Vocabulary building is the content focus of my lessons for tutoring, so I found this chapter to be very useful and interesting. Many of the activities listed in the back of the chapter I have already read about while deciding what to do for lessons. One I have not heard about was predict-o-gram. I thought this was a great idea for the students to predict what the word means, then find out while reading the story, then compare their prediction with the real meaning.
At the very beginning of this chapter, the book states, "research indicates a strong correlation between readers' vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension... students' knowledge of words is the greatest predictor of their reading comprehension" (p. 153). I truly believe in this and I am very happy with my content focus of the lessons because of this. As a kid, my mom would have me complete vocabulary software games so to build my vocabulary and become a better reader, so my mom also seemed to believe in this as well.
The ways of increasing vocabulary listed in this chapter include life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. After reading about these, I believe that using just one of these ways will not be effective. Teachers need to incorporate all three ways so to help students relate and understand so to build their vocabulary. With life experiences, students basically learn these words from their communities and what they do daily. However, teachers can relate new vocabulary to vocabulary students have learned through life experiences. Also by doing this, the teachers are making the learning personal and more relatable.
One of the most improtant pieces of infomration I learned from this chapter that allowed me to look at vocabulary in a different way that helps me understand how I should teach it better. This is that vocabulary building includes more than just being aware of and knowing the word. This includes seven parts: (1) knowing how to pronounce it correctly, (2) knowing its relationship to other words, (3) knowing its connotation in different contexts, (4) knowing how to use it in multiple settings, (5) knowing how to use it when writing, (6) knowing its multiple meanings, (7) knowing its morphology. Knowing all of this, makes me aware of what exactly I need to teach my students.
I do not have any questions this time for the reading.
I like that you talked about how this chapter allowed you to look at vocabulary in a different way. It is important for all teachers and future teachers to understand how we can teach vocabulary in an effective manner. The seven parts to teaching/learning vocabulary are crucial for students learning new vocabulary. I think that it is important for students not only to learn new words but also how to learn new words. With the amount of words that our language adopts every year, it is important to know and have the skills required to learn new vocabulary your entire life.
I agree that vocabulary building is a key factor when it comes to comprehension. In my phonemic awareness with my fourth grade students that I am tutoring, I am also working on vocabulary building. I thought the activities in this chapter were great ones for this particular skill. The predict-o-gram was a great one. As an educator I believe that vocabulary should be incorporated into every subject and as many lessons as possible. This chapter rally emphasized the importance of vocabulary building and the role that it plays in educating students. Like you said, all teachers should learn how they can better educate their students in this skill, because it is an extremely important one to be taught.
Chapter seven was over vocabulary building. As I am sure you all know, increasing a students’ vocabulary is very important. I really enjoyed reading through this chapter because it was full of facts that I found sort of surprising. I really enjoyed reading over the section about life experiences. I can relate to this through what I have learned in my previous courses. The book mentioned that students from different areas, such as cities and rural areas often have different vocabularies. These students learn these words and meanings of words through their own life experiences. So, a child in western Kansas probably has a different vocabulary than a child in New York City. Also, experiences to different places help children gain a higher vocabulary. One area from the reading I thought was particularly important was how to meet the vocabulary needs of struggling readers. I think this is important, especially in our tutoring groups. As future teachers, we are all going to need the proper tools and techniques to meet the needs of struggling readers. The book mentioned that often when struggling readers have a limited vocabulary it can be the result of a limited early language experience. One thing I can relate to from this book is the wordless book activity. I have seen many of these books, and I think students really enjoy them. I really like the suggestions that the book mentioned. It said that you should use adhesive notes and post the text on each page when talking about the story. Then, the student can read the story a number of times in order to learn the new vocabulary words in the text. I really like this idea. One thing that really surprised me was how many words are added to the English language each year. I never knew that about 800 words are added every year. If you take that times my age, that is a lot of words that are added in my lifetime! The book also mentioned that 90,000 words have been added in the twentieth century alone. Now that I know how many words are added to our language, I understand how important it is to motivate students to want to learn new words. With that being said, what can we do to motivate our students to do this? Does anyone have any extra resources that would prove to be helpful in the classroom?
Jarett, I too found it very interesting too, on just how many words are added to the English language every year! Astonishing really! But, aside from that the importance of reading to our own children and giving them a wide range of experiences early on is so vital, not only to their well being but to their vocabulary strengths. It is hard to know there are so many children that are not given such great chances of growth for expanding their future. However, it is important to me to help parents get involved with their children’s education at home and during the summers.
Although my focus this semester is phonics, I also greatly need the teaching tools for vocabulary to become successful. I really enjoyed reading chapter 7, as it focused on Vocabulary Building. There were so many interesting facts from this chapter that I really enjoyed learning. Such as, there are 800 new vocabulary words added to our English Language each year! That amazed me! I also learned the importance of motivating students to want o learn new words. This chapter highlighted on many ways in which to accomplish such a task. Speaking to children in a direct and meaningful ways is imperative in helping a child grow in their vocabulary. Also, by giving students a great span of life experiences such as: trips to the zoo, museums, restaurants, department stores, oceans etc. all help expand a child’s vocabulary. These kinds of places also drawl their attention to the words that have meaning which then become vocabulary. Some of these experiences are also known as, vicarious experiences – such as videos, reading, and poems.
This chapter really helped me reflect to how I (as a parent) have really done a good job at helping my own children expand their vocabulary. By reading to them, talking to them (not baby talk), taking them to all kinds of places such as zoo’s, stores, and museums. However, there is no book that comes with parenting but however, maybe every parent needs to be at least given a couple courses to teach them how to be a teacher…as this book and chapter have great skill building tasks to help even us parents to better our own children; as we will our students. I bring this up because not all teachers can give their students all of the examples given to help expand their vocabulary. With this being said, what are teachers to do when a student of theirs has such a low vocabulary level due to their life experiences and lack of teachings at home; it is true that there will always be others who have a better advantage in their language skills than others.
It is nice to know the skills and tasks to help better build a student’s vocabulary but it is also the parents who need to continue to learning and teaching at home to help really improve a student’s ability to learn and speak. But, unfortunately not all parents are hands on and believe that it’s the schools job (only) to teach their children. by Jennifer Willcott
Jennifer, I really like your ideas about introducing students to many different ideas. The exposure is an offering of ideas and words that students can use all the time. Just building that background knowledge and introduction to things would be amazing to see what kind of words they learn. Ricky
In my opinion the chapter did a good job of breaking down the importance of vocabulary. Not to mention that some of the numbers offered in the text were astronomical to me. That a first grader would have close to 20000 words. Of course this is for the advantaged students compared to the 5000 words of disadvantaged students. Based on the terminology in the book I would assume that average students would fall somewhere in the middle. I guess I am not sure what the defined terms are for advantaged or disadvangataged. I also really like the examples of how adults can put students in a better position by using alternative words compared to normal sometimes more childish words. Of course the chapter was filled with a ton of activities and ideas that can be used within the context of the classroom. I can say that this information did somewhat change my perspective on building vocabulary and providing different outlets for students to help build their vocab. i think one of the best ways that this is highlighted comes from the beginning of the chapter. In the beginning there are ideas about what might be better ways to rephrase things with different words and more vocabulary. This seem like a really great idea based on the information that showed the rate at which students learn more words. I have found that continuing to push students with their vocabulary can be quite a sight. While at times the words may be somewhat confusing at first the students have always pushed to grasp what they mean. This is critical as it shows that the students want to learn and are willing to put themselves out there taking chances to get it right.
Ricky, You had asked what the defined terms are for advantaged and disadvantaged students. I think generally, disadvantaged means students living in poverty for from a low-SES. However, it is not safe to assume that just because one come from poverty that her vocabulary will be limited. Advantaged typically means middle to high-SES students, but also coming from a background where education is emphasized. The textbook says that kids with parents that have higher education grow up in a literacy-rich environment.
I also liked how the text said to use more complex words when talking with younger students. This will help build their vocabulary. I always find myself simplifying my vocabulary when I talk to my own children, and I need to stop doing that! This book showed me that it is better to challenge students and use words in context so they can infer what they mean.
I agree with you on just how big the difference is in students vocabularies. I was shocked to see the differences in students based on economic upbringing. This helps me understand better why some of my tutoring students may struggle so much with reading. I was not aware just how important vocabulary was before this chapter when it came to comprehension. The chapter also helped me to see how important it is to use in the classroom. I feel pushing students is great as long as it remains fun and not frustrating for them. And it is neat to see them grasp the understanding, especially when they act them out for you.
One thing that I have been thinking for a long time that I’m not sure I’ve vocalized is that English Learners and students for a low-SES background seem to have many similarities. If I were in a classroom with a high percentage of low-SES students, I would probably use the same strategies I would use if I had a high percentage of English Learners. The textbook said that SES correlates more with students’ vocabulary and academic success than their language abilities do. Therefore, both types of students benefit from a literacy-rich environment.
I also got a great idea to use in my tutoring groups. This chapter emphasized using words in context, and I do always choose my vocabulary words from the guided reading material. But the kids do not remember the words when we read. Yesterday, I used the phrase “catch on fire” as a vocab word, and the students recognized it immediately in the text and on the cards. I think next week I will use simple sentences or phrases on my vocab cards instead. I will also use some aspects of total physical response, by having students act out the words. For example, this week two of my vocab words were “their” and “toward” and my students kept saying “together” instead of toward. If I had them act out walking toward me when they read the word, that could have helped. I also could have had the sentence “I walk toward the book.”
Question: P. 156 lists questions to ask when choosing vocabulary, but then it doesn’t tell you what the appropriate answers are. For example, it asks, “Does the word have multiple meanings?” So if the word does have multiple meanings should we choose it for study or not? Or are they just telling us to consider these questions AFTER the words have been chosen?
This chapter is on the importance of vocabulary and readers comprehension. Students gain vocabulary through life experiences. Unfortunately some students lack vocabulary when they come to school. Much of a student's vocabulary comes from their parents or family along with economic status they grow up in. Teachers need to make vocabulary instruction fun and meaningful. Isolated work is not the best way to go, students need to learn vocabulary in context. There are many strategies listed in the chapter to help with vocabulary instruction.
This chapter really showed the importance of vocabulary for students. I was surprised to see the gap between students vocabularies based on their economic upbringing. When I think of my students in tutoring, especially one student I can see why they may struggle in reading. One student in particular comes from a family that speaks only Spanish at home. She is not considered an ELL student according to her teacher, but feel her lack of English vocabulary could be a big part of her struggles. I enjoy doing vocabulary with my students. I like to have them act out really difficult vocabulary that I feel they will not know, for example "unhinging" is in our vocabulary for our "Snakes" reading. They seemed to grasp the word quickly after acting out their jaws unhinging and growing large.
The interventions had some good activities, as it always does. One I may incorporate in tutoring in the next couple weeks is the categorizing activity. I think this is a very simple way to see how much each student knows. I think doing this than discussing and adding vocabulary would be beneficial; they would also have these in their journals for future reference. Again this was another very informative chapter and it had some great new activities that I could use.
Ryan, I cannot agree more that isolated work is not the answer for teaching students vocabulary. I ask my tutor group every session what they did during school for that day and they always respond with worksheets. I do not know about you but I sure do not want my students responding like that. I want them excited about what they learned and wanting to share about it. I enjoyed reading your post.
Ryan, I totally agree with you that vocabulary words need to be put into context so that the reader gets a full understanding of the word. They see, can spell and now know the meaning because it was put into context. No question that this is how it should be done.
One of the most interesting facts I learned from chapter 7 was that the average senior has a vocabulary of around 40,000 words, which means that each year a student learns approximately 2,700 to 3,000 words a year. I also was not aware of the 3 tiers for vocabulary. The requirements for actually "knowing" a word were very helpful. I am now more aware of how students learn vocabulary. It made sense to me that children learn vocabulary through life experiences and vicarious experiences. I learned though that through explicit instruction students can learn eight to ten words a week. DeVries did a positive job addressing the questions I had after reading this fact. The selecting vocabulary tips and guidelines were very insightful. On page 161 there was short paragraph that addressed accepting students and their limited vocabulary. I can relate to having students with a small vocabulary bank. In my Pre K classroom I have several students that are either ELL students or they just do not have the words to put their thoughts into sentences. It was helpful to be reminded of lowering my expectations for these students and to make sure they "were" included in activities with other peers so they could learn from their peers. Lastly the activities provided in chapter 7 were wonderful. I say this each week about the resources this book provides for me as a future educator but they are so beneficial. I personally love the Schoolyard Safari on page 165.
