Summer 2014: Learning Together. Crestwood Summer Book Club
Research confirms that vocabulary development is a crucial factor in developing reading comprehension skills. In fact, some literacy experts consider word knowledge to be the key to
Research confirms that vocabulary development is a crucial factor in developing reading comprehension skills. In fact, some literacy experts consider word knowledge to be the key to
advanced learning. For high-poverty students and English language learners (ELLs), vocabulary
development is especially important because limited word skills can stunt academic progress.By July 4th, read chapters 1-3 of Word Nerd and respond to at least one of the questions that follow...
Chapter 1
A. Vocabulary knowledge has consistently been correlated with school achievement. How and why
do you think vocabulary achievement relates to student success?
B. Margot and Leslie have very different teaching styles, yet each of them effectively
develops the vocabulary knowledge of her high-poverty students. What makes
each classroom a place where students develop word confidence?
C. Discuss the benefits of establishing a daily vocabulary routine. How does the routine
fit into a vocabulary cycle? Would a vocabulary routine be important for the students you teach? Why and how?
Chapter 3
D. How do Margot and Leslie address students’ needs (emotional, social, academic)as they are
introducing new words?
E. The Common Core State Standards stress students’ use of context clues to determine
the meanings of unfamiliar words and phrases. Discuss the ways that Leslie and Margot teach
students about context when introducing new vocabulary. Why is it important to do so?
Chapter 2 B: Margot and Leslie's classrooms effectively develop vocabulary knowledge because they are student-centered not teacher-centered. They have specific areas for each content area as well as desks/tables grouped together to promote collaboration between students. Both teachers also have clear and high expectations of ALL their students. They have built a classroom environment, along with the students' help and input, that is based on trust and independence. This type of environment lends itself to students taking chances on their learning (of all material). Even though the environments are different, both attribute to ALL students word confidence because of the above reasons.
ReplyDeleteChapter 2: B "The ultimate goal for teachers is to develop the kind of environment that will help students become word confident." Word confident meaning that students would take risks, relying on word solving strategies instead of teacher knowledge to unlock and understand new words. A routine that is predictable but flexible acts as an anchor for students allowing them to discover and explore new vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteThe point made on pages 24 and 25 shows the importance of vocabulary within the context of balanced literacy and the instructional day. "To achieve the goal of multiple exposures to words tha build word schema, we have to emphasize vocabulary instruction throughout the curriculum and across the day." The author does go on to say that a dedicated time for vocabulary development is essential. Several of our Reading Academy participants have built in time for vocabulary instruction, we might look at how they've done this and inquire about their experiences.
In chapter 1 pages 8 & 9 states children with a solid word base achieve more in school while students with less developed vocabulary progress more slowly. This is especially true for students living in poverty. Vocabulary interventions need to be powerful enough to accelerate word learning in order to close the achievement gap. Vocabulary knowledge directly correlates with increased reading comprehension and achievement.
ReplyDeleteThe kindergarten classroom is a great place to begin to teach, discuss, share, and use social and academic vocabulary. There are multiple opportunities daily in whole group and small group to develop oral language skills so students will be able to communicate effectively in a variety of situations for many different purposes. (Speaking, listening, sharing, reading,writing)
Using Vocabulary - "the right words" are essential for students to be able to understand, express, think, talk, write, and perform with confidence.
Lillian
Chapter 1: A.
ReplyDeleteI feel as if I've seen a complete circle in the instruction of vocabulary from when I was in school to present day. I recall vocabulary instruction as a push in my fifth grade classroom and witnessed its value diminish as I entered college and began to build my own instructional skill set. Professors claimed vocabulary instruction- the monotonous routine of looking up words in the dictionary, writing them in sentences, completing multiple choice assessments, were not meaningful and therefore a waste of valuable classroom time. However, as I read the discoveries of Overturf, Montgomery and Smith, as well as relate to what I've recently learned through Marazano, I recognize the importance of a variety of instructional strategies to teach vocabulary, the choice of both tier 2 and tier 3 words and the power of student discussion in this process.
I think that this achievement in vocabulary contributes to much higher student success because now, students are going beyond “learning words”. They are building important skills by being given multiple opportunities to discuss and familiarize themselves with the vocabulary, make meaningful connections to their lives and the content, and ultimately, build critical thinking skills. Not only are they building their schema for test taking and reading comprehension, but they are also building important skills such as using context clues, problem solving and synthesizing. Which go beyond the abilities of the most familiar vocabulary instruction.
Chapter 3 (E)- Margot and Leslie teach context clues in very similar ways. They both show sentences and have students infer the correct word that could fit in the sentence. They incorporate parts of speech and syllables into the word prediction strategy. Then they put the words on cards and students try out the words by figuring out which word goes in the sentence provided. Each student in their class has a vocabulary journal where they write the word, the definition, synonyms and antonyms of the word, illustrate the word with a picture and write the word in a sentence. This is essential so that students will be able to look back quickly at the words and remember the meaning.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to teach students in this way so that they will connect their background knowledge with the words. It will also expose students to the words and their definitions in many different ways so they are not memorizing the words and their definitions for the assessment alone but are able to use them effectively in their writing and understand them in their reading.
A question that always comes up when discussing vocabulary instruction is, “What words do we choose?” On page 38 of the book, it discusses Tier Two words. I would like to strategize as a group on most important words that each student should know in each grade level.
Misty
In response to Misty: I agree that there are questions about choosing the Tier Two words. In Chapter I, the authors define these words as "high-frequency words students will likely encounter in their school reading yet probably don't know well." In Chapter 2, Margot's Tier 2 example lesson lists words from a specific reading selection. So, as Misty asked, which words from each reading selection would be considered most important? Do we choose specific vocabulary words intentionally, such as ones with specific parts of speech, ones with prefixes/suffixes, ones with Greek and Latin roots, ones that show a specific tense in order to provide lessons with them? Or would they be just unfamiliar words from the selection to help with the comprehension? Or would they be a combination/variety?
ReplyDeleteI am excited about the Tier 3 lessons using domain-specific words for 5th grade math and social studies; a great reinforcement of content vocabulary.
Penny S.