I really enjoyed reading this chapter, as there was a lot of practical advice to glean! I do not have that rich of a vocabulary, but I have always felt I had an above average one. However, after reading in this chapter how they define what it means to "know" a word, I decided my vocabulary isn't as great as I thought! It's not just enough to know what the word means when reading it. I also need to know how to pronounce it correctly and how to use it in a sentence. This was a new thought to me, as I figured as long as I could figure out what it meant while reading, I "knew" the word.
I especially liked the suggestions they gave to teaching vocabulary to students. This is something that has frustrated me for years with my own kids. I feel teachers have assigned these vocab words that are way beyond their understanding, and it's merely an assignment. Learn these words and memorize their definition. Even my high school aged kids have had their vocab taught this way. They fill out these insanely difficult vocab books using words they will never remember, and by doing 3-4 pages of the workbook, they are supposedly prepared to take a quiz on them. I have never felt this was very productive. These students don't remember these words, and I don't feel it actually helps increase their vocabulary. But I liked some of the ideas mentioned in this chapter. They suggest to use the words MULTIPLE times. I think it was in the Beers book that she mentioned using the vocab words all week long. Make sure the words are being used so students become familiar with them and learn not only the definitions, but how to use the words! I also liked the idea of the students selecting words. This would definitely give more ownership to the students.
I loved all the strategies mentioned at the end of the chapter. I had not even thought about using Hink-Pinks, but what a great idea! I used to love those, and it would get students thinking to have to come up with their own. I also liked the idea of incorporating word games and puzzles. Games like Scrabble or Boggle could be used. I have seen on Pinterest the idea of creating a Boggle board on a bulletin board in a classroom. You could arrange the letters to make sure some of the vocab words for that week could be found. I liked the idea of the riddles, too, as it would make students think about the meaning of words and then use that to come up with something humorous.
I agree with your assessment on how many classrooms treat vocabulary words by listing the word down and looking up the definition in the dictionary and nothing else. I like how my son's fourth grade introduces vocabulary. They actually do literature circles and one of the roles is a vocab person that introduces several new words that the group discusses. When they get new vocab words for the week, they fold up paper to form eight or ten squares and they write the word, illustrate the word, and use it in a sentence. In addition they will put the words up on their word wall and use them in discussion. They also do a game called "Bongo" (i believe) where they have a group of letters and have to create as many words as possible and they can win prizes. There are so many great ideas for introducing and practicing vocabulary words, as well as language concepts.
My high schooler and middle schooler have both had vocabulary assignments that do not seem affective. As you stated, the words seem too complex, ones that they will likely not remember or use. They do end up sort of memorizing the definitions for the assignment; I'm not sure if using this method will increase students' vocabulary. The words need to relate to the reading; the instructional methods used needs to be explicit and use more than just pen and paper. There were definitely some great suggested activities and strategies provided in the chapter. I've definitely been trying to implement vocabulary into my tutoring sessions to help with the comprehension focus.
Chapter 7 is about vocabulary words and how important it is to introduce different words each day to students. It did not surprise me to read that higher income families have children whose vocabulary is much higher than lower income. I did not realize however there were 3 tiers of vocabulary. The first tier is what students use all the time, the second tier is words the teacher should be using everyday in the classroom. The third tiers are words students will be introduced to as their educational careers advance. In order for students to understand a word, they need to be able to pronounce it correctly, know its relationships to other words, understand what it means with other texts, be able to use it in several settings, know how to use it when writing, and if it has multiple meanings, understand them. Teachers can introduce words in several different ways. At the end of the chapter there are several activities that work for all ages. I liked the activity known as “memory”. Write the vocabulary words on one set of cards and their definitions or synonyms to the word on another set, and have the students play. Vocabulary bookmarks are a good idea as well. Have students design their own bookmark with the name and definitions to use throughout the day. I really liked the way the principle in the opening scenario made her point that introducing vocabulary first will help the reader comprehend much better.
I guess I wasn't surprised either that there was a correlation to income and range of vocabulary because generally people that are well educated have larger vocabularies and will probably make more money over the course of their careers. This is a generalization. I do believe that regardless of what the child brings to the classroom as far as their current vocabulary, effective educators can make a huge difference by implementing the strategies mentioned in this chapter.
I also didn't realize their was 3 tiers of vocabulary and found this to be interesting. I also agree that as teachers we need to introduce vocab words in many different ways so that students will continue to want to learn new words. I work as a case manager and have learned that the families who do struggle their children often also tend to struggle with learning new vocabulary or having a good vocabulary. Sadly I believe it is a result of the children not getting much parent time at home or getting talked to like they should. So as teachers it is important for us to make sure we share a good vocabulary with the students and also teach them vocabulary.
I use the vocabulary memory game with the high school sped students I work with and they LOVE it! I can put the words/definitions on quizlet for them to practice AND it is also easy to just print off the cards so all I have to do is stick them to an index card and they are ready to go! My kids are doing so much better on their vocabulary clicker quizzes because of this game.
I had many similar thoughts as you. I also was not surprised by the thought that families with higher incomes have broader vocabularies. The tiers was also a new, but interesting concept to me. The memory game would be very useful, as students would have to know what the word means in order to match the definitions with the word itself.
While reading this chapter, I was a bit surprised to learn that so much of a child's vocabulary comes from their own life experiences and their vicarious experiences. I figured much of their sight words and vocabulary came through explicit instruction...but it makes sense that kids will be knowledgeable about what they are exposed to. I learned that we have three tiers of words from the most common words we use everyday, words we learn and use less frequently, and words we specifically learn when new content is introduced. I also learned that children will benefit the most from reading high-quality poems and books because of the "rich and interesting" vocabulary the authors use. In order for children to expand their vocabulary, we must introduce them to new and higher quality words. I do believe the words that we use must be carefully chosen as well because students will reciprocate what they hear and are exposed to most often. In addition, when we use explicit instruction, we need to emphasize and have students recognize different language concepts such as synonyms, homophones, acronyms, puns, and regionalisms. I needed a refresher on what a lot of these were and figure 7.2 on page 158 of the text was a great resource for that. Understanding and identifying these concepts can be especially helpful for ESL students. One thing I thought of was to take the mastery word learning concept we use before our guided reading and ask students if they may know of a synonym, antonym, or homophone of the new word we just learned. This activity might help them expand their vocabulary. As usual, our text had a great source of activities for intervention purposes to teach vocabulary. One question that I do have is why do teachers seem to stop doing read alouds as students reach higher grades in elementary and middle school? There are direct correlations/interrelations of the Big 5 and read alouds have proven to improve word recognition, fluency, and comprehension. At the beginning of this chapter, the text make mention of the fact that there is a strong correlation between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Just a thought! Some of the activities I would use from the text would be the close procedure, using categorizing and classifying, analogies, wordless books, LEA, hink pinks, multiple meaning racetrack, and really many more. I love having these activities listed as a resource. I believe it is vitally important for us as educators to correctly identify where students are with regard to their vocabularies (assessment)and then provide the explicit instruction and activity intervention to help them build upon what they already know.
Chapter 7 talks about vocabulary words and as teachers we need to be able to motivate students to learn new words. If you don't know the meaning of words then you will struggle to comprehend things that you read about. A high school senior has a vocabulary of around 40,000 words. This means that from grade one to twelve students learn around 3,000 new words a year. Students learn the meaning of new words from in their communities and from each experience that they have. Students also learn new words from vicarious experiences which include things from television and reading texts. Children who struggle to read usually result in limited language experiences growing up and have to be helped to acquire the vocab necessary to have academic success. One question I have from reading this text comes from the first paragraph when it says that nearly 800 new words are added to the English language every year. My question would be what is this number at now? As a future teacher this chapter helps me look at vocabulary in a different way. Vocabulary is extremely important for students to learn so that they can learn to read and comprehend. As a teacher teaching vocabulary is something that needs to be done everyday because a child learning how to speak and understand what he is saying is important and also comprehending what they read. I can connect this reading to my tutoring sessions and how I do vocabulary each session. I think it is interesting to see what words the students know and which ones they don't. I think teaching vocabulary in different ways such as through games is very helpful. I have seen students play vocab games while in my internship last semester.
It is amazing how many words children learn each year. I have been fortunate enough to be a parent to a very bright kindergartener. When he went to school this year he knew many words that most students his age might not know. He was able to use them in the correct way and he could tell you the meaning. I have been able to hear him come home almost every day with at least one new word that he uses correctly and defines for our family. Since he is learning so many words and came in knowing so many words he is in the top reading group for his class. I have seen how important vocabulary is, and I think you are correct in saying that it builds a base for them to be able to comprehend what they read. I like your idea of vocabulary games. Any time you can make learning fun for the students they are more likely to participate in the learning.
I find it staggering that the text states that the average high school senior knows 40,000 words. That the average student learns 3,000 words per year from grades 1-12 is insane. Thinking that I know that many words is kind of hard to believe, and this just the average student. If I were asked how many words a high school senior knows on average, I would have guessed about 20,000 less. To me it is just hard to believe that there are that many words floating around out there. I also am curious about the fact that 800 words are added to the English language each year and what our grand total is up to. I would also like to know what kind of words are added, are we including slang terms within our language? I also agree that there are many activities that can be used from the text that would be a lot more meaningful for my students than my regular boring instruction, I am looking forward to including them in my lesson plans.
The number of words learned was amazing to me as well Chris! I think its phenomenal that the average student has a vocabulary of that many words! Insane! The statement in out book about 800 words being added to the English language each year was interesting. I, too, wonder what our total is in relation to how many the students know on average? Interesting..
I agree with you that it is intersting to see where the students are with their word in respect to what they know and what they don't know. It is also interesting to find out what their prior knowledge is on those words. I also agree with you that they use of games is always a good way for student to learn in a fun and friendly way.
As a parent it is so much fun to think that when you have you baby they come into this world not knowing any words. By the time they graduate high school the will know about 40,000. My son is in kindergarten this year and he has learned so many new words already. When you think about it you must learn vocabulary for each subject. Students have their own vocabulary at recess time with their games and play. Some students will learn new foods in school. They will learn new names, clothing options, etc. Just to survive in the kindergarten classroom they have to learn so many new terms, and then you add in the ones that are being taught within the lesson I can see how they will easily get to 3,000 per year. By learning new words and vocabulary every day, students will become better readers. My son learned the word distraught a few months ago. He came home from school one day and said, “I was distraught because I did not have enough time to eat my lunch.” My husband and I were amazed that he knew the word and that he then used it correctly in a sentence and told us the definition. A few days later my husband was reading him a book and they came across the word distraught. He could not read it then, but now that he knows the word and its definition and has seen it written he is able to read it when he comes across it. I do believe that vocabulary really is the key to great readers. If they know words by looking at them and they know what the word means, then they can use those context clues to complete a whole sentence or paragraph of text. Each week I try to teach the students in my tutoring group at least six new words. I choose words from our guided readings and read alouds so that they can hear the word, see the word, use the word, and define the word.