Jade, I found the information about the average vocabulary of around 40,000 very interesting as well. 2700 to 3000 words a year seems like a huge amount. However, if I had to guess I would've said that they learn more vocabulary when they are younger because their brains are like sponges. Just very interesting that they continue to build and build knowledge. I've just always related to the fact that it's easier to learn to play instruments at a younger age rather than waiting until later in your life. I assumed this was for more than just music. Guess I was wrong! I also LOVE the activities that this book has to offer us at the end of each chapter and I cannot wait to use them in a classroom.
You wrote, "It made sense to me that children learn vocabulary through life experiences and vicarious experiences." I totally believe in this. This not only applies to vocabulary but many subject areas. I remember reading about kids who sell merchandise in foreign countries are very strong in math because of their life experiences, their job requires them to do math. This makes total sense and should be a huge focus when teaching students, to relate life experiences and vicarious experiences to the lesson.
Chapter 7 was all about building vocabulary. I was immediately shocked when I read the first sentence of the introduction where it said that 800 new words are added to the English Language each year. WOW! No wonder kids and ELL get frustrated when trying to learn our language. The background portion of the chapter spoke about things that we've already known and heard about previously. I really liked the portion of the chapter on how to increase students vocabularies. I think this is especially important for ELL's. In their communities they may not experience the vocabulary that other students are introduced to in their daily lives. This is a great key for teachers to remember to include in their daily routines (point out various words that can be used for the same proceedures). Right now, in my internship for math my mentor teacher transferred from sixth grade to first grade and I'm very impressed by the vocabulary that she uses and expects from her first grade students. I feel like this requires them to use that higher level thinking when answering her questions. Back to the chapter, I liked the four differnet practices used to help meet the vocabulary needs of struggling readers. This includes 1) developing a love of words through word play, 2) delivering rich instruction by teaching words they need to know to understand a passage, 3) teaching strategies so students can decipher new words as they encounter them, and 4) engage students actively in a wide range of texts by providing literature circles, guided readings, shared readings, and book clubs. As far as assessments goes the book says that you can determine a students weak vocabulary through a conversation with the students. Formal assessments are usually multiple choice tests. At the end of the chapter the book offers several different interventions to use in the classroom. I really liked the idea of the vocabulary bookmarks. I've never seen this done before and I think this is a good way for students to learn the definitions for words however I wonder if they'd actually do this.
I was also shocked to read that 800 new words are added to the English Language each year! I can see how ELL students frustrated too, especially when some of our words have multiple meanings! When I was a ELL paraprofessional I always tried to work on vocabulary with them. I am glad I did after reading this chapter!
I was also shocked at the growth in vocabulary that young students have. I thought about all the ELL and how they must be so lost when it comes to the crazy vocabulary levels of their peers. I think that this chapter really made me think about how we need to understand how to activate a student’s prior knowledge when teaching vocabulary. I also thought about how this will be difficult if a student does not speak English as their first language. I am grateful for all of the SIOP model experience we have gotten in the methods classes. Hopefully I can use that knowledge to help these students catch up on their vocabulary so that other areas will fall into place.
Chapter 7 spoke about vocabulary building. The text cited three ways to improve on a child’s vocabulary; life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. Life experiences are ones that are used in the child’s everyday life. Different children will have different life experiences and therefore, different vocabularies. Vicarious experiences are ones that are found in educational videos and readings. They are avenues that take a child to someone where they might have never been. Poems are also great tools for expanding a child’s vocabulary. They offer very rich, descriptive words that students are able to understand in context. Explicit instruction is understanding the correct approach for choosing words that students need to know to be able to understand the content in which they are reading. Struggling readers have a hard time with vocabulary. There are four things that every teacher can do to increase a struggling student’s vocabulary. Developing a love of words through word play is a great way to involve vocabulary through a fun exercise. Delivering rich instruction by introducing words students will need to know to comprehend the text is also a good way. Students need to be taught to decode words that they don’t know when they encounter them in text. Finally, getting students excited about reading by giving them many avenues in which to enjoy reading. I feel that this chapter gave good insight as to where to start with students who may have trouble with vocabulary. I see a lot of drill and kill with weekly vocabulary words that don’t go beyond memorizing the words. Some will have the students recognize the word, spell it and then say it in a sentence. This does give meaning to the word by using it in a sentence. The student will actually hear it spoken with other words in the correct meaning. Connecting this chapter to me would be helping my son with his weekly words. He gets 5 to 6 words each week. I make flash cards for his words and also make small sentences with his word included. I feel that by expanding his vocabulary I have seen so much improvement in his reading skills. He has really made great strides this last month and has really worked hard. I find that by not using vocabulary words in context hurts the students by not giving them the full rounded version of the word.
That is very true, different kids have different life experience and vocabulary. Some students may be read to everyday while other students only hear slang and the word no. As educators we must teach our students to have a enriched vocabulary.
Vocabulary building is what chapter 7 was about. Vocabulary is an important part of the reading process. When students have a higher vocabulary they are more able to comprehend what they are reading. The book said that "the average high school senior has a vocabulary of approximately 40,000. This means from grades one through twelve, students learn approximately 2,700 to 3,00 new words a year or seven words a day". That is pretty incredible that students are learning that many words per year! My question is whether or not most teachers are aware of this and are helping students learn these new vocabulary words, especially students who are ELL. I really liked the part in the book about ways to increase vocabulary. The suggestions the book gave to increase vocabulary are through life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. The group of students that I am working with I am working on comprehension and vocabulary words with them. After reading this chapter I am glad I choose to emphasize on vocabulary with my students. Doing so helps them with their comprehension skills.
Rashawna, I also thought the number was amazing. Even when you break it down to seven words a day it is amazing. I have worked with many ELL students in my internship and last year in my science lesson I made sure to use a lot of pictures. One, they need to visualize the word and two, science has a lot of terms that the English speakers do not know either. I am also emphasizing vocabulary with my group.
This chapter as we all know is about vocabulary. I have a different way of looking at vocabulary then most. I began to realize that my son was not learning to read like most other student were around 6/7. I read to him daily. His comprehension skills were incredible for such a young student. His teachers would ask him how he knew a word and he would say “I heard it in a book”. His vocabulary has always been far above grade level yet he was making zero progress in reading. I could not figure out how he could remember a new word and what it meant after one time yet have no idea what letter sound we had worked on 10 minutes earlier. This was frustrating for all parties involved. Ashtons impressive vocabulary kept most teachers from realizing just how sever his reading problem was and we have only recently begun making progress. I guess what I am getting at is that a child that has an impressive ability to comprehend and has a large vocabulary yet is not making adequate progress in reading may have a reading disability that needs to be addressed. The chapter explains the role of vocabulary in teaching a new reading the skills that will make them an independent reader. This chapter has many activities that can be used to build a student vocabulary. I really like the “Predict-o-gram” on page 163. I can see this as a quick daily activity to help these students learn to start finding the meaning of unknown words on their own. I really liked how the author drew attention to “accepting students and their limited vocabulary” on page 161, this is a vital step that as a teacher we must make. Often because of developmental delays or being and ELL students have underdeveloped vocabularies and we need to scaffold their learning towards reaching their vocabulary goals without making them feel inadequate. I think that informal assessments that were also mentioned on page 161 are a great tool for identifying weaknesses in student’s vocabulary without putting them on the spot. If they know you are testing their vocabulary they may get embarrassed and shut down. This type of “talking” and “Assessing” is a great tool to see where the student’s weakness may lay. I am still in shock at the sheer number of words that student’s are learning on a yearly basis. I can’t fathom how confusing this must be for all students but especially ELL. They are already struggling with language and their peers making this kind of progress must make them feel as though they never understand anything.
Cat- Thank you for sharing your experience with your son. Although our chapter does talk about how the reader's vocabulary knowledge correlates with their reading comprehension, it doesn't say anything about "who" is reading the story for the comprehension. As you have learned first hand, a strong vocabulary and understanding a story being read to you is one thing, but actually reading that story yourself is another. I too feel that assessments (both informal and formal) are such an asset to a teacher to detect and identify those struggling readers. It is important to find them early enough so an intervention can be done to get the help they need. Plus, reading instruction needs to be tailored for them so that they can use and build strong reading strategies to become better.
The chapter begins with a very good example of how students will not be successful with comprehension if they are lacking meaning in new vocabulary. We need to understand how proficient readers naturally enrich their vocabulary, how to teach vocabulary, how to meet the vocabulary needs of English learners, and how to assess struggling readers’ vocabulary. There are seven aspects mentioned on page 154 to knowing a word. Students learn vocabulary through daily interaction in their communities. Vicarious experiences are also very important because it exposes students to new places they might not have the opportunity to visit in person. DeVries states that students learn approximately 3,000 new words each year through life experiences and vicarious experiences. The question is which words should be taught? There is a list of nine questions to ask when selecting vocabulary words on page 156. It is best to use the word multiple times and use them in discussion. In the classroom, we must first pronounce the word and have the students repeat them. Saying the word a number of times and using it in a sentence gives students a sense of ownership (p. 158) Some experiences that create a language-rich environment are experiments, field trips, videos, the Internet, audiobooks or ebooks. The chapter also discusses assessments like cloze tests to indicate whether a student truly understands the meaning of a word. Checklists from the beginning of the year are great to compare and see actual growth in the student’s vocabulary.
I did not find anything in this chapter that seemed to contradict and I do not have any questions.
Reading this chapter really increased my awareness of the importance of vocabulary. I knew it was important, but I really didn’t think about how we teach vocabulary and how much of a difference it will make in the lives of our students.
I always love the Intervention sections in each chapter. It gives solid, useful tools to help in our classroom. When I was taking English Comp. 1 we learned that dictionary.com has a tool that helps with pronouncing any new words. We can show students how to use this tool as well. There is a speaker near the word that you can click on to get the correct pronunciation. One way that I thought was a very interesting way to introduce a vocabulary at the beginning of the year is on page 168. I really like the idea of exploring the origin of words to interest students. I might present it as a challenge to add to either a classroom book or a bulletin board. A bulletin board might be best because it will be seen continuously, but more words would fit into a three ring binder. I would use a form that asks the word, the meaning, the pronunciation, whether it is a noun, verb, adjective, etc., with a very large place for the origin. I would make a big deal out of it when someone shared what they learned with the rest of the class. It could be a very interesting part of our day and build interest in others which will help increase their vocabulary. I might even set a goal for the class and give a class reward if everyone participates by contributing a certain number throughout the year. It says in our text that the average words learned per year is 3,000 words. Since I don’t have them the entire year, I would lower that number, but still make it challenging. If we exceed that number, it would be absolutely wonderful. I would make a point to go through the whole process of teaching them how to locate the information and model how to fill out the form and where to put it and how to share it. They could even do it with a partner if they are shy.
