vocabulary. They may use “take away” instead of subtract, for lack of a better example. Students must learn the academic vocabulary in all content areas if they are to be successful.

                One strategy from the chapter that I found to be helpful was the Vocabulary Self-Awareness Chart. I think it would help because it shows students (and teachers) what they know and what they don’t. The first step to learning is to first identify what you don’t know, so that you can learn it. As much as I hate it, that sounds like dang metacognition. I also appreciated the story at the beginning in which the teacher is probing his student to look up the new word, and then add it to his electronic dictionary. I don’t know if computers will be available in every classroom, but I think that personal dictionaries are a great idea. Every child is going to arrive in your classroom on such a diverse continuum, I think that it is important for each student to have his or her own dictionary that is “all theirs.” Overall, I enjoyed reading this chapter, probably because I really enjoy vocabulary. I can’t wait until Tuesday. Dr. B said it was going to be “awesome!!” J