Kasey, I love that your son has learned a big word such as "distraught" in a kindergarten classroom. I agree that he caught on to the look of the word due to him knowing the meaning and using it in his everyday life. The example was a great way for him to completely understand the meaning. The students that I am tutoring are very capable to formulate the words when they are talking, but seeing it in written form the word does not come for them. This is where these activities in this chapter and using real life-like activities will be a strong helper for them to put the prior knowledge together when they are reading the word on the page.
Vocabulary building was the topic of chapter seven’s reading. The chapter begins by talking about increasing student’s vocabulary. The text describes three word tiers for vocabulary. The first being common words which are used every day. Second are less frequently used words, but ones that transcend content. The third tier words are the ones that are associated with particular content. The text explains that we as educators need to be teaching tier two words so that students can hear them daily and commit them to memory. The text then goes into ways of increasing vocabulary which includes life and vicarious experiences. The book makes a good point that students everywhere learn different words as common words. Growing up in a small town, I am sure I know more terminology about farming and rural life than say a person who grew up in New York, or someone who grew up near a beach. We learn vocabulary from our surroundings and from life experience. Vocabulary is an important aspect of reading. A student can have great phonics skills, have great phonemic awareness, and be very fluent with reading words, but if they don’t know what any of the words mean it would be difficult for them to comprehend what they are reading. The text does describe the role of the teacher in terms of helping students increase vocabulary knowledge. We need to know what words are needed to comprehend the material, teach students to use context clues to figure out the meaning of the words, and make sure students know that some words have multiple meanings, to list a few. This chapter also does a great job, like other chapters of listing many activities to increase vocabulary knowledge. Some of these that I looked at will be perfect for my students that I am tutoring. Until now I really only based my vocabulary instruction on the ways I was taught, which is pulling words from the reading and covering the meanings before we read. During the reading I would pause when we came to the word and discussed how the meaning of the vocabulary word helps us understand what the author was trying to say. Using different activities should help my students become more familiar with the words, and not just by doing the same activity every week.
I like how you noted on the teacher's role in this process of vocabulary knowledge. It is extremely important to understand the ways to teach the necessary skills for all components of reading from phonics to vocabulary to comprehension. I love that activities at the end of the book! Good idea to integrate them into our lesson plans for tutoring!!
I really like the activity section of this book as well. I am like you in that I base a lot of how I instruct on the way I was taught. I think that is good, but teaching has come so far even from where it was 10 years ago. With that in mind, I think we have to stay current, always keep improving ourselves, and ultimately be open minded to a new way of doing things. That is why I love these activities. There are so many great ideas that it is kind of hard to decide which ones to try out first.
Chapter seven was centered on vocabulary. The chapter begins by talking about increasing vocabulary and sharing information about way to do so. Life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction were some examples. I liked how in the 'increasing students' vocabulary' section it shared the seven key aspects of knowing a word, some of which I wasn't necessarily aware of. The ways of increasing students' vocabulary was great information to read. I liked how the text discussed how words become common words for different people based on their life experiences, etc.
The explicit instruction section of this chapter was good information. This section talked about how the selection of vocabulary words is important and provided suggestions or questions to ask when determining a word list for explicit instruction. The guidelines were very beneficial. The section on meeting the needs of struggling readers was beneficial information as well. More often than not I feel as though I've come across readers who struggle with a variety of reading components. The four practices that the text discussed are very helpful suggestions for teachers to implement in order to provide assistance to these struggling readers.
Like every chapter, the book provides numerous activities at the end of the chapter relative to the topic at hand. The schoolyard safari activity was really neat as well as the listening walk.
DeVries Chapter 7 Vocabulary Building There are four issues addressed in this chapter regarding vocabulary building: how proficient readers naturally enrich their vocabulary, how to explicitly teach vocabulary, and how to meet the vocabulary needs of English learners and how to assess struggling readers’ vocabulary. Environment affects how much vocabulary children learn. Children that come from higher income families and higher parental education have heard 30 million more words by age three than lower income, underprivileged children. That is HUGE! Ways to increase students’ vocabulary are life experiences, vicarious experiences and explicit instruction. Life experiences are ones students gain from their community, language they are familiar with. Students in my rural area would understand different types of farming equipment and livestock terms, whereas students from the city would not. Vicarious experiences occur through educational videos and TV or from reading a variety of texts. Explicit instruction occurs at school through the introduction of vocabulary terms as related to reading assignments. Most students can learn about ten new words each week so choosing which words to teach them depends on what teachers want students to learn. It us recommended that teachers select words students need to know to understand the content by using vocabulary maps and word association. To increase the amount of word acquisition for struggling readers, teachers should help students develop a love of words through word play, deliver rich instruction by teaching words they need to know to understand a passage, teach strategies so students can decipher new words as they encounter them and to engage students through a wide range of texts by providing lit circles, guided reading groups and shared reading. Some activities included in the intervention section include vocabulary bookmarks, predict-o-grams, listening walks, total physical response activities, categorizing, crossword puzzles, synonym/definition concentration game, cognate picture cards and matching games, just to name a few.
I think that increasing your vocabulary through life experiences is the way to go. I think that is where you learn the most, feel comfortable, and can really just soak it all in. This also leads to some issues if not monitored properly. For example, with my children, if they hear something they dont understand I explain it myself but then also have them look it up. I do this to ensure that I properly explained it and also to get them in the habit of verifying information for themselves and not just taking someones word for it.
This weeks' chapter was chapter seven, titled Vocabulary Building. The chapter began with something that I completely agree with, there is a strong correlation between reader's vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension. The chapter stated that the average high school student knows approximately 40,000 words, which means from 1st to 12th they learn approximately 2,700 words a year or seven words a day. This fact blew my mind. I guess I really have never put that much thought into how many words there are within our language. I think sometimes we simply take that for granted. I liked the section on how to increase vocabulary. The examples given were life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. I think life experiences are the most important. Explicit instruction is something that if used properly is great, but I think life experiences are where you learn the most. The chapter then talked about teaching vocabulary to struggling readers. the chapter talked about the importance of assessments, both formal and informal. Then, like in all the other chapters, it listed a ton of activities to use within the classroom. I liked the one that was titled music puzzlers. This activity is where the teacher selects several favorite songs of the group of students to discuss a word found in multiple disciplines. For example, in many classes students are asked to interpret, compare, or contrast different topics. For the word interpret, students interpret the song, for contrast they explain how the song is different from another song, and for compare they compare the song to another. I think this is a neat way of getting the kids to think outside the box.
I too agree that there is a strong correlation between reader’s vocabulary and their comprehension. If the student doesn't know what is being talked about in the section, they won’t understand what is going on. I too was blown away by the amount of vocabulary that we learn and know, like you said it isn't something I have ever really put much thought into. Using life experiences are really important because that is something students easily connect to. There are some wonderful ideas and activities in the back of the chapter. The music was one that I thought was interesting and I think would have been something good for me when I was younger because I love music.
Thinking outside the box can be so tricky for many different learners, I think that the activity you've mentioned here really is a great one! Teaching students to use words in different ways really is an important part of vocabulary and reading!
Julie, the numbers were surprising to me as well, even after I have thought about it, it still is hard to believe the average high schooler knows 40,000 words. I liked the section that talks about how to increase students vocabulary in the class room and how we need to be using the tier 2 words.
"...1st to 12th they learn approximately 2,700 words a year or seven words a day." WOW, I missed that, what page is that on? It is really hard for me to believe that a student will learn 7 words a day! One of the English teachers at the school I work at gave his 8th graders a list of words that they were suppose to learn the meanings and they had to test over and over again until they got 90% or higher! I did not like this because these words were horrendous and he was requiring everyone to know them! Some of these students took the test 7, 10 times before they passed it and if you were to ask today what one of those words means, they couldn't tell you. So 7 new words a day is wild!
Chapter 7 is about building vocabulary. Students have to be able to process words and know what they mean to be able to comprehend. This chapter talks about the 4 issues: proficient readers naturally enrich their vocabulary, explicitly tech vocabulary, meet the vocabulary needs of ELL students, and assess the struggling readers’ vocabulary; as well as interventions for students that have issues with these. The amount of vocabulary that people learn and know is such an immense number. It is really amazing to think about. This chapter also has many strategies and activities for building a student’s vocabulary.
For ELL students especially, how do you explain that a certain word can have two different meanings, though they are spelled the same way? A lot of times these come naturally to someone that is a native English speaker because we have had those experiences. It just seems like it could be confusing and frustrating for an ELL student to understand that concept.
I never thought of poems being an example of a vicarious experience. I love using poetry with students and they generally really like it as well, so it is really nice to know that poems can be a great way to increase vocabulary. I see that it is very important to have vocabulary introduced to students as they are ready for it, there for every student should not be learning the same vocabulary at the same time. It is more beneficial to have them in small groups that have a similar vocabulary level so they can scaffold up together. I didn't realize there were so many ways to test vocabulary.
Though I knew that students learn things depending on the experiences they had, I thought this chapter did a really good job really showing you how it can be so different. I am originally from Colorado in a semi-rural area, but when I moved to Kansas my vocabulary on farming grew extensively. I remember teachers always telling us to use context clues when we came across new vocabulary. This was a difficult thing for me to do, but I know that it is a helpful strategy as long as the students know what kinds of clues they are looking for. This is something that I think is really important, is teaching students how to find and use context clues to figure out what a word means.
Brenna, I understand what you are saying about the ELL students. They have a hard enough time understanding the language and then to through in that some words are spelled the same, but have different meanings has got to be very frustrating for them. I too would like to know how to address this situation.
As an avid reader, vocabulary has always been my strong suit. I often used big words as a child and frequently used them incorrectly, which lead me to quickly learn the appropriate way to use them. When I work with students, I frequently do novel studies and when we run across strange new words, we stop and discuss them. We look for any suffixes or prefixes, we check to see if it sounds familiar, we read it in the sentence and paragraph, checking for context clues. By working the word from so many different angles, I feel that are are creating an experience with the word. By creating an experience, we are generating memories that the students can draw on in the future to help them recall and actually use the word. Sometimes we save a list of the words (usually each student has a sticky note and they write the words on it) and at the end of the novel I create a crossword puzzle using Discovery Education's Puzzlemaker. This gives just a little reinforcement to the word as well. I really do not like to use vocabulary bookmarks, like the ones on page 163, because the writing area is so limited and I find the students don't use them as often as necessary.