I think that reading this chapter also helped me to realize how important of a role the teacher plays in building a students' vocabulary. I guess I have never really thought about my teachers having such a huge impact on increasing my vocabulary thoughout my educational years. It really is quite fascinating that students learn 2,700-3,000 new words each year from grades one though twelve. That just sounds crazy to me that vocabulary increases that much in just 12 years of our life. I thought there were some great activities listed in the chapter reading to help us future educators with building our students vocabulary. I know many of these activities I will definitely incorporate into my lesson plans :)
I really enjoyed reading this chapter and learning different ways that teachers can motivate their students to learn new words. The chapter stresses that a students’ knowledge of words is the greatest predictor of their reading comprehension. It really makes perfect sense. In order to comprehend what they are reading, students must first understand the meaning behind the words they are reading. As a future educator it is important that I learn different ways of increasing my students’ vocabulary. I had no idea the amount of words students learn from grade one through twelve, and the role that teachers play in a students’ vocabulary, until reading this chapter. I enjoyed learning about the three word tiers and how teachers should use tier two words in classroom conversations, so that students can hear these words on a daily basis. When creating my lesson plans for tutoring I always wondered how teachers selected the vocabulary words to use. The book listed 8 questions that the teacher should ask when choosing the vocabulary words that should be studied. This will help me with future lessons, and being confident in the words that I select. While reading through the chapter I learned that I was on the right path, because I was trying to choose a word list that would help the students understand the content in which we were reading. I do not have any questions and did not find information that contradicted. However, I did learn a lot about the importance of teaching vocabulary words to students and increasing their vocabulary knowledge. The two most important things that I learned in this chapter were how teachers can and should meet the vocabulary needs in struggling readers, and also meeting the vocabulary needs of ESL students. Blachowicz and Fisher had four wonderful suggestions for practices that could be done in vocabulary instruction. They suggested word play through bulletin boards, word games, and crossword puzzles. They also suggested revisiting words often and discussion of words, as well as teaching word parts, using dictionaries, and glossaries. Their last suggestion included introducing a wide range of texts. In meeting the needs of ESL students Manyak and Bouchereau-Bauer suggested teaching strategies such as implementing vocabulary instructions from grade one and building from there, teaching strategies that help the student infer word meanings, reading informative materials that introduce many new vocabulary words, and using visuals to help the students “see” new words and meanings. This information was very useful because I have struggling ESL students in my tutoring sessions, so now I have learned new instructional strategies that will benefit my students in regards to increasing their vocabulary. The activities that were listed at the end of the chapter will be very beneficial as an educator. I really like and have always encouraged “wordless books”. I believe that children are able to be creative and explore new words through the pictures. I also enjoy “analogies”. This is a great way for students to relate words. I will definitely use this activity in my tutoring lessons.
Charelle- I also though that the suggests that teachers should ask when choosing words for study was a great tip! I've been choosing my Guided Reading to match and/or marry the skills we would be working on (like word families and onset/rime) and then pulling out words from the Guided Reading that followed my skills. I had no idea to think about choosing vocabulary that may have multiple meanings, root base, easily confused with another word, or synonym/antonym. I will definitely be remembering this in my future tutoring sessions as well as in my future classroom.
1. Analysis of the reading/issue. 2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue. 3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently? 4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
Our reading this week is over building vocabulary. There is a correlation between children’s vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension. A child’s vocabulary can be enriched by their environment. When children have conversations with adults, they are learning a wide range of words to add to their vocabulary. Through life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction can enhance and increase a child’s vocabulary. Through new experiences both children and adults learn new vocabulary. ~ As a mother of two children, who was a stay-at-home mom before they were in school full-time, they interacted with me a lot. When they were babies, yes, I used baby talk; however, as they started to develop words I would talk to them as I would an adult, but of course with age appropriate dialog and words. I read to them all the time. As they grew, it was like talking to a tiny adult when they talked! Teachers can meet the vocabulary needs of their students by including four practices in their by developing a love of words through word play, delivering rich instruction by teaching words they need to know and understand, teach strategies to decipher new words, and to engage the students through a wide variety of texts, literature genres, and reading groups/circle. ~ As a future teacher, I felt that learning this in our reading this week is very important. It’s a fact we are going to have struggling readers in our class. Who knows how many, but there will be at least one each year. We may be some of these children’s only chance to become exposed to the wide variety of literature. The teacher may also be their main opportunity to be read to or have someone listen to them read. One thing I feel is most important is teaching those strategies to decipher new words so that student can do this no matter where they go or what teacher they may have next. Assessments play an important part to see what level the student is at, what they know and understand, and where the instruction needs to go for that child to help them become the best and strongest reader they can be. ~Again, as a future teacher, knowing what to look for in a struggling reader is very important as well as what interventions can be done to help support the reader on the level they are at. The last thing a teacher wants to do is to give a child material that is too hard that will frustrate them. The activities that are mentioned at the end of the chapter are great to help a struggling reader. I personally loved the “Hink Pinks” activity as well as the “Schoolyard Safari.” The “Hinks and Pinks” are fun riddles that have two-word answers that rhyme. The child is being challenged and yet it is a fun activity and they are learning at the same time. The “Schoolyard Safari” is a great activity to do with children who are just learning about adjectives. What better way to make stories and poems more exciting than to “beef” it up with adjectives that make the reader “see” and “feel” what you are telling about. This activity give the students opportunity to take a basic sentence of “I see…” and not only tell what they see, but add an adjective to describe what it is they are seeing. I will definitely be keeping this activity!
I agree that as a teacher we will be educating students who may have limited vocabularies and in the class the teachers will need to teach students how to use the strategies to decipher new words. I thought it was great that you brought up how important assessments are in determining what level the student is at. I have found that in the assessments done during tutoring have given me a great amount of experience for when I will be in the classroom.
I have been the same way with my daughter. I always have tried to talk to her like I would an adult and it is crazy how quickly she picked up on the vocabulary and sentence structure. She is 2 and a half and puts together sentences that make sense. It is so fun also to see how they interact with other children through their conversations. I am always a proud mama when people say that they can't believe her vocabulary! Also, great summary of the chapter!
Blog Ch. 7 Zoë Greenemeyer The chapter states that to really comprehend vocabulary students need to process the words deeply and repeatedly. Also vocabulary learning must be an enjoyable activity for students. This information relates back to what has been addressed in our lectures. Students need to be aware of the vocabulary prior to being shown reading material and the activity need to include the range of learning styles. There are three word tiers, the first tier being common words used in everyday conversation, the second being less frequent but interesting words that transcend content, and the third being those associated with particular content. This reminds me of the importance of sight words. I have been trying to find books for my guided reading that align with the sight words that first grade students are expected to know. The chapter then discussed the various ways to increase vocabulary. I was not aware that you can use context clues. I had been familiar with the idea that context clues can help with comprehension. The final area of the chapter that I thought was important was the section on vocabulary and technology. I have used ebooks for my children at home and find that they really enjoy the interactive parts of the book. I have also used technology in my tutoring sessions to discuss vowels.
This was one of my favorite chapters so far in this text. I had so many A-ha moments as I was reading and I found that I can use many things from this chapter in my life at home with my kids as well.
This chapter was about helping students build vocabulary. The chapter shared different ways of increasing vocabulary through life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. The chapter also discussed how vocabulary has a direct affect on comprehension, because if students are not familiar with the words they are reading, they will have trouble comprehending the text. Some of the key points that I found in this chapter was that children from families in which the parent’s had a higher education tend to have higher vocabulary. This statement is obvious after reading it, but it was one of the moments that got my brain going about vocabulary. Another statement that I found interesting was about how educational videos and television shows can increase vocabulary, yet most movies and television shows about day-to-day life issues don’t help with vocabulary. This is due to the fact that the children can already relate to many of these issues. I also really enjoyed the dialogue examples the chapter provided modeling how introducing more vocabulary in simple day-to-day conversations can increase vocabulary.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
One thing that got me thinking after reading this chapter is how teachers can bridge the gap between those students with the higher vocabulary and those with the lower vocabulary. It seems as if there can be such a huge gap depending on several factors they encountered prior to preschool and/or Kindergarten. My biggest question is how do you move the higher students along with more upper vocabulary and still accommodate the lower ones.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
This chapter gave me a lot of ideas to use in my personal life with my 2 and a half-year-old daughter. My husband and I have always spoken to her in conversation and have always corrected her when she uses the wrong words. For instance, lately her improper use of pronouns has been driving me crazy! ;) She will say “Her wants to go outside.” The chapter made me excited to start trying to introduce some new vocabulary to her in our conversations. In addition, I found many great activity ideas for my tutoring group and my future classroom. This chapter really proved how important vocabulary is to comprehension and that it is key in developing readers.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
Overall this chapter made me realize how important vocabulary is helping children become fluent readers who can comprehend text. One of the main things I found after reading this chapter is that vocabulary is something that spans all of the content areas, so that makes it so much more important to have good vocabulary instruction techniques in place. Also, as I stated above, I will be able to use many of the key points from this chapter in my personal life.
Carrisa, I agree with you this was, I think, a great chapter as well. Vocabulary was something I always struggled with a child because I did not use the strategies that are mentiuoned in this chapter. I want to encourage to leanr outside the classroom. I think I am going to make activities that they can practice on their own time. The students then can take these strategies and use later on in their life. I want to teach students to build vocabulary that will be a life long techniques to use.
I agree Carissa, I did not do well with vocabulary either. I think this chapter has enlightened me as to why. It is so exciting that we have all these great tools to help our students!
Chapter 7 1. Analysis of the reading/issue. Chapter seven of the textbook Literacy Assessment & Intervention by B. Devries discusses “building vocabulary” (Devries, 152). According to the textbook “…it is imperative for teachers to understand how (1) proficient readers naturally enrich their vocabulary, (2) to explicitly teach vocabulary (3) to meet the vocabulary needs of English learners and (4) to assess struggling readers’ vocabulary” (Devries, 152). The more vocabulary the students know and learn the greater their comprehension of the material will be because the readers have knowledge about what they are reading.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
I do not have any questions for this chapter.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently? There are many different ways to introduce students to new vocabulary. Chapter seven of the textbook mentions several ways educators can introduce students to new vocabulary. These ways include; “life experiences, vicarious experiences and explicit instruction” (Devries, 154-156). This chapter made me think of the ways that I can introduce students to new vocabulary in the classroom. Something that I also have to put some thought into is selecting the vocabulary words that I introduce to my students. Suggestions on selecting this vocabulary is listed on page 156 that I found very useful.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience. Vocabulary is something that I struggle with even now. There are many professional articles that I read that I do not understand all the vocabulary words. When this happens I tend to not understand the text unless I can get clues from the words around the text. People are constantly learning new vocabulary, the key is to know strategies to get around not know certain words in the text. In my classroom I want my students learn new vocabulary by using words in their daily life that they may not be familiar with. This will help them feel comfortable using these words and use them more often.
Struggling with vocabulary does not seem to be very uncommon in our class. I have several friends from other classes who say the same thing and I too have my own struggles with vocabulary. I also feel like one of the nice things about reading the professional articles is that we are given a chance to use the word attack skills that we teach our students. We have to use context, break the word down, or break out the dictionary. I have to admit that the statement that life experiences can increase vocabulary did make me do a double take. This was a new concept to me despite that fact that after reading the section I felt like it was pretty obvious!
I have a student that struggles with vocabulary and does not know a lot of words. I really encourage her to use the pictures in the text or surrounding words to help her figure out the sticky word, which is what we call them in our lessons.
This week I felt like the readings were exactly in tune with what I have been either working on or needing to improve in my lessons. My students have GREAT vocabularies which is interesting because they have such low fluency. They have been working to improve it and their parents, who adopted them this summer, report that when they got the boys that they had less than 20 site words each. They were unable to read very simple children’s books and now they are reading at *about* a 2nd grade reading level. This is pretty amazing in itself but they have very low fluency and comprehension. Another interesting thing, that was not mentioned in the text and I would love some information on, is that while they have a great vocabulary when you string words they know together it seems like they get lost. They have a lot of difficulty with known words in sentence form. It seems that their comprehension should be higher given their great vocabularies so I’m confused here. The things that I really found helpful about this chapter were the sections on Ways of Increasing Vocabulary (pg 154) because of all of the book suggestions (I really want to read A Cache of Jewels now) and the list of books that emphasize language concepts (pg 159) because I have been running out of ideas for guided readings and read alouds. I also found the section on assessment to be perfect because I have been struggling with this in my lessons. I do a lot of informal assessments (cloze, ect) each lesson but found that I might not be utilizing all of the assessments available to me. I like the idea of the zip test and the maze test which I have forgotten about already. I really like some of the activities like Hink Pinks (pg 171) and Music Puzzlers (pg 173) This chapter reminded me that there are MANY ways to motivate my students to learn and that working with them on their vocabularies will help them improve in other areas of the big 5.
Chapter 7 focuses on Vocabulary Building. The beginning of the chapter discusses ways to increase a students vocabulary. The text lists 7 ways to increase vocabulary 1. Knowing how to pronounce it correctly 2. Knowing its relationship to other words 3. Knowing its connotation in different contexts. 4. Knowing how to use it in multiple settings. 5. Knowing how to use it when writing. 6. Knowing its multiple meanings. 7. Knowing its morphology. These seven ways increase a students vocabulary by allowing them to see the words and learn the different meanings of the word. The other ways to increase vocabulary is life experiences and vicarious experiences. I know that life experiences is a great way to increase their vocabulary. When it comes to my 6 year old niece, her vocabulary has grown so much in the last year and it has been due to all the things she has experienced. In our text and in our weekly videos it talked about meeting the needs of struggling readers and what those needs look like. Struggling readers have a smaller vocabulary than other readers. One thing I liked about our videos was including Poetry to help struggling readers. I love how it seems like a fun way to learn but it is also so repititive that the students don't often realize its learning. In the strategies and activities section of the book there were so many activities that I liked, but I will only list a few. I loved the idea of the Wordless Books and I want to try this in my tutoring session. This is a great way to foster discussion with the student but also to help them to read the book more carefully. I also really liked the idea of the crossword puzzle, although I think my students are too young for that, I still think it can be a very effective way to practice with your students. My favorite activity was called the Hink Pinks. I think that the students will find this activity so much fun that they will request to do it. Overall chapter 7 was very informative and I will definitley take this information into the classroom and use the Activities and Strategies to help encourage my students and to help them have a successful learning experience.
Tammi, I liked the idea of including poetry so much that I did for lesson plans 9 and 10. I am having my students read Two Crazy Pigs on day one and then do a reader's theater the next day. On day one they will draw an illustration of a farm that they would put in the book if they were an illustrator, then on day two they will create a poem to go with the illustration after I read two poems to them. Hink Pinks was one of my favorite activities as well.
Chapter seven focuses on building vocabulary and the correlation between vocabulary and reading comprehension. Some ways to build vocabulary are through background knowledge such as life experiences, vicarious experiences, and as well as explicit instruction. Many students lack background knowledge and I have seen this in my classes already. I have taught my students to ask questions if they don’t know what the text is referring to. I also might ask them to tell me what they think the word means when we come to a word that is unfamiliar or is not used very much such as slang. One time we came upon a word that I couldn't tell them what it meant and we looked it up on Dictionary.com, they really liked doing that. Some of the strategies the text suggests for vocabulary instruction are word play, deliver rich instruction, teach strategies to decode words, engage in a wide range of texts, as well as create a language rich environment through experiments, field trips, videos, the internet, and audio books. The text also focuses on ELL students and vocabulary building by using visual images, graphic organizers, and real tangible objects. I use this in my tutoring class even though they are not ELL students. I really like the idea of checklist assessing based on state standards at the beginning of the year and then at the end of each quarter to see how much the student’s vocabulary has grown. I don’t think that I have seen a teacher actually do this outside of spelling test which to me is not the same. I had never heard of zip assessments before I read this chapter, I would like to see one done. I am such a visual learner that I would even like to see the checklist assessing is done to understand how that is implemented. As always I love the activities provided to help build vocabulary especially the Multiple Meaning Racetrack, Hink Pinks, and Lexical and Structure Riddles for older students.
I think that is so wonderful that you modeled for the students what to do when you come across a word that you did not know. I think that it shows the students that people of all ages need to use the same strategies to find out what a word means in order to understand what they are reading. I too had not heard of zip assessments before reading this chapter, and it would be great to see an example of this being done.
Chapter 7 is about vocabulary building. Roughly 800 words are added to the English language each year. To understand and comprehend what is taught and read, students must know the meanings of words. Research has shown that student's understanding of words, narrative organizational skills, home environment, and quality of adult conversation are key factors in the student's vocabulary and reading comprehension. Words can be divided into three tiers. The first tier includes common words used in everyday conversations. The second tier includes words that are used less frequently but are interesting and are used in different contents. The third tier is words that are associated with particular content. Three ways to help student increase their vocabulary and understanding new words are through life experiences, vicarious experiences and through explicit instruction. Vicarious instruction includes viewing videos, watching television or reading different types of texts. These allow students to visit places they have not been able to in person. Poetry provides fun ways for students to learn different words and concepts. Figure 7.2 provides definitions of language concepts and examples. Portmanteaus are new words that are formed by combining existing words and omitting some letters, such as breakfast + lunch = brunch. To meet the vocabulary building needs of English learners, teachers should provide engaging and meaningful activities that provide collaborative efforts and limit individual evaluation. Teachers should use a wide variety of strategies to encourage students’ motivation and interest in increasing vocabulary and word knowledge. Some interesting interventions are vocabulary bookmarks, listening walks, analogies, crossword puzzles, and matching game (page 173). These strategies provide different types of activities that engage the students and can be done in collaborative groups.
Having always had a thirst for learning new words and an enjoyment of reading, I need to remind myself that not everyone possesses this trait. When it comes to the third tier of words, those associated with particular content, I have often struggled, especially in contents that were not my strongest, such as math and science in upper grades. When I was in school and as I am now in classrooms, lecture is still a predominant method used by teachers to pass information to the students. When students do not understand the vocabulary and struggle with understanding, why do teachers, especially in higher grades, continue to use lectures, instead of incorporating other activities to help their student have a greater understanding of the material? Additionally, when students are assessed on their learning and the results indicate their lack of understanding, why to teachers continue to move on to the next section or topic without going back to ensure that students do understand.
As a family, we have provided many life experiences for our sons. We may not go on many big vacations, but whether big or small, it usually is to visit a nearby cave or historical location. On big vacations, it is usually to popular destinations, such as Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park. While traveling to these destinations, we usually stop at smaller sites along the way. One science teacher once commented, when teaching about caves, that he was surprised because our son had been to all the caves, but one in Kentucky, listed in the textbook. The amount of time students spend watching television is often frowned upon by educators. However, with the high number of reality shows and documentary type shows, students are able to experience many different types of vicarious experiences to increase their knowledge and understanding. True, there are many shows on television that do not increase knowledge. However, my family tends to gravitate toward the science and history shows that tell about things or how they are made.
It seems we found the same important (and interesting) parts of the chapter including the 800 new words added to the English language each year and portmanteaus. I love that you have taken your sons to experience many of the educational sites that our country offers. This is something we plan to do with our family as well. It was wonderful growing up when I had personally been to a place and could offer insight or relate the new information to what I already new! Your sons will be thankful!
This chapter discusses ways in which to increase vocabulary building.This can be done by using life experiences by learning vocabulary that is used in their own communities, through vicarious experiences such as watching educational videos, and through explicit instruction. In order to meet the needs of students that may be struggling it is suggested that you use word play, discuss words they need to know in order to understand what is being read, teach the students deciphering strategies, and engaging the students in vocabulary activities that are actively engaging for students. I really liked the example at the very beginning of the chapter in which Mrs. Lopez read a passage to the other teachers and asked them to summarize what they just listened to and many of them were unable to do so. That really put things in perspective for me in the importance of building vocabulary in order for students to be able to comprehend what they are reading. Another thing that stuck out to me was the example of the two children in different conversation environments. It really made me think about how I really need to think about the words I use when speaking with my students. I really think I will be much more cognizant of how I use my own vocabulary and really try my best to use tier 2 words. When looking at the vocabulary building strategies and activities I came across the Schoolyard Safari activity. I thought this would be an excellent activity to do with the students I am currently working with since it is such a great time of year and the season is changing. I think that my students would really enjoy this activity and I think it would also be very beneficial to building up their vocabulary.
Great post! I think it is much easier to teach vocabulary through life learning experiences, words they hear everyday and can give meaning to! I also enjoyed the example in the book using Mrs. Lopez, it made me wander how I would do if I were in that situation!!
The two conversations also really stuck out to me. It definitely makes me think about what words I use and how I talk to my daughter and students. I was amazed at how much of a difference there really can be depending on a students home situation. Makes our jobs as educators a lot more challenging.
I must start by saying that it is absolutely incredible that 800 new words are added to the English language each year! No wonder it is one of the hardest languages to learn. Living in a town with a very large school, I sometimes had trouble understanding some of my husband’s athletes. I would have to stop them and tell them that I had no idea what they were talking about because they were using so many slang words! I know this is slang, but it is incredible at how different generations communicate as well as geographic areas across our nation. Moving to western Kansas this summer, I am now seeing more of English Language Learners. This is a whole different set of vocabulary. I believe very strongly in helping students relate what they are learning to their lives and making it applicable. When they build on prior knowledge and can relate vocabulary words to things they know, they are more likely to remember these words. Vicarious experiences are (of course) the most common in schools. When these two can overlap though, the experience is sure to be a memorable one. While I am not facing ebonics or ELL learners in my tutoring sessions, my students struggle with vocabulary. When they can relate the vocabulary to their activities such as sports and video games, they usually remember the vocabulary words for the next time. I do not feel that I have been doing a good enough job of this though. I need to think of more ways to have students relate the words to their everyday lives so they can become more familiar with them. I really like figure 7.2 and 7.3. Since I am working on vocabulary, we have been focusing on synonyms and now antonyms. We will work on homophones next. I can honestly say though, I’m not sure if I have ever encountered the word portmanteaus. I know that I have heard of these words but I’m not sure that I ever even thought that this process had a title! I enjoyed learning something new in that. Figure 7.3 was great on giving ideas for books that emphasize language concepts. I plan to look at some of these and hopefully, I will be able to incorporate at least one into the remaining sessions. I was also very happy to see synonym/definition concentration. I used an activity similar to this but I called mine Synonym Memory. Reading this activity made me feel that I am on the right track!
Hannah, I was also amazed that 800 words our added to our language each year. I am in Western Kansas also, and you are right the number of ELL is significant and their vocabulary is unique.
1. Analysis of the reading/issue. Chapter 7 discusses increasing students vocabulary. The chapter begins with the introduction stating that roughly 800 new words are added to our language each year. This is an amazing amount of words for us to keep up with. I was also impressed with the statement that the average high school senior has a vocabulary of approximately 40,000 words. I related well to the discussion how ways of increasing vocabulary. It is so easy for me to discuss vocabulary with students in real conversation rather than trying to introduce it and then question them on it. I was also interested to read that poems have extremely rich language and that poems offer a great way to learn new vocabulary. The discussion on teaching vocabulary by using context clues was helpful. The text suggested having the student read the whole sentence, then go back to the word and try to define it. The text offered suggestions on meeting the needs of struggling readers. One of the suggestions was to introduce vocabulary through word play or to engage them in a wide range of texts through literature circles, guided reading groups, shared reading and book clubs. 2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue. I really don’t have any questions or contradictions about this chapter. I would like to know about how many words the students should know at the end of each grade level. 3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently? The reading reminded me of my tutoring group. For the words that they don’t know, I also do a discussion piece on them using context clues and sometimes draw picture cards. 4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience. I am amazed at the low vocabulary my first grade students have. One of my students is from a great family, is an only child and I figured he would have an awesome vocabulary. This chapter gave me inspiration to get on him to learn as many vocabulary words as possible in 16 sessions and to be able to use the words in context!
It is no surprise to me that there is such a strong correlation between a readers vocabulary knowledge and their comprehension skills. Even if a student was able to pronounce everything, if they don't know what the word means they will not comprehend text. However, reading passages with unfamiliar words can be a good way to build vocabulary as long as they can figure out the meaning through context. I was surprised by the amount of words that a student learns in a year. 3000 new words every year is amazing, and we must provide an environment rich with tier two words to help students accomplish this. There are three tiers total. Tier one is common words used everyday, tier two are less frequent words that transcend content, and tier three words as specifically associated with content. The three ways to increase vocabulary include life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. I thought the chapter had a lot of good ideas for teaching vocabulary and making it exciting. When learning vocabulary through a game, they are more likely to enjoy vocabulary instruction. The websites for game building are ones I'd really like to check out and I love discoveryeducation.com, so I'm sure it has some good ideas as well. This chapter had a lot of activities for older students, but there were also a few good ideas for younger students such as the crossword puzzles and concentration game.
Vocabulary building is the content focus of my lessons for tutoring, so I found this chapter to be very useful and interesting. Many of the activities listed in the back of the chapter I have already read about while deciding what to do for lessons. One I have not heard about was predict-o-gram. I thought this was a great idea for the students to predict what the word means, then find out while reading the story, then compare their prediction with the real meaning.