Sarah, I also love to read and think this has helped with my vocabulary. My daughter reads a lot and just the other day she used a word and I told her I did not think she was using it correctly and she immediately got online to show me that she was using it in a correct way...I guess we are always learning! It is so important to discuss new words and not to skip over them. We must understand the words we are reading in order to comprehend what has been read. Nice post, Kara
Chapter 7 is about vocabulary building. I was particularly interested in this chapter. Even though this is not my content focus it is something I really want to work on with my students. The textbook states that there is a strong correlation between vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. I see so many struggling children that come from low SES homes and it was interesting to read about how the child’s environment affects their vocabulary. I had not thought about there being a difference between knowing a word and understanding a word. There are so many things that go into actually knowing a word. The author talks about the different ways to increase vocabulary including: life experiences, vicarious experiences, explicit instruction etc. It is important that we as teachers consider all of these ways when instructing our students. I thought the 4 practices for vocabulary instruction was interesting and really liked how it emphasizes developing a love of words through play. My daughter and I play a lot of word games online and we both enjoy them. I can see her vocabulary grow each and every time we play these games. It is a great way to teach children without them feeling as though they are being taught (if that makes sense). The area that discusses ELL’s and vocabulary talks about using gestures and facial expressions during instruction. I think this would be useful for all students. Much of the assessment for vocabulary knowledge is done through observation. This can be done all throughout the day and not just during reading instruction. I listen to students use new words every day. It is fun to hear them use newly acquired words and see the smiles on their faces when they use them correctly. The formal assessment of vocabulary is necessary but not as fun to do. This chapter mentions multiple choice assessments and this is the type I see used most in the classroom. I love all of the activities included in this chapter and am planning on using some of them in my tutoring sessions. I thought the school yard safari would be a lot of fun and would encourage the students to use their imaginations. The last section of this chapter talks about using technology for building vocabulary. Earlier I mentioned my daughter and I playing vocabulary games, the games we play are online or apps on the phone. Technology is a great way to get the students interested and involved in their learning.
Kara I agree with you, in dealing with a number of students that come from low SES homes in my internship class, I took special note of the affect the home environment has on developing vocabulary. I like the idea of playing word games on the computer, possibly something to even incorporate into some of my upcoming lesson plans for tutoring sessions. Any particular suggestions or apps to use?
Chapter 7 is on building vocabulary. Vocabulary is the key to reading comprehension. No matter what subject you are studying, if you do not have valuable knowledge of the vocabulary you are reading, you will lose the meaning of what is being said and in turn there will be less comprehension. On page 154, it states that from grade 1-12 students on average learn 2700-3000 words per year. That to me is an amazing figure and a ton of words. To help the students gain these words into their vocabulary, they need seven aspects of knowledge to truly understand the meaning: 1) they must know how to pronounce the word; 2) have prior knowledge to relate the word to other words; 3) connotation of the word in other contexts; 4) how the word can be used in different settings; 5) use the word in writing; 6) know if the word has multiple meanings; and 7) know its morphology. Life experiences, explicit instruction and word play with reading, writing and speaking helps the students grasp the knowledge of new words. With the many activities and strategies at the end of the chapter, two really stood out to me as a fun way to help students grow in their vocabulary. On page 163, Predict-o-Gram, allows the students to try and figure out what words mean prior to reading the story. They predict if the word relates to a character, plot or setting and place them in the right column of a graphic organizer. My second activity I would like to try is on page 171, Multiple Meaning Racetrack. This is where the teacher has a stack of words, each on an index card and a game board. The students draw a card, then defines the word with as many meanings that they can provide. They get to move along the racetrack board game one space for each correct definition and back one space for an incorrect definition. There are some great ideas to utilize in this chapter that will assist students in learning more vocabulary words and thus become better readers by comprehending what they have read.
I completely agree, that is a ton of words. No wonder it is so easy for a student to get behind and struggle. I also liked the Predict-o-Gram activity, like in what was learned from RLA Methods, predictions are an important part of reading.
This chapter focuses on vocabulary, an essential tool in the foundation of reading and literacy. As the text points out vocabulary and comprehension are directly related. Additionally, the environment with which a child is in has a direct correlation to their vocabulary, simply based upon the number of words heard. This chapter focuses on a number of ways in which you can increase vocabulary; life experiences, vicarious experiences and explicit instruction. Additionally, this chapter looks at the variety of ways to assess vocabulary through informal and formal assessments. Informal assessments often times being the most affective and practical to use in the classroom.
It makes sense that comprehension and vocabulary go hand in hand. Meaning you have to have the two together to be successful. It is a challenge in every classroom to continue to develop student’s vocabularies, especially when they come from a variety of backgrounds, because as the research proves it has an effect. I agree with several of my other classmates that explicit instruction and workbook pages aren’t necessarily the most effective ways to expand student’s vocabulary, but rather life experiences and especially vicarious experiences. This text provided some great ideas for vocabulary activities like the Hink-Pink and Schoolyard Safari. However, some of the best ideas came from the Beers text in Reading and Language Arts.
One of the questions I had regarding this chapter was why the integration of dictionary and thesaurus skills weren’t included and emphasized. Thanks to Mrs. Houser my seventh grade English teacher, every time I see a word I don’t know, I look-it up and then find my post-it note, write it down and challenge myself to use it in three sentences that date. Thanks to her, imperative is one of my favorite words to use. Similar to the sticky-word challenge Mrs. Stoppel mentioned in one of the videos last week. Enabling students to find the answer to something they don’t know is essential to empowering them to develop their own vocabulary. More to this point, it also made me reflect back on the Gary Haag presentation last semester and his emphasis on using ‘big details’ to make stories interesting. Meaning a thesaurus might be a great way or tool to not only become a great writer, but find new ways to integrate words into your vocabulary as well.
Chapter 7 discussed vocabulary building. All students can benefit from life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. In the text it states that it does not matter if you are a native speaker or an English learner, the socioeconomic status is what affects your vocabulary comprehension. Unfortunately, too many children are not read to or included in conversations. This really effects how they learn. Reading this reminds me of one particular preschooler, he came to school with an extremely limited vocabulary and not always appropriate. Within a month his vocabulary increased and his frequency of inappropriate words decreased, he is a sponge absorbing everything he can from adults and peers. While reading the text, I was able to connect parts to the mastery word learning technique we have previously learned. When teaching my formal RLA observation last semester, I used mastery word learning and then weeks later made a BINGO game using the same words. I was so impressed with the way they remembered the words. The activities at the end of the chapter are great reference for tutoring sessions and future classroom use. Anytime that you can bring in a game, students will remember the information much better than just drilling it into them. The technology links are great for templates for making the games.
Samantha- I really like how you are using your experiences from RLA and bringing that into your tutoring. I am doing that as well. I really like that you made a BINGO game to use. I haven't made any games yet, but I am planning on it for the next few lessons.
This chapter discusses vocabulary and the benefits of a larger vocabulary. I was especially interested in the explicit instruction as well as how children gain higher vocabulary.
My husband has a good vocabulary and attributes this to his love of reading. I have always felt I had a decent vocabulary and attributed it to my parents who were not afraid to use the 25 cent words with us as we grew up. My father has a very high IQ and simply can't talk at a child's level. An example happened when I was in about 2nd or 3rd grade was was trying to learn multiplication. I asked him why 5 x 5 was 25 and he spent about 15 minutes explaining it and when he finished I was so dizzy I couldn't have repeated any of it if I tried. I went to my mom who said five fives is twenty-five. Anyway, when my parents would say a word I did not understand, I asked for the definition. They also taught us that people who swore had 'limited' vocabularies and I saw that they were people who lived on the 'other side of the tracks' (the poorer end of town,although I did not realize that was the problem, I just thought it was because of their 'limited' vocabulary)
The author says that students learn through life experiences, explicit instruction, and vicarious experiences. Life experiences include day to day conversations, the words we use in our every day discussions. Vicarious experiences include watching educational television and videos. Explicit instruction includes teacher instruction.
The author explains that the teacher should use various '25 cent words' in his or her content instruction and require the students to use the words as well.
Ms DeVries gives guidelines for the explicit instruction which includes teaching multiple meanings of words and teach students to infer word meaning by looking for context clues and word parts. (pg. 156) She tells us that we should choose words that the student will need to understand the content of the lesson.
I believe, however, that if we expose students to vocabulary words they may not always use, it will help them to gain a larger vocabulary. I know it worked with my kids and I believe it is so very important for our students and their successes in life. Reading, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, it is all connected.
Linda- Your family sounds so fun! I think it is so important for parents to also teach their kids instead of having the teachers do it. What parents don't realize is we follow what they do and they are the most important teachers we can have. I also was brought up in a home to where my parents taught us something when we asked. I loved to read and I believe that is why I have a higher vocabulary than my little brother who does not like to read at all!
Chapter 7 is about vocabulary building! I think the scenario at the beginning of the chapter is a real eye opener for teachers. I think the principal did an amazing job of showing the teachers how hard it is for students to learn vocabulary when they have no background knowledge.
I think background knowledge is such an important factor to a child's vocabulary and this chapter touched on this. We cannot increase student's vocabulary if they have no idea what it is about. I believe that doing activities that require research and life experiences will help them on their vocabulary.
Vocabulary for struggling readers can be so frustrating. I never had the problem of reading the words, I could pronounce them, but you ask me what the meaning of them were and I couldn't tell you. I could spell them. I think this is a struggle for me, because I was never given a meaning of the word just what it was and how to spell it. Even in my tutoring I recognize that vocabulary and the meaning of these words are so important so I make sure that the students really understand the word and what it means ( I am even learning new meaning of words I never had the chance to!)
I loved the section on the different activities. Even now it is so hard to come up with fun activities that the students can do without losing interest. I really like the listening walk activity on page 165. I think it is so important for students to do more than sit at their desks. It is okay for them to go outside and find those real world experiences that they will face.
I came from a home that I would say was very modern. My dad loved to read, my mom did not. I learned to read a very young age and continue that. Both my brothers did not like to read. The oldest of the boys was very smart and didn't need to study until college. The youngest has ADHD and a LD and struggled even with everyday life choices. And then there was me, the oldest, who had to study hard when it came to history, science, and math. But when it came to reading and English I breezed through it. I would say my vocabulary is normal. But for my brother in law. He is a genius and I learned to never ask him to explain anything. He over analyzes things and uses words that I didn't even know exist. We have to tell him to put it in "simple stupid terms" because no one can understand his explanations.
I think we all build our vocabularies through our families and our experiences in life. It is so important to make sure that we use vocabularies in the classroom in every subject we teach.
You're not the only one learning new vocabulary when it comes to tutoring! I am too! I go through our guided reading book that I use every week and pull out 5 words that I don't think my second graders probably know the meaning of. I have come across words such as wallop and wisteria. To be completely honest, I hadn't heard the words before in my life and here they were in a book who my sister who is in third grade showed me! I was completely surprised and even began questioning my own vocabulary :) Good to know I'm not the only one!
Chapter 7 discussed how children build their vocabulary and gave great strategies to help them build it even more. It also gave us statistics on how many words children have learned by first grade, throughout high school, and how many new words are added to our language every year. That really amazed me, because honestly, I don't think I come near learning 800 new words every year. But who knows, maybe I do and don't even realize it. One thing that I think plays a major role in the development of new words is our ever changing technology. Goodness, it seems like every day there is some new item or term that comes into play just because of it.
Anyway, the chapter talked about how student from a lower SES is more likely to be a struggling reader simply because they don't get the opportunity to participate in conversations rich in a variety of vocabulary. I can see how this is easily true, but I know it's not the case every time. I myself didn't come from a family in the higher SES and not many of my friends did either, and a majority of us were at the top of our class throughout our entire school career, even above our peers who were from a higher SES than us. I think this is more true when it comes to bigger cities and suburban areas rather than small town and rural areas. It seems that children who grow up in smaller communities and just included more by people within the community, therefore have more opportunities to be able to talk to a variety of people. Students who come from bigger schools don't get as many opportunities to talk to people outside of their home and school environment, so therefore their conversations never really change and they really don't hear a variety of new words.
The chapter listed three ways for increasing vocabulary, and those were by life experiences, vicarious experiences, and through explicit instruction. My all time goal, which I am sure it is for many teachers, is to teach my students through real-life experiences. I don't mean I want to take them on as many field trips as I possibly can, I want to find a way to tie every lesson into true, real-life situations. These situations may not be something the student can relate to quite yet, but situations that student will most likely encounter in the future and then they can then reflect back on what they previously learned and think, "Oh yeah, I remember when Miss Snovelle taught us about this back in fourth grade. It makes a lot more sense now." But I would definitely explain to the students just how it might impact their life later, not just lead them into a lesson blindly. I don't know if I explained that very well, kind of hard to put in words :)
Anyway, I loved this chapter and found it to be an easy read. Which most of the time I struggle reading out of a textbook, but this textbook seems to be getting easier with every chapter! Maybe it's simply because I feel like I am finally getting the hang of everything :)
I can definitely relate with you and the struggle to read in a text book! I dread each reading assignment. I also really like your outlook on teaching with real-life examples. I think that is one of the best ways to prepare our students and make the learning more meaningful for them as well.
Kayla, I agree it is amazing how many words that children can learn. I also did not realize how many new words are added to our language every year. Sometimes it is hard to keep up. I really appreciated your perspective on the correlation that the text makes between lower SES and smaller vocabulary. You have a very valid point that the area in which the students live may have an impact. That would make an interesting study and ties back into the thought that it takes a village to raise a child. Your commitment to real life experiences for your students will provide them with great background knowledge for their future classes. Learning is always a building process.
I love teaching vocabulary and I think it is because I have never felt that my own personal vocabulary was very strong. I remember as a child that I would always lose points for "word choice" when I wrote. My teachers were always "encouraging" me to use a Thesaurus. Oddly enough, I don't remember doing many vocabulary activities outside of copying down definitions from dictionaries or text book glossaries. I find that when I teach vocabulary to students that I am always learning new words too and I love it! I couldn't believe that children are still learning about 3000 new words per year through the twelfth grade. (page 154) I think that the most important information in this chapter came in the form of suggested activities. I remember what it was like to be expected to know what a word meant just by looking up the definition and that was no fun. Besides, we all know that students learn better when they are motivated and are having fun and these activities provide quite a range of variety which is also a great teaching method in itself.
I also love teaching vocabulary. Some of my favorite activites are putting a hand by the door out. The students are supposed to high five the hand as walking out. There is a new word on the hand daily so as the students are walking out and high fiving the hand, they are seeing and learning a new word. The next day, the teacher goes over the previous word so that the student understands and pronounces it correctly.
Until this class, I did not have a full appreciation of how much vocabulary can influence reading skills. Having a rich vocabulary can make reading a more enjoyable and enriching experience. As adults we forget how many words we have learned and assume students just know them. I have found this in my tutoring sessions and have learned to question my students more on the meanings of words while we are reading. Since my unit focus is on vocabulary, I read the chapter and looked for ideas and methods to use with my tutoring students.
Several ideas intrigued me. The discussion on using poems to teach vocabulary was a concept I would like to use more. Poems can be filled with all sorts of words and potential for discussions on the meanings of the words. Another way to determine the meanings of words is through finding context clues. Students can learn to use signal words to find synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples, and general situations to provide clues for the meaning of the word. Students need to be able to recognize the clues in text to determine meaning so that they do not always need to find a dictionary while reading. They also need to develop a good understanding of homophones, puns, and idioms because these contribute to their increased vocabulary and help them understand that words or phrases can have multiple meanings.
The activities at the end of the chapter have also been helpful in planning how to teach vocabulary. Students are more engaged when they are learning vocabulary in fun ways rather than just write and define the word. The categorizing activity could be done individually at first and then compare answers with a partner or as a table to increase their lists. I have been using the concentration game with my tutoring students to help them with vocabulary and they enjoy the challenge of trying to remember and match cards. I would also like to try the two cube game with them to incorporate more action and activity into the vocabulary lesson.
I think it is great about poems and their importance in reading.They can help with so many of the components of reading. I am surprised at the importance of vocabulary in the classroom. After reading this chapter I feel that maybe I have not quite put enough into vocabulary. In the future I plan remember the importance.
Chapter 7discusses the importance of building ones vocabulary and how to build the vocabulary they need. This chapter focuses on the idea that explicit instruction will help the student learn eight to ten words a week. Some basic ways to increase vocabulary are life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction.
I have no questions on this chapter.
This reading allowed me a clearer understanding of the importance of vocabulary in the classroom. I have always understood how important it was for a student to have a strong vocabulary but I did not realized that by 12th grade a student has a vocabulary of 40,000 words and that they learn about seven words a day.
Using word walls are important in reading and now I understand why. With the sheer number of words the average student learns I hope that I have done my part in teaching vocabulary words to students. This goes to show how life experiences and vicarious experiences play such an important part.
I too was surprised to read that 12 grade students should have a vocabulary of 40,000 words and that they learn about 7 words on average per day. After reading about it and thinking about it, it makes me start to think about the papers I have written and then I start to think that maybe 40,00 words isn't as much as it sounds. Thanks for sharing!
I was certainly surprised when this chapter started off by saying that there are roughly 800 new words that are added to the English language each year. It made me wonder about my own language vocabulary and that this chapter made me want to run to the dictionary and find some new words for me to learn. After this, the chapter starts off by talking about increasing a students' vocabulary and ways to increase vocabulary. One of the easiest way to do so is by incorporating vocabulary terms with real life experiences. It also suggests that we show students a wide variety of types of literature and movies to help give them a vast amount of vocabulary terms. Students are some times used to only hearing words in certain contexts. For example, school-- is used to define they building they are learning in BUT it also can mean a group of fish, a school of fish swim together. By using the same word but different meanings, it helps their brain gain knowledge of the new meanings and draw a visual picture from the example. This chapter also goes further into explicit instruction and meeting vocabulary needs for all of our students. It is our job as teachers to find different activities to relate to the students to help them gain new knowledge of new terms. This chapter also offers examples of informal versus formal kinds of assessment for vocabulary. Now to the favorite parts of this book. This chapter offers some GREAT strategies & activities in the intervention part of this chapter. Some of my favorite include: Vocabulary bookmarks, schoolyard safari, listening walk, crossword puzzle, and hink pinks.
I also was surprised about how many words are added to the dictionary every year. After reading that I feel my vocabulary is not as strong as I think. I knew that new words were added but I did not think it was roughly close to 800 a year. I also liked the hink pinks activity.
I had the same thought about finding a dictionary to help me expand my vocabulary as well. After reading about how many new words, and how many words students learn every day as well as during the school year, I find it more important than ever to use new ways to help them remember the words and their correct contexts.
When teaching vocabulary I want to make sure my students know and understand the word. Many people including myself believe they know a word, but when it comes down it, they don't. I feel that this happens a lot in schools because memorization is forced. Teachers will have students read a word and their definition and are told to remember the word. It is easier to remember than understand. When you teach vocabulary you must take the time to discuss and connect the words to the students. When you connect the word to a students everyday life, they are capable to comprehend the meaning and visualize the word. Same words have different meaning and some students do not know how to use the word correctly in sentences. The different meanings also need to be discussed. I sometimes use words in a sentence and I am mixing them up because I truly do not know the meaning. I feel that I was not taught to understand the word. I like the hink pink activity, and vocabulary bookmark.I thought this chapter gave great tools for teaching vocabulary.
This chapter of the DeVries text elaborates on the significance of vocabulary in reading. Good vocabulary knowledge, or lack thereof, can definitely impact a reader’s comprehension abilities. Children who are read to and who are regularly engaged in rich conversations with adults can greatly expand and increase their vocabulary. However, there certainly are students who are not so fortunate to have the benefit of this enrichment to their vocabulary base. Students’ vocabulary can be expanded through life experiences, vicarious experiences from various books and other types of literature, educational videos and television shows. Children can also increase vocabulary through explicit instructional methods. Vocabulary assessment can be accomplished by evaluating students’ oral language abilities in their classroom discussions and smaller group reading time. I love the suggestions of using real items, visual objects, and drama to teach new vocabulary and definitions. This can provide such a visual, as well as tactile experience, in which students can benefit. I also really appreciated the section in this chapter explaining how teachers should accept where students may be, as well as their limited vocabulary. It makes complete sense to me how greatly one’s vocabulary skills can affect his or her comprehension of a reading. My tutoring content focus has been comprehension; however, because of the vocab/comprehension correlation, I’ve made a point to include vocabulary in each of my lessons. I think this has made a huge difference in how my tutoring students have progressed with the comprehension practice of our reading material. I did appreciate the additional ideas for working on vocabulary skills in the activities and strategies in the chapter. I like the “Total Physical Response” activity, as well as the “Collaborative Activities” and the “Music Puzzlers”.
Comprehension is the focus of my unit as well. I agree that including vocabulary in every lesson is very important. I am excited to try some of the activities during tutoring as well. I like how they put grade levels on the activities to help guide us as to what would work best with our students.
I agree with you about learning vocabulary. I too, believe that when I was in school the focus was on memorizing and not learning the meaning. This is another example of how things change in education.
I enjoyed this chapter as teaching vocabulary has always been one of my weaker areas in teaching reading. It is so true that vocabulary plays such an important role in comprehension. When thinking about my struggling readers, I thought about how hard they work just to read a selection. Then add in vocabulary words that they don't know, wow...that makes it even harder. Having the opportnity to do these tutoring sessions I have really focused on the vocabulary instruction as part of our guided reading time. This is something that I need to do consistantly with all of my reading groups. If students understand the words they read they can focus on using their comprehension strategies to construct meaning. This chapter did a great job of giving ideas to use to teach vocabulary. And, as another student mentioned the importance of teaching the meaning and not just memorizing the word and definition.
I also like seeing all the ideas they have in here for teaching vocabulary. When I was in grade school, we learned vocabulary words by memorizing and writing. We looked up the words in a dictionary and wrote their meaning, we wrote each word five times, and we wrote the words in sentences. That was not a way to keep students engaged!