ReplyDeleteAt the very beginning of this chapter, the book states, "research indicates a strong correlation between readers' vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension... students' knowledge of words is the greatest predictor of their reading comprehension" (p. 153). I truly believe in this and I am very happy with my content focus of the lessons because of this. As a kid, my mom would have me complete vocabulary software games so to build my vocabulary and become a better reader, so my mom also seemed to believe in this as well.
The ways of increasing vocabulary listed in this chapter include life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. After reading about these, I believe that using just one of these ways will not be effective. Teachers need to incorporate all three ways so to help students relate and understand so to build their vocabulary. With life experiences, students basically learn these words from their communities and what they do daily. However, teachers can relate new vocabulary to vocabulary students have learned through life experiences. Also by doing this, the teachers are making the learning personal and more relatable.
One of the most improtant pieces of infomration I learned from this chapter that allowed me to look at vocabulary in a different way that helps me understand how I should teach it better. This is that vocabulary building includes more than just being aware of and knowing the word. This includes seven parts: (1) knowing how to pronounce it correctly, (2) knowing its relationship to other words, (3) knowing its connotation in different contexts, (4) knowing how to use it in multiple settings, (5) knowing how to use it when writing, (6) knowing its multiple meanings, (7) knowing its morphology. Knowing all of this, makes me aware of what exactly I need to teach my students.
I do not have any questions this time for the reading.
I like that you talked about how this chapter allowed you to look at vocabulary in a different way. It is important for all teachers and future teachers to understand how we can teach vocabulary in an effective manner. The seven parts to teaching/learning vocabulary are crucial for students learning new vocabulary. I think that it is important for students not only to learn new words but also how to learn new words. With the amount of words that our language adopts every year, it is important to know and have the skills required to learn new vocabulary your entire life.
DeleteI agree that vocabulary building is a key factor when it comes to comprehension. In my phonemic awareness with my fourth grade students that I am tutoring, I am also working on vocabulary building. I thought the activities in this chapter were great ones for this particular skill. The predict-o-gram was a great one. As an educator I believe that vocabulary should be incorporated into every subject and as many lessons as possible. This chapter rally emphasized the importance of vocabulary building and the role that it plays in educating students. Like you said, all teachers should learn how they can better educate their students in this skill, because it is an extremely important one to be taught.
DeleteChapter seven was over vocabulary building. As I am sure you all know, increasing a students’ vocabulary is very important. I really enjoyed reading through this chapter because it was full of facts that I found sort of surprising.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading over the section about life experiences. I can relate to this through what I have learned in my previous courses. The book mentioned that students from different areas, such as cities and rural areas often have different vocabularies. These students learn these words and meanings of words through their own life experiences. So, a child in western Kansas probably has a different vocabulary than a child in New York City. Also, experiences to different places help children gain a higher vocabulary.
One area from the reading I thought was particularly important was how to meet the vocabulary needs of struggling readers. I think this is important, especially in our tutoring groups. As future teachers, we are all going to need the proper tools and techniques to meet the needs of struggling readers. The book mentioned that often when struggling readers have a limited vocabulary it can be the result of a limited early language experience.
One thing I can relate to from this book is the wordless book activity. I have seen many of these books, and I think students really enjoy them. I really like the suggestions that the book mentioned. It said that you should use adhesive notes and post the text on each page when talking about the story. Then, the student can read the story a number of times in order to learn the new vocabulary words in the text. I really like this idea.
One thing that really surprised me was how many words are added to the English language each year. I never knew that about 800 words are added every year. If you take that times my age, that is a lot of words that are added in my lifetime! The book also mentioned that 90,000 words have been added in the twentieth century alone. Now that I know how many words are added to our language, I understand how important it is to motivate students to want to learn new words. With that being said, what can we do to motivate our students to do this? Does anyone have any extra resources that would prove to be helpful in the classroom?
Jarett,
DeleteI too found it very interesting too, on just how many words are added to the English language every year! Astonishing really! But, aside from that the importance of reading to our own children and giving them a wide range of experiences early on is so vital, not only to their well being but to their vocabulary strengths. It is hard to know there are so many children that are not given such great chances of growth for expanding their future. However, it is important to me to help parents get involved with their children’s education at home and during the summers.
Although my focus this semester is phonics, I also greatly need the teaching tools for vocabulary to become successful. I really enjoyed reading chapter 7, as it focused on Vocabulary Building. There were so many interesting facts from this chapter that I really enjoyed learning. Such as, there are 800 new vocabulary words added to our English Language each year! That amazed me! I also learned the importance of motivating students to want o learn new words. This chapter highlighted on many ways in which to accomplish such a task. Speaking to children in a direct and meaningful ways is imperative in helping a child grow in their vocabulary. Also, by giving students a great span of life experiences such as: trips to the zoo, museums, restaurants, department stores, oceans etc. all help expand a child’s vocabulary. These kinds of places also drawl their attention to the words that have meaning which then become vocabulary. Some of these experiences are also known as, vicarious experiences – such as videos, reading, and poems.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter really helped me reflect to how I (as a parent) have really done a good job at helping my own children expand their vocabulary. By reading to them, talking to them (not baby talk), taking them to all kinds of places such as zoo’s, stores, and museums. However, there is no book that comes with parenting but however, maybe every parent needs to be at least given a couple courses to teach them how to be a teacher…as this book and chapter have great skill building tasks to help even us parents to better our own children; as we will our students. I bring this up because not all teachers can give their students all of the examples given to help expand their vocabulary. With this being said, what are teachers to do when a student of theirs has such a low vocabulary level due to their life experiences and lack of teachings at home; it is true that there will always be others who have a better advantage in their language skills than others.
It is nice to know the skills and tasks to help better build a student’s vocabulary but it is also the parents who need to continue to learning and teaching at home to help really improve a student’s ability to learn and speak. But, unfortunately not all parents are hands on and believe that it’s the schools job (only) to teach their children.
by Jennifer Willcott
Jennifer, I really like your ideas about introducing students to many different ideas. The exposure is an offering of ideas and words that students can use all the time. Just building that background knowledge and introduction to things would be amazing to see what kind of words they learn.
DeleteRicky
This chapter really made me think about how to engage my students with vocabulary instruction. It had many great ideas that would interest students.
DeleteLiteracy
ReplyDeleteChapter 7
1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
In my opinion the chapter did a good job of breaking down the importance of vocabulary. Not to mention that some of the numbers offered in the text were astronomical to me. That a first grader would have close to 20000 words. Of course this is for the advantaged students compared to the 5000 words of disadvantaged students. Based on the terminology in the book I would assume that average students would fall somewhere in the middle. I guess I am not sure what the defined terms are for advantaged or disadvangataged. I also really like the examples of how adults can put students in a better position by using alternative words compared to normal sometimes more childish words. Of course the chapter was filled with a ton of activities and ideas that can be used within the context of the classroom.
I can say that this information did somewhat change my perspective on building vocabulary and providing different outlets for students to help build their vocab. i think one of the best ways that this is highlighted comes from the beginning of the chapter. In the beginning there are ideas about what might be better ways to rephrase things with different words and more vocabulary. This seem like a really great idea based on the information that showed the rate at which students learn more words.
I have found that continuing to push students with their vocabulary can be quite a sight. While at times the words may be somewhat confusing at first the students have always pushed to grasp what they mean. This is critical as it shows that the students want to learn and are willing to put themselves out there taking chances to get it right.
Ricky,
DeleteYou had asked what the defined terms are for advantaged and disadvantaged students. I think generally, disadvantaged means students living in poverty for from a low-SES. However, it is not safe to assume that just because one come from poverty that her vocabulary will be limited. Advantaged typically means middle to high-SES students, but also coming from a background where education is emphasized. The textbook says that kids with parents that have higher education grow up in a literacy-rich environment.
I also liked how the text said to use more complex words when talking with younger students. This will help build their vocabulary. I always find myself simplifying my vocabulary when I talk to my own children, and I need to stop doing that! This book showed me that it is better to challenge students and use words in context so they can infer what they mean.
Amy
I agree with you on just how big the difference is in students vocabularies. I was shocked to see the differences in students based on economic upbringing. This helps me understand better why some of my tutoring students may struggle so much with reading. I was not aware just how important vocabulary was before this chapter when it came to comprehension. The chapter also helped me to see how important it is to use in the classroom. I feel pushing students is great as long as it remains fun and not frustrating for them. And it is neat to see them grasp the understanding, especially when they act them out for you.
DeleteOne thing that I have been thinking for a long time that I’m not sure I’ve vocalized is that English Learners and students for a low-SES background seem to have many similarities. If I were in a classroom with a high percentage of low-SES students, I would probably use the same strategies I would use if I had a high percentage of English Learners. The textbook said that SES correlates more with students’ vocabulary and academic success than their language abilities do. Therefore, both types of students benefit from a literacy-rich environment.
ReplyDeleteI also got a great idea to use in my tutoring groups. This chapter emphasized using words in context, and I do always choose my vocabulary words from the guided reading material. But the kids do not remember the words when we read. Yesterday, I used the phrase “catch on fire” as a vocab word, and the students recognized it immediately in the text and on the cards. I think next week I will use simple sentences or phrases on my vocab cards instead. I will also use some aspects of total physical response, by having students act out the words. For example, this week two of my vocab words were “their” and “toward” and my students kept saying “together” instead of toward. If I had them act out walking toward me when they read the word, that could have helped. I also could have had the sentence “I walk toward the book.”
Question: P. 156 lists questions to ask when choosing vocabulary, but then it doesn’t tell you what the appropriate answers are. For example, it asks, “Does the word have multiple meanings?” So if the word does have multiple meanings should we choose it for study or not? Or are they just telling us to consider these questions AFTER the words have been chosen?
This chapter is on the importance of vocabulary and readers comprehension. Students gain vocabulary through life experiences. Unfortunately some students lack vocabulary when they come to school. Much of a student's vocabulary comes from their parents or family along with economic status they grow up in. Teachers need to make vocabulary instruction fun and meaningful. Isolated work is not the best way to go, students need to learn vocabulary in context. There are many strategies listed in the chapter to help with vocabulary instruction.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter really showed the importance of vocabulary for students. I was surprised to see the gap between students vocabularies based on their economic upbringing. When I think of my students in tutoring, especially one student I can see why they may struggle in reading. One student in particular comes from a family that speaks only Spanish at home. She is not considered an ELL student according to her teacher, but feel her lack of English vocabulary could be a big part of her struggles. I enjoy doing vocabulary with my students. I like to have them act out really difficult vocabulary that I feel they will not know, for example "unhinging" is in our vocabulary for our "Snakes" reading. They seemed to grasp the word quickly after acting out their jaws unhinging and growing large.
The interventions had some good activities, as it always does. One I may incorporate in tutoring in the next couple weeks is the categorizing activity. I think this is a very simple way to see how much each student knows. I think doing this than discussing and adding vocabulary would be beneficial; they would also have these in their journals for future reference. Again this was another very informative chapter and it had some great new activities that I could use.
Ryan,
DeleteI cannot agree more that isolated work is not the answer for teaching students vocabulary. I ask my tutor group every session what they did during school for that day and they always respond with worksheets. I do not know about you but I sure do not want my students responding like that. I want them excited about what they learned and wanting to share about it. I enjoyed reading your post.
Ryan,
DeleteI totally agree with you that vocabulary words need to be put into context so that the reader gets a full understanding of the word. They see, can spell and now know the meaning because it was put into context. No question that this is how it should be done.
One of the most interesting facts I learned from chapter 7 was that the average senior has a vocabulary of around 40,000 words, which means that each year a student learns approximately 2,700 to 3,000 words a year. I also was not aware of the 3 tiers for vocabulary. The requirements for actually "knowing" a word were very helpful. I am now more aware of how students learn vocabulary. It made sense to me that children learn vocabulary through life experiences and vicarious experiences.
ReplyDeleteI learned though that through explicit instruction students can learn eight to ten words a week.
DeVries did a positive job addressing the questions I had after reading this fact. The selecting vocabulary tips and guidelines were very insightful. On page 161 there was short paragraph that addressed accepting students and their limited vocabulary. I can relate to having students with a small vocabulary bank. In my Pre K classroom I have several students that are either ELL students or they just do not have the words to put their thoughts into sentences. It was helpful to be reminded of lowering my expectations for these students and to make sure they "were" included in activities with other peers so they could learn from their peers.