This was a great chapter that contained a lot of great information for building a students vocabulary. It is important for teachers to take the time to teach students these vocabulary words. So many times where the vocabulary words are mentioned, but never focused on. I can remember in one of my classes, our teacher wanted us to find our own words and memorize them. She would come around the room and ask us either the word or the definition and then that was it on our vocabulary for the week. This chapter had a lot of great ideas for teachers to use to help the students remember, not just memorize for the time, their words. With these activities, the students and teachers are able to go over the words and definitions multiple times during the week, really allowing the students to know the words. It is amazing to see how many new words students learn every year as well as everyday. I have heard some students use a word, but not in the correct context. Some of these activities will help the students learn the correct context to use them in, like the Possible Sentences activity.
I love the idea of using the vocabulary throughout the week or series of lessons. It is important for the vocabulary to be introduced into the students' language, not just for them to memorize the word.
Chapter 7 discusses vocabulary building. There is a sentence on page 153 that really stuck out to me. It says "Research indicates a strong correlation between readers' vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension." This is so true. We have learned the importance of the Big 5 and how everything goes together. Without knowing vocabulary, how could a student be expected to comprehend what they are reading? This chapter gives us several ways to help students increase their vocabulary and how to select vocabulary for your instruction. I liked the list on page 159 of the four practices for vocabulary instruction. They had great ideas. They talked about informal and formal assessment for vocabulary, which has gotten a lot more interesting that when I was in grade school! I don't really have any questions over what I read this week. I always love all the ideas and activities they give us at the end of the chapter, and am happier every week that I bought this book instead of renting it!
I remember in high school, that learning vocabulary was memorizing the words and their definitions, and it all had to be spelled correctly. That was the longest class I ever had to take. I love that more enjoyable ways to assess vocabulary is availabe in this day and age.
I agree, that vocabulary and comprehension seem to go hand in hand.
One of my favorite things listed was the wordless book. I work with a kindergartener who has communication issues. He does not always understand what you ask of him, and he cannot always tell you what he is thinking. He does have a pretty large vocabulary, and if you did not work closely with him, you would not realize this. One day, he and I "read" a wordless book. He used words I had not heard him use before. He was expressive, and enjoyed that he could read the book.
I also enjoy incorporating science with vocabulary by having students state their observations.
I also like the music puzzlers activities. I think students often do not listen to the words in the songs they hear. But, they will have full interest in reading the lyrics, and diving deeper into the songs.
Chapter 7 like every other chapter we have read in this book is chalked full of useful information. I liked the many different activities the book suggested to help students learn and expand their vocabulary. I have some good experiences with working with students and vocabulary in my tutoring sessions. One of the coolest parts of it is learning what their back ground knowlege is with the words they know. It is important to realize and keep in mind that studnets come from varying back grounds and thus each has a different relationship with words and what they do and don't know. This is another reason why I think it is so important for parents and family memebers to read to their student. I know that it helped my own kids very much.
I really enjoyed reading this chapter, as there was a lot of practical advice to glean! I do not have that rich of a vocabulary, but I have always felt I had an above average one. However, after reading in this chapter how they define what it means to "know" a word, I decided my vocabulary isn't as great as I thought! It's not just enough to know what the word means when reading it. I also need to know how to pronounce it correctly and how to use it in a sentence. This was a new thought to me, as I figured as long as I could figure out what it meant while reading, I "knew" the word.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked the suggestions they gave to teaching vocabulary to students. This is something that has frustrated me for years with my own kids. I feel teachers have assigned these vocab words that are way beyond their understanding, and it's merely an assignment. Learn these words and memorize their definition. Even my high school aged kids have had their vocab taught this way. They fill out these insanely difficult vocab books using words they will never remember, and by doing 3-4 pages of the workbook, they are supposedly prepared to take a quiz on them. I have never felt this was very productive. These students don't remember these words, and I don't feel it actually helps increase their vocabulary. But I liked some of the ideas mentioned in this chapter. They suggest to use the words MULTIPLE times. I think it was in the Beers book that she mentioned using the vocab words all week long. Make sure the words are being used so students become familiar with them and learn not only the definitions, but how to use the words! I also liked the idea of the students selecting words. This would definitely give more ownership to the students.
I loved all the strategies mentioned at the end of the chapter. I had not even thought about using Hink-Pinks, but what a great idea! I used to love those, and it would get students thinking to have to come up with their own. I also liked the idea of incorporating word games and puzzles. Games like Scrabble or Boggle could be used. I have seen on Pinterest the idea of creating a Boggle board on a bulletin board in a classroom. You could arrange the letters to make sure some of the vocab words for that week could be found. I liked the idea of the riddles, too, as it would make students think about the meaning of words and then use that to come up with something humorous.
I agree with your assessment on how many classrooms treat vocabulary words by listing the word down and looking up the definition in the dictionary and nothing else. I like how my son's fourth grade introduces vocabulary. They actually do literature circles and one of the roles is a vocab person that introduces several new words that the group discusses. When they get new vocab words for the week, they fold up paper to form eight or ten squares and they write the word, illustrate the word, and use it in a sentence. In addition they will put the words up on their word wall and use them in discussion. They also do a game called "Bongo" (i believe) where they have a group of letters and have to create as many words as possible and they can win prizes. There are so many great ideas for introducing and practicing vocabulary words, as well as language concepts.
DeleteMy high schooler and middle schooler have both had vocabulary assignments that do not seem affective. As you stated, the words seem too complex, ones that they will likely not remember or use. They do end up sort of memorizing the definitions for the assignment; I'm not sure if using this method will increase students' vocabulary. The words need to relate to the reading; the instructional methods used needs to be explicit and use more than just pen and paper. There were definitely some great suggested activities and strategies provided in the chapter. I've definitely been trying to implement vocabulary into my tutoring sessions to help with the comprehension focus.
DeleteChapter 7 is about vocabulary words and how important it is to introduce different words each day to students. It did not surprise me to read that higher income families have children whose vocabulary is much higher than lower income. I did not realize however there were 3 tiers of vocabulary. The first tier is what students use all the time, the second tier is words the teacher should be using everyday in the classroom. The third tiers are words students will be introduced to as their educational careers advance. In order for students to understand a word, they need to be able to pronounce it correctly, know its relationships to other words, understand what it means with other texts, be able to use it in several settings, know how to use it when writing, and if it has multiple meanings, understand them. Teachers can introduce words in several different ways. At the end of the chapter there are several activities that work for all ages. I liked the activity known as “memory”. Write the vocabulary words on one set of cards and their definitions or synonyms to the word on another set, and have the students play. Vocabulary bookmarks are a good idea as well. Have students design their own bookmark with the name and definitions to use throughout the day. I really liked the way the principle in the opening scenario made her point that introducing vocabulary first will help the reader comprehend much better.
ReplyDeleteI guess I wasn't surprised either that there was a correlation to income and range of vocabulary because generally people that are well educated have larger vocabularies and will probably make more money over the course of their careers. This is a generalization. I do believe that regardless of what the child brings to the classroom as far as their current vocabulary, effective educators can make a huge difference by implementing the strategies mentioned in this chapter.
DeleteI also didn't realize their was 3 tiers of vocabulary and found this to be interesting. I also agree that as teachers we need to introduce vocab words in many different ways so that students will continue to want to learn new words. I work as a case manager and have learned that the families who do struggle their children often also tend to struggle with learning new vocabulary or having a good vocabulary. Sadly I believe it is a result of the children not getting much parent time at home or getting talked to like they should. So as teachers it is important for us to make sure we share a good vocabulary with the students and also teach them vocabulary.
DeleteI use the vocabulary memory game with the high school sped students I work with and they LOVE it! I can put the words/definitions on quizlet for them to practice AND it is also easy to just print off the cards so all I have to do is stick them to an index card and they are ready to go! My kids are doing so much better on their vocabulary clicker quizzes because of this game.
DeleteI had many similar thoughts as you. I also was not surprised by the thought that families with higher incomes have broader vocabularies. The tiers was also a new, but interesting concept to me. The memory game would be very useful, as students would have to know what the word means in order to match the definitions with the word itself.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this chapter, I was a bit surprised to learn that so much of a child's vocabulary comes from their own life experiences and their vicarious experiences. I figured much of their sight words and vocabulary came through explicit instruction...but it makes sense that kids will be knowledgeable about what they are exposed to. I learned that we have three tiers of words from the most common words we use everyday, words we learn and use less frequently, and words we specifically learn when new content is introduced. I also learned that children will benefit the most from reading high-quality poems and books because of the "rich and interesting" vocabulary the authors use. In order for children to expand their vocabulary, we must introduce them to new and higher quality words. I do believe the words that we use must be carefully chosen as well because students will reciprocate what they hear and are exposed to most often. In addition, when we use explicit instruction, we need to emphasize and have students recognize different language concepts such as synonyms, homophones, acronyms, puns, and regionalisms. I needed a refresher on what a lot of these were and figure 7.2 on page 158 of the text was a great resource for that. Understanding and identifying these concepts can be especially helpful for ESL students. One thing I thought of was to take the mastery word learning concept we use before our guided reading and ask students if they may know of a synonym, antonym, or homophone of the new word we just learned. This activity might help them expand their vocabulary. As usual, our text had a great source of activities for intervention purposes to teach vocabulary. One question that I do have is why do teachers seem to stop doing read alouds as students reach higher grades in elementary and middle school? There are direct correlations/interrelations of the Big 5 and read alouds have proven to improve word recognition, fluency, and comprehension. At the beginning of this chapter, the text make mention of the fact that there is a strong correlation between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Just a thought! Some of the activities I would use from the text would be the close procedure, using categorizing and classifying, analogies, wordless books, LEA, hink pinks, multiple meaning racetrack, and really many more. I love having these activities listed as a resource. I believe it is vitally important for us as educators to correctly identify where students are with regard to their vocabularies (assessment)and then provide the explicit instruction and activity intervention to help them build upon what they already know.
ReplyDeletemb
DeleteChapter 7 talks about vocabulary words and as teachers we need to be able to motivate students to learn new words. If you don't know the meaning of words then you will struggle to comprehend things that you read about. A high school senior has a vocabulary of around 40,000 words. This means that from grade one to twelve students learn around 3,000 new words a year. Students learn the meaning of new words from in their communities and from each experience that they have. Students also learn new words from vicarious experiences which include things from television and reading texts. Children who struggle to read usually result in limited language experiences growing up and have to be helped to acquire the vocab necessary to have academic success.
ReplyDeleteOne question I have from reading this text comes from the first paragraph when it says that nearly 800 new words are added to the English language every year. My question would be what is this number at now?
As a future teacher this chapter helps me look at vocabulary in a different way. Vocabulary is extremely important for students to learn so that they can learn to read and comprehend. As a teacher teaching vocabulary is something that needs to be done everyday because a child learning how to speak and understand what he is saying is important and also comprehending what they read.
I can connect this reading to my tutoring sessions and how I do vocabulary each session. I think it is interesting to see what words the students know and which ones they don't. I think teaching vocabulary in different ways such as through games is very helpful. I have seen students play vocab games while in my internship last semester.
It is amazing how many words children learn each year. I have been fortunate enough to be a parent to a very bright kindergartener. When he went to school this year he knew many words that most students his age might not know. He was able to use them in the correct way and he could tell you the meaning. I have been able to hear him come home almost every day with at least one new word that he uses correctly and defines for our family. Since he is learning so many words and came in knowing so many words he is in the top reading group for his class.
DeleteI have seen how important vocabulary is, and I think you are correct in saying that it builds a base for them to be able to comprehend what they read.
I like your idea of vocabulary games. Any time you can make learning fun for the students they are more likely to participate in the learning.
I find it staggering that the text states that the average high school senior knows 40,000 words. That the average student learns 3,000 words per year from grades 1-12 is insane. Thinking that I know that many words is kind of hard to believe, and this just the average student. If I were asked how many words a high school senior knows on average, I would have guessed about 20,000 less. To me it is just hard to believe that there are that many words floating around out there. I also am curious about the fact that 800 words are added to the English language each year and what our grand total is up to. I would also like to know what kind of words are added, are we including slang terms within our language? I also agree that there are many activities that can be used from the text that would be a lot more meaningful for my students than my regular boring instruction, I am looking forward to including them in my lesson plans.
DeleteThe number of words learned was amazing to me as well Chris! I think its phenomenal that the average student has a vocabulary of that many words! Insane! The statement in out book about 800 words being added to the English language each year was interesting. I, too, wonder what our total is in relation to how many the students know on average? Interesting..
DeleteI agree with you that it is intersting to see where the students are with their word in respect to what they know and what they don't know. It is also interesting to find out what their prior knowledge is on those words. I also agree with you that they use of games is always a good way for student to learn in a fun and friendly way.
DeleteAs a parent it is so much fun to think that when you have you baby they come into this world not knowing any words. By the time they graduate high school the will know about 40,000. My son is in kindergarten this year and he has learned so many new words already. When you think about it you must learn vocabulary for each subject. Students have their own vocabulary at recess time with their games and play. Some students will learn new foods in school. They will learn new names, clothing options, etc. Just to survive in the kindergarten classroom they have to learn so many new terms, and then you add in the ones that are being taught within the lesson I can see how they will easily get to 3,000 per year.
ReplyDeleteBy learning new words and vocabulary every day, students will become better readers. My son learned the word distraught a few months ago. He came home from school one day and said, “I was distraught because I did not have enough time to eat my lunch.” My husband and I were amazed that he knew the word and that he then used it correctly in a sentence and told us the definition. A few days later my husband was reading him a book and they came across the word distraught. He could not read it then, but now that he knows the word and its definition and has seen it written he is able to read it when he comes across it.
I do believe that vocabulary really is the key to great readers. If they know words by looking at them and they know what the word means, then they can use those context clues to complete a whole sentence or paragraph of text.
Each week I try to teach the students in my tutoring group at least six new words. I choose words from our guided readings and read alouds so that they can hear the word, see the word, use the word, and define the word.
Kasey, I love that your son has learned a big word such as "distraught" in a kindergarten classroom. I agree that he caught on to the look of the word due to him knowing the meaning and using it in his everyday life. The example was a great way for him to completely understand the meaning. The students that I am tutoring are very capable to formulate the words when they are talking, but seeing it in written form the word does not come for them. This is where these activities in this chapter and using real life-like activities will be a strong helper for them to put the prior knowledge together when they are reading the word on the page.
DeleteVocabulary building was the topic of chapter seven’s reading. The chapter begins by talking about increasing student’s vocabulary. The text describes three word tiers for vocabulary. The first being common words which are used every day. Second are less frequently used words, but ones that transcend content. The third tier words are the ones that are associated with particular content. The text explains that we as educators need to be teaching tier two words so that students can hear them daily and commit them to memory. The text then goes into ways of increasing vocabulary which includes life and vicarious experiences. The book makes a good point that students everywhere learn different words as common words. Growing up in a small town, I am sure I know more terminology about farming and rural life than say a person who grew up in New York, or someone who grew up near a beach. We learn vocabulary from our surroundings and from life experience.
ReplyDeleteVocabulary is an important aspect of reading. A student can have great phonics skills, have great phonemic awareness, and be very fluent with reading words, but if they don’t know what any of the words mean it would be difficult for them to comprehend what they are reading. The text does describe the role of the teacher in terms of helping students increase vocabulary knowledge. We need to know what words are needed to comprehend the material, teach students to use context clues to figure out the meaning of the words, and make sure students know that some words have multiple meanings, to list a few.
This chapter also does a great job, like other chapters of listing many activities to increase vocabulary knowledge. Some of these that I looked at will be perfect for my students that I am tutoring. Until now I really only based my vocabulary instruction on the ways I was taught, which is pulling words from the reading and covering the meanings before we read. During the reading I would pause when we came to the word and discussed how the meaning of the vocabulary word helps us understand what the author was trying to say. Using different activities should help my students become more familiar with the words, and not just by doing the same activity every week.
I like how you noted on the teacher's role in this process of vocabulary knowledge. It is extremely important to understand the ways to teach the necessary skills for all components of reading from phonics to vocabulary to comprehension. I love that activities at the end of the book! Good idea to integrate them into our lesson plans for tutoring!!
DeleteI really like the activity section of this book as well. I am like you in that I base a lot of how I instruct on the way I was taught. I think that is good, but teaching has come so far even from where it was 10 years ago. With that in mind, I think we have to stay current, always keep improving ourselves, and ultimately be open minded to a new way of doing things. That is why I love these activities. There are so many great ideas that it is kind of hard to decide which ones to try out first.
Deletethanks,
Julie Copeland
Chapter seven was centered on vocabulary. The chapter begins by talking about increasing vocabulary and sharing information about way to do so. Life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction were some examples. I liked how in the 'increasing students' vocabulary' section it shared the seven key aspects of knowing a word, some of which I wasn't necessarily aware of. The ways of increasing students' vocabulary was great information to read. I liked how the text discussed how words become common words for different people based on their life experiences, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe explicit instruction section of this chapter was good information. This section talked about how the selection of vocabulary words is important and provided suggestions or questions to ask when determining a word list for explicit instruction. The guidelines were very beneficial. The section on meeting the needs of struggling readers was beneficial information as well. More often than not I feel as though I've come across readers who struggle with a variety of reading components. The four practices that the text discussed are very helpful suggestions for teachers to implement in order to provide assistance to these struggling readers.
Like every chapter, the book provides numerous activities at the end of the chapter relative to the topic at hand. The schoolyard safari activity was really neat as well as the listening walk.
DeVries Chapter 7
ReplyDeleteVocabulary Building
There are four issues addressed in this chapter regarding vocabulary building: how proficient readers naturally enrich their vocabulary, how to explicitly teach vocabulary, and how to meet the vocabulary needs of English learners and how to assess struggling readers’ vocabulary. Environment affects how much vocabulary children learn. Children that come from higher income families and higher parental education have heard 30 million more words by age three than lower income, underprivileged children. That is HUGE! Ways to increase students’ vocabulary are life experiences, vicarious experiences and explicit instruction. Life experiences are ones students gain from their community, language they are familiar with. Students in my rural area would understand different types of farming equipment and livestock terms, whereas students from the city would not. Vicarious experiences occur through educational videos and TV or from reading a variety of texts. Explicit instruction occurs at school through the introduction of vocabulary terms as related to reading assignments. Most students can learn about ten new words each week so choosing which words to teach them depends on what teachers want students to learn. It us recommended that teachers select words students need to know to understand the content by using vocabulary maps and word association. To increase the amount of word acquisition for struggling readers, teachers should help students develop a love of words through word play, deliver rich instruction by teaching words they need to know to understand a passage, teach strategies so students can decipher new words as they encounter them and to engage students through a wide range of texts by providing lit circles, guided reading groups and shared reading. Some activities included in the intervention section include vocabulary bookmarks, predict-o-grams, listening walks, total physical response activities, categorizing, crossword puzzles, synonym/definition concentration game, cognate picture cards and matching games, just to name a few.
I think that increasing your vocabulary through life experiences is the way to go. I think that is where you learn the most, feel comfortable, and can really just soak it all in. This also leads to some issues if not monitored properly. For example, with my children, if they hear something they dont understand I explain it myself but then also have them look it up. I do this to ensure that I properly explained it and also to get them in the habit of verifying information for themselves and not just taking someones word for it.
Deletethanks,
Julie Copeland
This weeks' chapter was chapter seven, titled Vocabulary Building. The chapter began with something that I completely agree with, there is a strong correlation between reader's vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension. The chapter stated that the average high school student knows approximately 40,000 words, which means from 1st to 12th they learn approximately 2,700 words a year or seven words a day. This fact blew my mind. I guess I really have never put that much thought into how many words there are within our language. I think sometimes we simply take that for granted. I liked the section on how to increase vocabulary. The examples given were life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. I think life experiences are the most important. Explicit instruction is something that if used properly is great, but I think life experiences are where you learn the most. The chapter then talked about teaching vocabulary to struggling readers. the chapter talked about the importance of assessments, both formal and informal. Then, like in all the other chapters, it listed a ton of activities to use within the classroom. I liked the one that was titled music puzzlers. This activity is where the teacher selects several favorite songs of the group of students to discuss a word found in multiple disciplines. For example, in many classes students are asked to interpret, compare, or contrast different topics. For the word interpret, students interpret the song, for contrast they explain how the song is different from another song, and for compare they compare the song to another. I think this is a neat way of getting the kids to think outside the box.
ReplyDeletethanks,
Julie Copeland
I too agree that there is a strong correlation between reader’s vocabulary and their comprehension. If the student doesn't know what is being talked about in the section, they won’t understand what is going on. I too was blown away by the amount of vocabulary that we learn and know, like you said it isn't something I have ever really put much thought into. Using life experiences are really important because that is something students easily connect to. There are some wonderful ideas and activities in the back of the chapter. The music was one that I thought was interesting and I think would have been something good for me when I was younger because I love music.
DeleteThinking outside the box can be so tricky for many different learners, I think that the activity you've mentioned here really is a great one! Teaching students to use words in different ways really is an important part of vocabulary and reading!
DeleteJulie, the numbers were surprising to me as well, even after I have thought about it, it still is hard to believe the average high schooler knows 40,000 words. I liked the section that talks about how to increase students vocabulary in the class room and how we need to be using the tier 2 words.
Delete"...1st to 12th they learn approximately 2,700 words a year or seven words a day." WOW, I missed that, what page is that on? It is really hard for me to believe that a student will learn 7 words a day!
DeleteOne of the English teachers at the school I work at gave his 8th graders a list of words that they were suppose to learn the meanings and they had to test over and over again until they got 90% or higher! I did not like this because these words were horrendous and he was requiring everyone to know them! Some of these students took the test 7, 10 times before they passed it and if you were to ask today what one of those words means, they couldn't tell you. So 7 new words a day is wild!