Lastly the activities provided in chapter 7 were wonderful. I say this each week about the resources this book provides for me as a future educator but they are so beneficial. I personally love the Schoolyard Safari on page 165.
Jade, I found the information about the average vocabulary of around 40,000 very interesting as well. 2700 to 3000 words a year seems like a huge amount. However, if I had to guess I would've said that they learn more vocabulary when they are younger because their brains are like sponges. Just very interesting that they continue to build and build knowledge. I've just always related to the fact that it's easier to learn to play instruments at a younger age rather than waiting until later in your life. I assumed this was for more than just music. Guess I was wrong! I also LOVE the activities that this book has to offer us at the end of each chapter and I cannot wait to use them in a classroom.
DeleteYou wrote, "It made sense to me that children learn vocabulary through life experiences and vicarious experiences." I totally believe in this. This not only applies to vocabulary but many subject areas. I remember reading about kids who sell merchandise in foreign countries are very strong in math because of their life experiences, their job requires them to do math. This makes total sense and should be a huge focus when teaching students, to relate life experiences and vicarious experiences to the lesson.
DeleteChapter 7 was all about building vocabulary. I was immediately shocked when I read the first sentence of the introduction where it said that 800 new words are added to the English Language each year. WOW! No wonder kids and ELL get frustrated when trying to learn our language. The background portion of the chapter spoke about things that we've already known and heard about previously. I really liked the portion of the chapter on how to increase students vocabularies. I think this is especially important for ELL's. In their communities they may not experience the vocabulary that other students are introduced to in their daily lives. This is a great key for teachers to remember to include in their daily routines (point out various words that can be used for the same proceedures). Right now, in my internship for math my mentor teacher transferred from sixth grade to first grade and I'm very impressed by the vocabulary that she uses and expects from her first grade students. I feel like this requires them to use that higher level thinking when answering her questions. Back to the chapter, I liked the four differnet practices used to help meet the vocabulary needs of struggling readers. This includes 1) developing a love of words through word play, 2) delivering rich instruction by teaching words they need to know to understand a passage, 3) teaching strategies so students can decipher new words as they encounter them, and 4) engage students actively in a wide range of texts by providing literature circles, guided readings, shared readings, and book clubs. As far as assessments goes the book says that you can determine a students weak vocabulary through a conversation with the students. Formal assessments are usually multiple choice tests. At the end of the chapter the book offers several different interventions to use in the classroom. I really liked the idea of the vocabulary bookmarks. I've never seen this done before and I think this is a good way for students to learn the definitions for words however I wonder if they'd actually do this.
ReplyDeleteI was also shocked to read that 800 new words are added to the English Language each year! I can see how ELL students frustrated too, especially when some of our words have multiple meanings! When I was a ELL paraprofessional I always tried to work on vocabulary with them. I am glad I did after reading this chapter!
DeleteI was also shocked at the growth in vocabulary that young students have. I thought about all the ELL and how they must be so lost when it comes to the crazy vocabulary levels of their peers. I think that this chapter really made me think about how we need to understand how to activate a student’s prior knowledge when teaching vocabulary. I also thought about how this will be difficult if a student does not speak English as their first language. I am grateful for all of the SIOP model experience we have gotten in the methods classes. Hopefully I can use that knowledge to help these students catch up on their vocabulary so that other areas will fall into place.
DeleteChapter 7 spoke about vocabulary building. The text cited three ways to improve on a child’s vocabulary; life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. Life experiences are ones that are used in the child’s everyday life. Different children will have different life experiences and therefore, different vocabularies. Vicarious experiences are ones that are found in educational videos and readings. They are avenues that take a child to someone where they might have never been. Poems are also great tools for expanding a child’s vocabulary. They offer very rich, descriptive words that students are able to understand in context. Explicit instruction is understanding the correct approach for choosing words that students need to know to be able to understand the content in which they are reading. Struggling readers have a hard time with vocabulary. There are four things that every teacher can do to increase a struggling student’s vocabulary. Developing a love of words through word play is a great way to involve vocabulary through a fun exercise. Delivering rich instruction by introducing words students will need to know to comprehend the text is also a good way. Students need to be taught to decode words that they don’t know when they encounter them in text. Finally, getting students excited about reading by giving them many avenues in which to enjoy reading.
ReplyDeleteI feel that this chapter gave good insight as to where to start with students who may have trouble with vocabulary. I see a lot of drill and kill with weekly vocabulary words that don’t go beyond memorizing the words. Some will have the students recognize the word, spell it and then say it in a sentence. This does give meaning to the word by using it in a sentence. The student will actually hear it spoken with other words in the correct meaning.
Connecting this chapter to me would be helping my son with his weekly words. He gets 5 to 6 words each week. I make flash cards for his words and also make small sentences with his word included. I feel that by expanding his vocabulary I have seen so much improvement in his reading skills. He has really made great strides this last month and has really worked hard. I find that by not using vocabulary words in context hurts the students by not giving them the full rounded version of the word.
That is very true, different kids have different life experience and vocabulary. Some students may be read to everyday while other students only hear slang and the word no. As educators we must teach our students to have a enriched vocabulary.
DeleteVocabulary building is what chapter 7 was about. Vocabulary is an important part of the reading process. When students have a higher vocabulary they are more able to comprehend what they are reading. The book said that "the average high school senior has a vocabulary of approximately 40,000. This means from grades one through twelve, students learn approximately 2,700 to 3,00 new words a year or seven words a day". That is pretty incredible that students are learning that many words per year! My question is whether or not most teachers are aware of this and are helping students learn these new vocabulary words, especially students who are ELL. I really liked the part in the book about ways to increase vocabulary. The suggestions the book gave to increase vocabulary are through life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. The group of students that I am working with I am working on comprehension and vocabulary words with them. After reading this chapter I am glad I choose to emphasize on vocabulary with my students. Doing so helps them with their comprehension skills.
ReplyDeleteRashawna, I also thought the number was amazing. Even when you break it down to seven words a day it is amazing. I have worked with many ELL students in my internship and last year in my science lesson I made sure to use a lot of pictures. One, they need to visualize the word and two, science has a lot of terms that the English speakers do not know either. I am also emphasizing vocabulary with my group.
DeleteThis chapter as we all know is about vocabulary. I have a different way of looking at vocabulary then most. I began to realize that my son was not learning to read like most other student were around 6/7. I read to him daily. His comprehension skills were incredible for such a young student. His teachers would ask him how he knew a word and he would say “I heard it in a book”. His vocabulary has always been far above grade level yet he was making zero progress in reading. I could not figure out how he could remember a new word and what it meant after one time yet have no idea what letter sound we had worked on 10 minutes earlier. This was frustrating for all parties involved. Ashtons impressive vocabulary kept most teachers from realizing just how sever his reading problem was and we have only recently begun making progress. I guess what I am getting at is that a child that has an impressive ability to comprehend and has a large vocabulary yet is not making adequate progress in reading may have a reading disability that needs to be addressed.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter explains the role of vocabulary in teaching a new reading the skills that will make them an independent reader. This chapter has many activities that can be used to build a student vocabulary. I really like the “Predict-o-gram” on page 163. I can see this as a quick daily activity to help these students learn to start finding the meaning of unknown words on their own. I really liked how the author drew attention to “accepting students and their limited vocabulary” on page 161, this is a vital step that as a teacher we must make. Often because of developmental delays or being and ELL students have underdeveloped vocabularies and we need to scaffold their learning towards reaching their vocabulary goals without making them feel inadequate.
I think that informal assessments that were also mentioned on page 161 are a great tool for identifying weaknesses in student’s vocabulary without putting them on the spot. If they know you are testing their vocabulary they may get embarrassed and shut down. This type of “talking” and “Assessing” is a great tool to see where the student’s weakness may lay. I am still in shock at the sheer number of words that student’s are learning on a yearly basis. I can’t fathom how confusing this must be for all students but especially ELL. They are already struggling with language and their peers making this kind of progress must make them feel as though they never understand anything.
Cat- Thank you for sharing your experience with your son. Although our chapter does talk about how the reader's vocabulary knowledge correlates with their reading comprehension, it doesn't say anything about "who" is reading the story for the comprehension. As you have learned first hand, a strong vocabulary and understanding a story being read to you is one thing, but actually reading that story yourself is another. I too feel that assessments (both informal and formal) are such an asset to a teacher to detect and identify those struggling readers. It is important to find them early enough so an intervention can be done to get the help they need. Plus, reading instruction needs to be tailored for them so that they can use and build strong reading strategies to become better.
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ReplyDeleteThe chapter begins with a very good example of how students will not be successful with comprehension if they are lacking meaning in new vocabulary. We need to understand how proficient readers naturally enrich their vocabulary, how to teach vocabulary, how to meet the vocabulary needs of English learners, and how to assess struggling readers’ vocabulary. There are seven aspects mentioned on page 154 to knowing a word. Students learn vocabulary through daily interaction in their communities. Vicarious experiences are also very important because it exposes students to new places they might not have the opportunity to visit in person. DeVries states that students learn approximately 3,000 new words each year through life experiences and vicarious experiences. The question is which words should be taught? There is a list of nine questions to ask when selecting vocabulary words on page 156. It is best to use the word multiple times and use them in discussion. In the classroom, we must first pronounce the word and have the students repeat them. Saying the word a number of times and using it in a sentence gives students a sense of ownership (p. 158) Some experiences that create a language-rich environment are experiments, field trips, videos, the Internet, audiobooks or ebooks. The chapter also discusses assessments like cloze tests to indicate whether a student truly understands the meaning of a word. Checklists from the beginning of the year are great to compare and see actual growth in the student’s vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI did not find anything in this chapter that seemed to contradict and I do not have any questions.
Reading this chapter really increased my awareness of the importance of vocabulary. I knew it was important, but I really didn’t think about how we teach vocabulary and how much of a difference it will make in the lives of our students.
I always love the Intervention sections in each chapter. It gives solid, useful tools to help in our classroom. When I was taking English Comp. 1 we learned that dictionary.com has a tool that helps with pronouncing any new words. We can show students how to use this tool as well. There is a speaker near the word that you can click on to get the correct pronunciation. One way that I thought was a very interesting way to introduce a vocabulary at the beginning of the year is on page 168. I really like the idea of exploring the origin of words to interest students. I might present it as a challenge to add to either a classroom book or a bulletin board. A bulletin board might be best because it will be seen continuously, but more words would fit into a three ring binder. I would use a form that asks the word, the meaning, the pronunciation, whether it is a noun, verb, adjective, etc., with a very large place for the origin. I would make a big deal out of it when someone shared what they learned with the rest of the class. It could be a very interesting part of our day and build interest in others which will help increase their vocabulary. I might even set a goal for the class and give a class reward if everyone participates by contributing a certain number throughout the year. It says in our text that the average words learned per year is 3,000 words. Since I don’t have them the entire year, I would lower that number, but still make it challenging. If we exceed that number, it would be absolutely wonderful. I would make a point to go through the whole process of teaching them how to locate the information and model how to fill out the form and where to put it and how to share it. They could even do it with a partner if they are shy.
Hi Patti,
DeleteI think that reading this chapter also helped me to realize how important of a role the teacher plays in building a students' vocabulary. I guess I have never really thought about my teachers having such a huge impact on increasing my vocabulary thoughout my educational years. It really is quite fascinating that students learn 2,700-3,000 new words each year from grades one though twelve. That just sounds crazy to me that vocabulary increases that much in just 12 years of our life. I thought there were some great activities listed in the chapter reading to help us future educators with building our students vocabulary. I know many of these activities I will definitely incorporate into my lesson plans :)
Charelle
I really enjoyed reading this chapter and learning different ways that teachers can motivate their students to learn new words. The chapter stresses that a students’ knowledge of words is the greatest predictor of their reading comprehension. It really makes perfect sense. In order to comprehend what they are reading, students must first understand the meaning behind the words they are reading. As a future educator it is important that I learn different ways of increasing my students’ vocabulary. I had no idea the amount of words students learn from grade one through twelve, and the role that teachers play in a students’ vocabulary, until reading this chapter. I enjoyed learning about the three word tiers and how teachers should use tier two words in classroom conversations, so that students can hear these words on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteWhen creating my lesson plans for tutoring I always wondered how teachers selected the vocabulary words to use. The book listed 8 questions that the teacher should ask when choosing the vocabulary words that should be studied. This will help me with future lessons, and being confident in the words that I select. While reading through the chapter I learned that I was on the right path, because I was trying to choose a word list that would help the students understand the content in which we were reading.
I do not have any questions and did not find information that contradicted. However, I did learn a lot about the importance of teaching vocabulary words to students and increasing their vocabulary knowledge.
The two most important things that I learned in this chapter were how teachers can and should meet the vocabulary needs in struggling readers, and also meeting the vocabulary needs of ESL students. Blachowicz and Fisher had four wonderful suggestions for practices that could be done in vocabulary instruction. They suggested word play through bulletin boards, word games, and crossword puzzles. They also suggested revisiting words often and discussion of words, as well as teaching word parts, using dictionaries, and glossaries. Their last suggestion included introducing a wide range of texts. In meeting the needs of ESL students Manyak and Bouchereau-Bauer suggested teaching strategies such as implementing vocabulary instructions from grade one and building from there, teaching strategies that help the student infer word meanings, reading informative materials that introduce many new vocabulary words, and using visuals to help the students “see” new words and meanings. This information was very useful because I have struggling ESL students in my tutoring sessions, so now I have learned new instructional strategies that will benefit my students in regards to increasing their vocabulary.
The activities that were listed at the end of the chapter will be very beneficial as an educator. I really like and have always encouraged “wordless books”. I believe that children are able to be creative and explore new words through the pictures. I also enjoy “analogies”. This is a great way for students to relate words. I will definitely use this activity in my tutoring lessons.
Charelle- I also though that the suggests that teachers should ask when choosing words for study was a great tip! I've been choosing my Guided Reading to match and/or marry the skills we would be working on (like word families and onset/rime) and then pulling out words from the Guided Reading that followed my skills. I had no idea to think about choosing vocabulary that may have multiple meanings, root base, easily confused with another word, or synonym/antonym. I will definitely be remembering this in my future tutoring sessions as well as in my future classroom.
Delete1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
ReplyDelete2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
Our reading this week is over building vocabulary. There is a correlation between children’s vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension. A child’s vocabulary can be enriched by their environment. When children have conversations with adults, they are learning a wide range of words to add to their vocabulary. Through life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction can enhance and increase a child’s vocabulary. Through new experiences both children and adults learn new vocabulary. ~ As a mother of two children, who was a stay-at-home mom before they were in school full-time, they interacted with me a lot. When they were babies, yes, I used baby talk; however, as they started to develop words I would talk to them as I would an adult, but of course with age appropriate dialog and words. I read to them all the time. As they grew, it was like talking to a tiny adult when they talked!
Teachers can meet the vocabulary needs of their students by including four practices in their by developing a love of words through word play, delivering rich instruction by teaching words they need to know and understand, teach strategies to decipher new words, and to engage the students through a wide variety of texts, literature genres, and reading groups/circle. ~ As a future teacher, I felt that learning this in our reading this week is very important. It’s a fact we are going to have struggling readers in our class. Who knows how many, but there will be at least one each year. We may be some of these children’s only chance to become exposed to the wide variety of literature. The teacher may also be their main opportunity to be read to or have someone listen to them read. One thing I feel is most important is teaching those strategies to decipher new words so that student can do this no matter where they go or what teacher they may have next.
Assessments play an important part to see what level the student is at, what they know and understand, and where the instruction needs to go for that child to help them become the best and strongest reader they can be. ~Again, as a future teacher, knowing what to look for in a struggling reader is very important as well as what interventions can be done to help support the reader on the level they are at. The last thing a teacher wants to do is to give a child material that is too hard that will frustrate them.
The activities that are mentioned at the end of the chapter are great to help a struggling reader. I personally loved the “Hink Pinks” activity as well as the “Schoolyard Safari.” The “Hinks and Pinks” are fun riddles that have two-word answers that rhyme. The child is being challenged and yet it is a fun activity and they are learning at the same time. The “Schoolyard Safari” is a great activity to do with children who are just learning about adjectives. What better way to make stories and poems more exciting than to “beef” it up with adjectives that make the reader “see” and “feel” what you are telling about. This activity give the students opportunity to take a basic sentence of “I see…” and not only tell what they see, but add an adjective to describe what it is they are seeing. I will definitely be keeping this activity!
I agree that as a teacher we will be educating students who may have limited vocabularies and in the class the teachers will need to teach students how to use the strategies to decipher new words. I thought it was great that you brought up how important assessments are in determining what level the student is at. I have found that in the assessments done during tutoring have given me a great amount of experience for when I will be in the classroom.
DeleteLeann,
DeleteI have been the same way with my daughter. I always have tried to talk to her like I would an adult and it is crazy how quickly she picked up on the vocabulary and sentence structure. She is 2 and a half and puts together sentences that make sense. It is so fun also to see how they interact with other children through their conversations. I am always a proud mama when people say that they can't believe her vocabulary! Also, great summary of the chapter!
Blog Ch. 7
ReplyDeleteZoë Greenemeyer
The chapter states that to really comprehend vocabulary students need to process the words deeply and repeatedly. Also vocabulary learning must be an enjoyable activity for students. This information relates back to what has been addressed in our lectures. Students need to be aware of the vocabulary prior to being shown reading material and the activity need to include the range of learning styles. There are three word tiers, the first tier being common words used in everyday conversation, the second being less frequent but interesting words that transcend content, and the third being those associated with particular content. This reminds me of the importance of sight words. I have been trying to find books for my guided reading that align with the sight words that first grade students are expected to know. The chapter then discussed the various ways to increase vocabulary. I was not aware that you can use context clues. I had been familiar with the idea that context clues can help with comprehension. The final area of the chapter that I thought was important was the section on vocabulary and technology. I have used ebooks for my children at home and find that they really enjoy the interactive parts of the book. I have also used technology in my tutoring sessions to discuss vowels.
1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of my favorite chapters so far in this text. I had so many A-ha moments as I was reading and I found that I can use many things from this chapter in my life at home with my kids as well.
This chapter was about helping students build vocabulary. The chapter shared different ways of increasing vocabulary through life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. The chapter also discussed how vocabulary has a direct affect on comprehension, because if students are not familiar with the words they are reading, they will have trouble comprehending the text. Some of the key points that I found in this chapter was that children from families in which the parent’s had a higher education tend to have higher vocabulary. This statement is obvious after reading it, but it was one of the moments that got my brain going about vocabulary. Another statement that I found interesting was about how educational videos and television shows can increase vocabulary, yet most movies and television shows about day-to-day life issues don’t help with vocabulary. This is due to the fact that the children can already relate to many of these issues. I also really enjoyed the dialogue examples the chapter provided modeling how introducing more vocabulary in simple day-to-day conversations can increase vocabulary.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
One thing that got me thinking after reading this chapter is how teachers can bridge the gap between those students with the higher vocabulary and those with the lower vocabulary. It seems as if there can be such a huge gap depending on several factors they encountered prior to preschool and/or Kindergarten. My biggest question is how do you move the higher students along with more upper vocabulary and still accommodate the lower ones.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
This chapter gave me a lot of ideas to use in my personal life with my 2 and a half-year-old daughter. My husband and I have always spoken to her in conversation and have always corrected her when she uses the wrong words. For instance, lately her improper use of pronouns has been driving me crazy! ;) She will say “Her wants to go outside.” The chapter made me excited to start trying to introduce some new vocabulary to her in our conversations. In addition, I found many great activity ideas for my tutoring group and my future classroom. This chapter really proved how important vocabulary is to comprehension and that it is key in developing readers.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
Overall this chapter made me realize how important vocabulary is helping children become fluent readers who can comprehend text. One of the main things I found after reading this chapter is that vocabulary is something that spans all of the content areas, so that makes it so much more important to have good vocabulary instruction techniques in place. Also, as I stated above, I will be able to use many of the key points from this chapter in my personal life.
Carrisa,
DeleteI agree with you this was, I think, a great chapter as well. Vocabulary was something I always struggled with a child because I did not use the strategies that are mentiuoned in this chapter. I want to encourage to leanr outside the classroom. I think I am going to make activities that they can practice on their own time. The students then can take these strategies and use later on in their life. I want to teach students to build vocabulary that will be a life long techniques to use.
I agree Carissa, I did not do well with vocabulary either. I think this chapter has enlightened me as to why. It is so exciting that we have all these great tools to help our students!
DeleteChapter 7
ReplyDelete1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
Chapter seven of the textbook Literacy Assessment & Intervention by B. Devries discusses “building vocabulary” (Devries, 152). According to the textbook “…it is imperative for teachers to understand how (1) proficient readers naturally enrich their vocabulary, (2) to explicitly teach vocabulary (3) to meet the vocabulary needs of English learners and (4) to assess struggling readers’ vocabulary” (Devries, 152). The more vocabulary the students know and learn the greater their comprehension of the material will be because the readers have knowledge about what they are reading.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
I do not have any questions for this chapter.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
There are many different ways to introduce students to new vocabulary. Chapter seven of the textbook mentions several ways educators can introduce students to new vocabulary. These ways include; “life experiences, vicarious experiences and explicit instruction” (Devries, 154-156). This chapter made me think of the ways that I can introduce students to new vocabulary in the classroom. Something that I also have to put some thought into is selecting the vocabulary words that I introduce to my students. Suggestions on selecting this vocabulary is listed on page 156 that I found very useful.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
Vocabulary is something that I struggle with even now. There are many professional articles that I read that I do not understand all the vocabulary words. When this happens I tend to not understand the text unless I can get clues from the words around the text. People are constantly learning new vocabulary, the key is to know strategies to get around not know certain words in the text. In my classroom I want my students learn new vocabulary by using words in their daily life that they may not be familiar with. This will help them feel comfortable using these words and use them more often.
Struggling with vocabulary does not seem to be very uncommon in our class. I have several friends from other classes who say the same thing and I too have my own struggles with vocabulary. I also feel like one of the nice things about reading the professional articles is that we are given a chance to use the word attack skills that we teach our students. We have to use context, break the word down, or break out the dictionary.
DeleteI have to admit that the statement that life experiences can increase vocabulary did make me do a double take. This was a new concept to me despite that fact that after reading the section I felt like it was pretty obvious!
I have a student that struggles with vocabulary and does not know a lot of words. I really encourage her to use the pictures in the text or surrounding words to help her figure out the sticky word, which is what we call them in our lessons.
DeleteThis week I felt like the readings were exactly in tune with what I have been either working on or needing to improve in my lessons. My students have GREAT vocabularies which is interesting because they have such low fluency. They have been working to improve it and their parents, who adopted them this summer, report that when they got the boys that they had less than 20 site words each. They were unable to read very simple children’s books and now they are reading at *about* a 2nd grade reading level. This is pretty amazing in itself but they have very low fluency and comprehension. Another interesting thing, that was not mentioned in the text and I would love some information on, is that while they have a great vocabulary when you string words they know together it seems like they get lost. They have a lot of difficulty with known words in sentence form. It seems that their comprehension should be higher given their great vocabularies so I’m confused here. The things that I really found helpful about this chapter were the sections on Ways of Increasing Vocabulary (pg 154) because of all of the book suggestions (I really want to read A Cache of Jewels now) and the list of books that emphasize language concepts (pg 159) because I have been running out of ideas for guided readings and read alouds. I also found the section on assessment to be perfect because I have been struggling with this in my lessons. I do a lot of informal assessments (cloze, ect) each lesson but found that I might not be utilizing all of the assessments available to me. I like the idea of the zip test and the maze test which I have forgotten about already. I really like some of the activities like Hink Pinks (pg 171) and Music Puzzlers (pg 173)
ReplyDeleteThis chapter reminded me that there are MANY ways to motivate my students to learn and that working with them on their vocabularies will help them improve in other areas of the big 5.