Chapter 7 is about building vocabulary. Students have to be able to process words and know what they mean to be able to comprehend. This chapter talks about the 4 issues: proficient readers naturally enrich their vocabulary, explicitly tech vocabulary, meet the vocabulary needs of ELL students, and assess the struggling readers’ vocabulary; as well as interventions for students that have issues with these. The amount of vocabulary that people learn and know is such an immense number. It is really amazing to think about. This chapter also has many strategies and activities for building a student’s vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteFor ELL students especially, how do you explain that a certain word can have two different meanings, though they are spelled the same way? A lot of times these come naturally to someone that is a native English speaker because we have had those experiences. It just seems like it could be confusing and frustrating for an ELL student to understand that concept.
I never thought of poems being an example of a vicarious experience. I love using poetry with students and they generally really like it as well, so it is really nice to know that poems can be a great way to increase vocabulary. I see that it is very important to have vocabulary introduced to students as they are ready for it, there for every student should not be learning the same vocabulary at the same time. It is more beneficial to have them in small groups that have a similar vocabulary level so they can scaffold up together. I didn't realize there were so many ways to test vocabulary.
Though I knew that students learn things depending on the experiences they had, I thought this chapter did a really good job really showing you how it can be so different. I am originally from Colorado in a semi-rural area, but when I moved to Kansas my vocabulary on farming grew extensively. I remember teachers always telling us to use context clues when we came across new vocabulary. This was a difficult thing for me to do, but I know that it is a helpful strategy as long as the students know what kinds of clues they are looking for. This is something that I think is really important, is teaching students how to find and use context clues to figure out what a word means.
Brenna,
DeleteI understand what you are saying about the ELL students. They have a hard enough time understanding the language and then to through in that some words are spelled the same, but have different meanings has got to be very frustrating for them. I too would like to know how to address this situation.
As an avid reader, vocabulary has always been my strong suit. I often used big words as a child and frequently used them incorrectly, which lead me to quickly learn the appropriate way to use them. When I work with students, I frequently do novel studies and when we run across strange new words, we stop and discuss them. We look for any suffixes or prefixes, we check to see if it sounds familiar, we read it in the sentence and paragraph, checking for context clues. By working the word from so many different angles, I feel that are are creating an experience with the word. By creating an experience, we are generating memories that the students can draw on in the future to help them recall and actually use the word. Sometimes we save a list of the words (usually each student has a sticky note and they write the words on it) and at the end of the novel I create a crossword puzzle using Discovery Education's Puzzlemaker. This gives just a little reinforcement to the word as well. I really do not like to use vocabulary bookmarks, like the ones on page 163, because the writing area is so limited and I find the students don't use them as often as necessary.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
DeleteI also love to read and think this has helped with my vocabulary. My daughter reads a lot and just the other day she used a word and I told her I did not think she was using it correctly and she immediately got online to show me that she was using it in a correct way...I guess we are always learning! It is so important to discuss new words and not to skip over them. We must understand the words we are reading in order to comprehend what has been read. Nice post, Kara
Chapter 7 is about vocabulary building. I was particularly interested in this chapter. Even though this is not my content focus it is something I really want to work on with my students. The textbook states that there is a strong correlation between vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. I see so many struggling children that come from low SES homes and it was interesting to read about how the child’s environment affects their vocabulary. I had not thought about there being a difference between knowing a word and understanding a word. There are so many things that go into actually knowing a word. The author talks about the different ways to increase vocabulary including: life experiences, vicarious experiences, explicit instruction etc. It is important that we as teachers consider all of these ways when instructing our students. I thought the 4 practices for vocabulary instruction was interesting and really liked how it emphasizes developing a love of words through play. My daughter and I play a lot of word games online and we both enjoy them. I can see her vocabulary grow each and every time we play these games. It is a great way to teach children without them feeling as though they are being taught (if that makes sense). The area that discusses ELL’s and vocabulary talks about using gestures and facial expressions during instruction. I think this would be useful for all students. Much of the assessment for vocabulary knowledge is done through observation. This can be done all throughout the day and not just during reading instruction. I listen to students use new words every day. It is fun to hear them use newly acquired words and see the smiles on their faces when they use them correctly. The formal assessment of vocabulary is necessary but not as fun to do. This chapter mentions multiple choice assessments and this is the type I see used most in the classroom. I love all of the activities included in this chapter and am planning on using some of them in my tutoring sessions. I thought the school yard safari would be a lot of fun and would encourage the students to use their imaginations. The last section of this chapter talks about using technology for building vocabulary. Earlier I mentioned my daughter and I playing vocabulary games, the games we play are online or apps on the phone. Technology is a great way to get the students interested and involved in their learning.
ReplyDeleteKara I agree with you, in dealing with a number of students that come from low SES homes in my internship class, I took special note of the affect the home environment has on developing vocabulary. I like the idea of playing word games on the computer, possibly something to even incorporate into some of my upcoming lesson plans for tutoring sessions. Any particular suggestions or apps to use?
DeleteChapter 7 is on building vocabulary. Vocabulary is the key to reading comprehension. No matter what subject you are studying, if you do not have valuable knowledge of the vocabulary you are reading, you will lose the meaning of what is being said and in turn there will be less comprehension. On page 154, it states that from grade 1-12 students on average learn 2700-3000 words per year. That to me is an amazing figure and a ton of words. To help the students gain these words into their vocabulary, they need seven aspects of knowledge to truly understand the meaning: 1) they must know how to pronounce the word; 2) have prior knowledge to relate the word to other words; 3) connotation of the word in other contexts; 4) how the word can be used in different settings; 5) use the word in writing; 6) know if the word has multiple meanings; and 7) know its morphology. Life experiences, explicit instruction and word play with reading, writing and speaking helps the students grasp the knowledge of new words. With the many activities and strategies at the end of the chapter, two really stood out to me as a fun way to help students grow in their vocabulary. On page 163, Predict-o-Gram, allows the students to try and figure out what words mean prior to reading the story. They predict if the word relates to a character, plot or setting and place them in the right column of a graphic organizer. My second activity I would like to try is on page 171, Multiple Meaning Racetrack. This is where the teacher has a stack of words, each on an index card and a game board. The students draw a card, then defines the word with as many meanings that they can provide. They get to move along the racetrack board game one space for each correct definition and back one space for an incorrect definition. There are some great ideas to utilize in this chapter that will assist students in learning more vocabulary words and thus become better readers by comprehending what they have read.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, that is a ton of words. No wonder it is so easy for a student to get behind and struggle. I also liked the Predict-o-Gram activity, like in what was learned from RLA Methods, predictions are an important part of reading.
DeleteThis chapter focuses on vocabulary, an essential tool in the foundation of reading and literacy. As the text points out vocabulary and comprehension are directly related. Additionally, the environment with which a child is in has a direct correlation to their vocabulary, simply based upon the number of words heard. This chapter focuses on a number of ways in which you can increase vocabulary; life experiences, vicarious experiences and explicit instruction. Additionally, this chapter looks at the variety of ways to assess vocabulary through informal and formal assessments. Informal assessments often times being the most affective and practical to use in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense that comprehension and vocabulary go hand in hand. Meaning you have to have the two together to be successful. It is a challenge in every classroom to continue to develop student’s vocabularies, especially when they come from a variety of backgrounds, because as the research proves it has an effect. I agree with several of my other classmates that explicit instruction and workbook pages aren’t necessarily the most effective ways to expand student’s vocabulary, but rather life experiences and especially vicarious experiences. This text provided some great ideas for vocabulary activities like the Hink-Pink and Schoolyard Safari. However, some of the best ideas came from the Beers text in Reading and Language Arts.
One of the questions I had regarding this chapter was why the integration of dictionary and thesaurus skills weren’t included and emphasized. Thanks to Mrs. Houser my seventh grade English teacher, every time I see a word I don’t know, I look-it up and then find my post-it note, write it down and challenge myself to use it in three sentences that date. Thanks to her, imperative is one of my favorite words to use. Similar to the sticky-word challenge Mrs. Stoppel mentioned in one of the videos last week. Enabling students to find the answer to something they don’t know is essential to empowering them to develop their own vocabulary. More to this point, it also made me reflect back on the Gary Haag presentation last semester and his emphasis on using ‘big details’ to make stories interesting. Meaning a thesaurus might be a great way or tool to not only become a great writer, but find new ways to integrate words into your vocabulary as well.
Chapter 7 discussed vocabulary building. All students can benefit from life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction. In the text it states that it does not matter if you are a native speaker or an English learner, the socioeconomic status is what affects your vocabulary comprehension. Unfortunately, too many children are not read to or included in conversations. This really effects how they learn. Reading this reminds me of one particular preschooler, he came to school with an extremely limited vocabulary and not always appropriate. Within a month his vocabulary increased and his frequency of inappropriate words decreased, he is a sponge absorbing everything he can from adults and peers.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the text, I was able to connect parts to the mastery word learning technique we have previously learned. When teaching my formal RLA observation last semester, I used mastery word learning and then weeks later made a BINGO game using the same words. I was so impressed with the way they remembered the words. The activities at the end of the chapter are great reference for tutoring sessions and future classroom use. Anytime that you can bring in a game, students will remember the information much better than just drilling it into them. The technology links are great for templates for making the games.
Samantha-
DeleteI really like how you are using your experiences from RLA and bringing that into your tutoring. I am doing that as well. I really like that you made a BINGO game to use. I haven't made any games yet, but I am planning on it for the next few lessons.
This chapter discusses vocabulary and the benefits of a larger vocabulary. I was especially interested in the explicit instruction as well as how children gain higher vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteMy husband has a good vocabulary and attributes this to his love of reading. I have always felt I had a decent vocabulary and attributed it to my parents who were not afraid to use the 25 cent words with us as we grew up. My father has a very high IQ and simply can't talk at a child's level. An example happened when I was in about 2nd or 3rd grade was was trying to learn multiplication. I asked him why 5 x 5 was 25 and he spent about 15 minutes explaining it and when he finished I was so dizzy I couldn't have repeated any of it if I tried. I went to my mom who said five fives is twenty-five.
Anyway, when my parents would say a word I did not understand, I asked for the definition. They also taught us that people who swore had 'limited' vocabularies and I saw that they were people who lived on the 'other side of the tracks' (the poorer end of town,although I did not realize that was the problem, I just thought it was because of their 'limited' vocabulary)
The author says that students learn through life experiences, explicit instruction, and vicarious experiences. Life experiences include day to day conversations, the words we use in our every day discussions. Vicarious experiences include watching educational television and videos. Explicit instruction includes teacher instruction.
The author explains that the teacher should use various '25 cent words' in his or her content instruction and require the students to use the words as well.
Ms DeVries gives guidelines for the explicit instruction which includes teaching multiple meanings of words and teach students to infer word meaning by looking for context clues and word parts. (pg. 156) She tells us that we should choose words that the student will need to understand the content of the lesson.
I believe, however, that if we expose students to vocabulary words they may not always use, it will help them to gain a larger vocabulary. I know it worked with my kids and I believe it is so very important for our students and their successes in life. Reading, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, it is all connected.