Chapter 7 focuses on Vocabulary Building. The beginning of the chapter discusses ways to increase a students vocabulary. The text lists 7 ways to increase vocabulary 1. Knowing how to pronounce it correctly 2. Knowing its relationship to other words 3. Knowing its connotation in different contexts. 4. Knowing how to use it in multiple settings. 5. Knowing how to use it when writing. 6. Knowing its multiple meanings. 7. Knowing its morphology. These seven ways increase a students vocabulary by allowing them to see the words and learn the different meanings of the word. The other ways to increase vocabulary is life experiences and vicarious experiences. I know that life experiences is a great way to increase their vocabulary. When it comes to my 6 year old niece, her vocabulary has grown so much in the last year and it has been due to all the things she has experienced. In our text and in our weekly videos it talked about meeting the needs of struggling readers and what those needs look like. Struggling readers have a smaller vocabulary than other readers. One thing I liked about our videos was including Poetry to help struggling readers. I love how it seems like a fun way to learn but it is also so repititive that the students don't often realize its learning. In the strategies and activities section of the book there were so many activities that I liked, but I will only list a few. I loved the idea of the Wordless Books and I want to try this in my tutoring session. This is a great way to foster discussion with the student but also to help them to read the book more carefully. I also really liked the idea of the crossword puzzle, although I think my students are too young for that, I still think it can be a very effective way to practice with your students. My favorite activity was called the Hink Pinks. I think that the students will find this activity so much fun that they will request to do it. Overall chapter 7 was very informative and I will definitley take this information into the classroom and use the Activities and Strategies to help encourage my students and to help them have a successful learning experience.
ReplyDeleteTammi, I liked the idea of including poetry so much that I did for lesson plans 9 and 10. I am having my students read Two Crazy Pigs on day one and then do a reader's theater the next day. On day one they will draw an illustration of a farm that they would put in the book if they were an illustrator, then on day two they will create a poem to go with the illustration after I read two poems to them. Hink Pinks was one of my favorite activities as well.
DeleteChapter seven focuses on building vocabulary and the correlation between vocabulary and reading comprehension. Some ways to build vocabulary are through background knowledge such as life experiences, vicarious experiences, and as well as explicit instruction. Many students lack background knowledge and I have seen this in my classes already. I have taught my students to ask questions if they don’t know what the text is referring to. I also might ask them to tell me what they think the word means when we come to a word that is unfamiliar or is not used very much such as slang. One time we came upon a word that I couldn't tell them what it meant and we looked it up on Dictionary.com, they really liked doing that.
ReplyDeleteSome of the strategies the text suggests for vocabulary instruction are word play, deliver rich instruction, teach strategies to decode words, engage in a wide range of texts, as well as create a language rich environment through experiments, field trips, videos, the internet, and audio books. The text also focuses on ELL students and vocabulary building by using visual images, graphic organizers, and real tangible objects. I use this in my tutoring class even though they are not ELL students.
I really like the idea of checklist assessing based on state standards at the beginning of the year and then at the end of each quarter to see how much the student’s vocabulary has grown. I don’t think that I have seen a teacher actually do this outside of spelling test which to me is not the same. I had never heard of zip assessments before I read this chapter, I would like to see one done. I am such a visual learner that I would even like to see the checklist assessing is done to understand how that is implemented. As always I love the activities provided to help build vocabulary especially the Multiple Meaning Racetrack, Hink Pinks, and Lexical and Structure Riddles for older students.
I think that is so wonderful that you modeled for the students what to do when you come across a word that you did not know. I think that it shows the students that people of all ages need to use the same strategies to find out what a word means in order to understand what they are reading. I too had not heard of zip assessments before reading this chapter, and it would be great to see an example of this being done.
DeleteChapter 7 is about vocabulary building. Roughly 800 words are added to the English language each year. To understand and comprehend what is taught and read, students must know the meanings of words. Research has shown that student's understanding of words, narrative organizational skills, home environment, and quality of adult conversation are key factors in the student's vocabulary and reading comprehension. Words can be divided into three tiers. The first tier includes common words used in everyday conversations. The second tier includes words that are used less frequently but are interesting and are used in different contents. The third tier is words that are associated with particular content. Three ways to help student increase their vocabulary and understanding new words are through life experiences, vicarious experiences and through explicit instruction. Vicarious instruction includes viewing videos, watching television or reading different types of texts. These allow students to visit places they have not been able to in person. Poetry provides fun ways for students to learn different words and concepts. Figure 7.2 provides definitions of language concepts and examples. Portmanteaus are new words that are formed by combining existing words and omitting some letters, such as breakfast + lunch = brunch. To meet the vocabulary building needs of English learners, teachers should provide engaging and meaningful activities that provide collaborative efforts and limit individual evaluation. Teachers should use a wide variety of strategies to encourage students’ motivation and interest in increasing vocabulary and word knowledge. Some interesting interventions are vocabulary bookmarks, listening walks, analogies, crossword puzzles, and matching game (page 173). These strategies provide different types of activities that engage the students and can be done in collaborative groups.
ReplyDeleteHaving always had a thirst for learning new words and an enjoyment of reading, I need to remind myself that not everyone possesses this trait. When it comes to the third tier of words, those associated with particular content, I have often struggled, especially in contents that were not my strongest, such as math and science in upper grades. When I was in school and as I am now in classrooms, lecture is still a predominant method used by teachers to pass information to the students. When students do not understand the vocabulary and struggle with understanding, why do teachers, especially in higher grades, continue to use lectures, instead of incorporating other activities to help their student have a greater understanding of the material? Additionally, when students are assessed on their learning and the results indicate their lack of understanding, why to teachers continue to move on to the next section or topic without going back to ensure that students do understand.
As a family, we have provided many life experiences for our sons. We may not go on many big vacations, but whether big or small, it usually is to visit a nearby cave or historical location. On big vacations, it is usually to popular destinations, such as Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park. While traveling to these destinations, we usually stop at smaller sites along the way. One science teacher once commented, when teaching about caves, that he was surprised because our son had been to all the caves, but one in Kentucky, listed in the textbook. The amount of time students spend watching television is often frowned upon by educators. However, with the high number of reality shows and documentary type shows, students are able to experience many different types of vicarious experiences to increase their knowledge and understanding. True, there are many shows on television that do not increase knowledge. However, my family tends to gravitate toward the science and history shows that tell about things or how they are made.
It seems we found the same important (and interesting) parts of the chapter including the 800 new words added to the English language each year and portmanteaus. I love that you have taken your sons to experience many of the educational sites that our country offers. This is something we plan to do with our family as well. It was wonderful growing up when I had personally been to a place and could offer insight or relate the new information to what I already new! Your sons will be thankful!
DeleteThis chapter discusses ways in which to increase vocabulary building.This can be done by using life experiences by learning vocabulary that is used in their own communities, through vicarious experiences such as watching educational videos, and through explicit instruction. In order to meet the needs of students that may be struggling it is suggested that you use word play, discuss words they need to know in order to understand what is being read, teach the students deciphering strategies, and engaging the students in vocabulary activities that are actively engaging for students.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the example at the very beginning of the chapter in which Mrs. Lopez read a passage to the other teachers and asked them to summarize what they just listened to and many of them were unable to do so. That really put things in perspective for me in the importance of building vocabulary in order for students to be able to comprehend what they are reading. Another thing that stuck out to me was the example of the two children in different conversation environments. It really made me think about how I really need to think about the words I use when speaking with my students. I really think I will be much more cognizant of how I use my own vocabulary and really try my best to use tier 2 words.
When looking at the vocabulary building strategies and activities I came across the Schoolyard Safari activity. I thought this would be an excellent activity to do with the students I am currently working with since it is such a great time of year and the season is changing. I think that my students would really enjoy this activity and I think it would also be very beneficial to building up their vocabulary.
Great post! I think it is much easier to teach vocabulary through life learning experiences, words they hear everyday and can give meaning to! I also enjoyed the example in the book using Mrs. Lopez, it made me wander how I would do if I were in that situation!!
DeleteThe two conversations also really stuck out to me. It definitely makes me think about what words I use and how I talk to my daughter and students. I was amazed at how much of a difference there really can be depending on a students home situation. Makes our jobs as educators a lot more challenging.
DeleteI must start by saying that it is absolutely incredible that 800 new words are added to the English language each year! No wonder it is one of the hardest languages to learn. Living in a town with a very large school, I sometimes had trouble understanding some of my husband’s athletes. I would have to stop them and tell them that I had no idea what they were talking about because they were using so many slang words! I know this is slang, but it is incredible at how different generations communicate as well as geographic areas across our nation. Moving to western Kansas this summer, I am now seeing more of English Language Learners. This is a whole different set of vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI believe very strongly in helping students relate what they are learning to their lives and making it applicable. When they build on prior knowledge and can relate vocabulary words to things they know, they are more likely to remember these words. Vicarious experiences are (of course) the most common in schools. When these two can overlap though, the experience is sure to be a memorable one. While I am not facing ebonics or ELL learners in my tutoring sessions, my students struggle with vocabulary. When they can relate the vocabulary to their activities such as sports and video games, they usually remember the vocabulary words for the next time. I do not feel that I have been doing a good enough job of this though. I need to think of more ways to have students relate the words to their everyday lives so they can become more familiar with them.
I really like figure 7.2 and 7.3. Since I am working on vocabulary, we have been focusing on synonyms and now antonyms. We will work on homophones next. I can honestly say though, I’m not sure if I have ever encountered the word portmanteaus. I know that I have heard of these words but I’m not sure that I ever even thought that this process had a title! I enjoyed learning something new in that. Figure 7.3 was great on giving ideas for books that emphasize language concepts. I plan to look at some of these and hopefully, I will be able to incorporate at least one into the remaining sessions. I was also very happy to see synonym/definition concentration. I used an activity similar to this but I called mine Synonym Memory. Reading this activity made me feel that I am on the right track!
Hannah, I was also amazed that 800 words our added to our language each year. I am in Western Kansas also, and you are right the number of ELL is significant and their vocabulary is unique.
Delete1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
ReplyDeleteChapter 7 discusses increasing students vocabulary. The chapter begins with the introduction stating that roughly 800 new words are added to our language each year. This is an amazing amount of words for us to keep up with. I was also impressed with the statement that the average high school senior has a vocabulary of approximately 40,000 words. I related well to the discussion how ways of increasing vocabulary. It is so easy for me to discuss vocabulary with students in real conversation rather than trying to introduce it and then question them on it. I was also interested to read that poems have extremely rich language and that poems offer a great way to learn new vocabulary. The discussion on teaching vocabulary by using context clues was helpful. The text suggested having the student read the whole sentence, then go back to the word and try to define it. The text offered suggestions on meeting the needs of struggling readers. One of the suggestions was to introduce vocabulary through word play or to engage them in a wide range of texts through literature circles, guided reading groups, shared reading and book clubs.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
I really don’t have any questions or contradictions about this chapter. I would like to know about how many words the students should know at the end of each grade level.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
The reading reminded me of my tutoring group. For the words that they don’t know, I also do a discussion piece on them using context clues and sometimes draw picture cards.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
I am amazed at the low vocabulary my first grade students have. One of my students is from a great family, is an only child and I figured he would have an awesome vocabulary. This chapter gave me inspiration to get on him to learn as many vocabulary words as possible in 16 sessions and to be able to use the words in context!
It is no surprise to me that there is such a strong correlation between a readers vocabulary knowledge and their comprehension skills. Even if a student was able to pronounce everything, if they don't know what the word means they will not comprehend text. However, reading passages with unfamiliar words can be a good way to build vocabulary as long as they can figure out the meaning through context. I was surprised by the amount of words that a student learns in a year. 3000 new words every year is amazing, and we must provide an environment rich with tier two words to help students accomplish this. There are three tiers total. Tier one is common words used everyday, tier two are less frequent words that transcend content, and tier three words as specifically associated with content. The three ways to increase vocabulary include life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. I thought the chapter had a lot of good ideas for teaching vocabulary and making it exciting. When learning vocabulary through a game, they are more likely to enjoy vocabulary instruction. The websites for game building are ones I'd really like to check out and I love discoveryeducation.com, so I'm sure it has some good ideas as well. This chapter had a lot of activities for older students, but there were also a few good ideas for younger students such as the crossword puzzles and concentration game.
ReplyDelete