Linda-
DeleteYour family sounds so fun! I think it is so important for parents to also teach their kids instead of having the teachers do it. What parents don't realize is we follow what they do and they are the most important teachers we can have. I also was brought up in a home to where my parents taught us something when we asked. I loved to read and I believe that is why I have a higher vocabulary than my little brother who does not like to read at all!
Chapter 7 is about vocabulary building! I think the scenario at the beginning of the chapter is a real eye opener for teachers. I think the principal did an amazing job of showing the teachers how hard it is for students to learn vocabulary when they have no background knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI think background knowledge is such an important factor to a child's vocabulary and this chapter touched on this. We cannot increase student's vocabulary if they have no idea what it is about. I believe that doing activities that require research and life experiences will help them on their vocabulary.
Vocabulary for struggling readers can be so frustrating. I never had the problem of reading the words, I could pronounce them, but you ask me what the meaning of them were and I couldn't tell you. I could spell them. I think this is a struggle for me, because I was never given a meaning of the word just what it was and how to spell it. Even in my tutoring I recognize that vocabulary and the meaning of these words are so important so I make sure that the students really understand the word and what it means ( I am even learning new meaning of words I never had the chance to!)
I loved the section on the different activities. Even now it is so hard to come up with fun activities that the students can do without losing interest. I really like the listening walk activity on page 165. I think it is so important for students to do more than sit at their desks. It is okay for them to go outside and find those real world experiences that they will face.
I came from a home that I would say was very modern. My dad loved to read, my mom did not. I learned to read a very young age and continue that. Both my brothers did not like to read. The oldest of the boys was very smart and didn't need to study until college. The youngest has ADHD and a LD and struggled even with everyday life choices. And then there was me, the oldest, who had to study hard when it came to history, science, and math. But when it came to reading and English I breezed through it. I would say my vocabulary is normal. But for my brother in law. He is a genius and I learned to never ask him to explain anything. He over analyzes things and uses words that I didn't even know exist. We have to tell him to put it in "simple stupid terms" because no one can understand his explanations.
I think we all build our vocabularies through our families and our experiences in life. It is so important to make sure that we use vocabularies in the classroom in every subject we teach.
You're not the only one learning new vocabulary when it comes to tutoring! I am too! I go through our guided reading book that I use every week and pull out 5 words that I don't think my second graders probably know the meaning of. I have come across words such as wallop and wisteria. To be completely honest, I hadn't heard the words before in my life and here they were in a book who my sister who is in third grade showed me! I was completely surprised and even began questioning my own vocabulary :) Good to know I'm not the only one!
DeleteChapter 7 discussed how children build their vocabulary and gave great strategies to help them build it even more. It also gave us statistics on how many words children have learned by first grade, throughout high school, and how many new words are added to our language every year. That really amazed me, because honestly, I don't think I come near learning 800 new words every year. But who knows, maybe I do and don't even realize it. One thing that I think plays a major role in the development of new words is our ever changing technology. Goodness, it seems like every day there is some new item or term that comes into play just because of it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the chapter talked about how student from a lower SES is more likely to be a struggling reader simply because they don't get the opportunity to participate in conversations rich in a variety of vocabulary. I can see how this is easily true, but I know it's not the case every time. I myself didn't come from a family in the higher SES and not many of my friends did either, and a majority of us were at the top of our class throughout our entire school career, even above our peers who were from a higher SES than us. I think this is more true when it comes to bigger cities and suburban areas rather than small town and rural areas. It seems that children who grow up in smaller communities and just included more by people within the community, therefore have more opportunities to be able to talk to a variety of people. Students who come from bigger schools don't get as many opportunities to talk to people outside of their home and school environment, so therefore their conversations never really change and they really don't hear a variety of new words.
The chapter listed three ways for increasing vocabulary, and those were by life experiences, vicarious experiences, and through explicit instruction. My all time goal, which I am sure it is for many teachers, is to teach my students through real-life experiences. I don't mean I want to take them on as many field trips as I possibly can, I want to find a way to tie every lesson into true, real-life situations. These situations may not be something the student can relate to quite yet, but situations that student will most likely encounter in the future and then they can then reflect back on what they previously learned and think, "Oh yeah, I remember when Miss Snovelle taught us about this back in fourth grade. It makes a lot more sense now." But I would definitely explain to the students just how it might impact their life later, not just lead them into a lesson blindly. I don't know if I explained that very well, kind of hard to put in words :)
Anyway, I loved this chapter and found it to be an easy read. Which most of the time I struggle reading out of a textbook, but this textbook seems to be getting easier with every chapter! Maybe it's simply because I feel like I am finally getting the hang of everything :)
I can definitely relate with you and the struggle to read in a text book! I dread each reading assignment. I also really like your outlook on teaching with real-life examples. I think that is one of the best ways to prepare our students and make the learning more meaningful for them as well.
DeleteKayla,
DeleteI agree it is amazing how many words that children can learn. I also did not realize how many new words are added to our language every year. Sometimes it is hard to keep up. I really appreciated your perspective on the correlation that the text makes between lower SES and smaller vocabulary. You have a very valid point that the area in which the students live may have an impact. That would make an interesting study and ties back into the thought that it takes a village to raise a child. Your commitment to real life experiences for your students will provide them with great background knowledge for their future classes. Learning is always a building process.
I love teaching vocabulary and I think it is because I have never felt that my own personal vocabulary was very strong. I remember as a child that I would always lose points for "word choice" when I wrote. My teachers were always "encouraging" me to use a Thesaurus. Oddly enough, I don't remember doing many vocabulary activities outside of copying down definitions from dictionaries or text book glossaries. I find that when I teach vocabulary to students that I am always learning new words too and I love it! I couldn't believe that children are still learning about 3000 new words per year through the twelfth grade. (page 154) I think that the most important information in this chapter came in the form of suggested activities. I remember what it was like to be expected to know what a word meant just by looking up the definition and that was no fun. Besides, we all know that students learn better when they are motivated and are having fun and these activities provide quite a range of variety which is also a great teaching method in itself.
ReplyDeleteI also love teaching vocabulary. Some of my favorite activites are putting a hand by the door out. The students are supposed to high five the hand as walking out. There is a new word on the hand daily so as the students are walking out and high fiving the hand, they are seeing and learning a new word. The next day, the teacher goes over the previous word so that the student understands and pronounces it correctly.
DeleteUntil this class, I did not have a full appreciation of how much vocabulary can influence reading skills. Having a rich vocabulary can make reading a more enjoyable and enriching experience. As adults we forget how many words we have learned and assume students just know them. I have found this in my tutoring sessions and have learned to question my students more on the meanings of words while we are reading. Since my unit focus is on vocabulary, I read the chapter and looked for ideas and methods to use with my tutoring students.
ReplyDeleteSeveral ideas intrigued me. The discussion on using poems to teach vocabulary was a concept I would like to use more. Poems can be filled with all sorts of words and potential for discussions on the meanings of the words. Another way to determine the meanings of words is through finding context clues. Students can learn to use signal words to find synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples, and general situations to provide clues for the meaning of the word. Students need to be able to recognize the clues in text to determine meaning so that they do not always need to find a dictionary while reading. They also need to develop a good understanding of homophones, puns, and idioms because these contribute to their increased vocabulary and help them understand that words or phrases can have multiple meanings.
The activities at the end of the chapter have also been helpful in planning how to teach vocabulary. Students are more engaged when they are learning vocabulary in fun ways rather than just write and define the word. The categorizing activity could be done individually at first and then compare answers with a partner or as a table to increase their lists. I have been using the concentration game with my tutoring students to help them with vocabulary and they enjoy the challenge of trying to remember and match cards. I would also like to try the two cube game with them to incorporate more action and activity into the vocabulary lesson.
I think it is great about poems and their importance in reading.They can help with so many of the components of reading. I am surprised at the importance of vocabulary in the classroom. After reading this chapter I feel that maybe I have not quite put enough into vocabulary. In the future I plan remember the importance.
DeleteChapter 7discusses the importance of building ones vocabulary and how to build the vocabulary they need. This chapter focuses on the idea that explicit instruction will help the student learn eight to ten words a week. Some basic ways to increase vocabulary are life experiences, vicarious experiences, and explicit instruction.
ReplyDeleteI have no questions on this chapter.
This reading allowed me a clearer understanding of the importance of vocabulary in the classroom. I have always understood how important it was for a student to have a strong vocabulary but I did not realized that by 12th grade a student has a vocabulary of 40,000 words and that they learn about seven words a day.
Using word walls are important in reading and now I understand why. With the sheer number of words the average student learns I hope that I have done my part in teaching vocabulary words to students. This goes to show how life experiences and vicarious experiences play such an important part.
I too was surprised to read that 12 grade students should have a vocabulary of 40,000 words and that they learn about 7 words on average per day. After reading about it and thinking about it, it makes me start to think about the papers I have written and then I start to think that maybe 40,00 words isn't as much as it sounds.
DeleteThanks for sharing!
I was certainly surprised when this chapter started off by saying that there are roughly 800 new words that are added to the English language each year. It made me wonder about my own language vocabulary and that this chapter made me want to run to the dictionary and find some new words for me to learn.
ReplyDeleteAfter this, the chapter starts off by talking about increasing a students' vocabulary and ways to increase vocabulary. One of the easiest way to do so is by incorporating vocabulary terms with real life experiences. It also suggests that we show students a wide variety of types of literature and movies to help give them a vast amount of vocabulary terms. Students are some times used to only hearing words in certain contexts. For example, school-- is used to define they building they are learning in BUT it also can mean a group of fish, a school of fish swim together. By using the same word but different meanings, it helps their brain gain knowledge of the new meanings and draw a visual picture from the example.
This chapter also goes further into explicit instruction and meeting vocabulary needs for all of our students. It is our job as teachers to find different activities to relate to the students to help them gain new knowledge of new terms. This chapter also offers examples of informal versus formal kinds of assessment for vocabulary.
Now to the favorite parts of this book. This chapter offers some GREAT strategies & activities in the intervention part of this chapter. Some of my favorite include: Vocabulary bookmarks, schoolyard safari, listening walk, crossword puzzle, and hink pinks.
I also was surprised about how many words are added to the dictionary every year. After reading that I feel my vocabulary is not as strong as I think. I knew that new words were added but I did not think it was roughly close to 800 a year. I also liked the hink pinks activity.
DeleteI had the same thought about finding a dictionary to help me expand my vocabulary as well. After reading about how many new words, and how many words students learn every day as well as during the school year, I find it more important than ever to use new ways to help them remember the words and their correct contexts.
DeleteWhen teaching vocabulary I want to make sure my students know and understand the word. Many people including myself believe they know a word, but when it comes down it, they don't. I feel that this happens a lot in schools because memorization is forced. Teachers will have students read a word and their definition and are told to remember the word. It is easier to remember than understand. When you teach vocabulary you must take the time to discuss and connect the words to the students. When you connect the word to a students everyday life, they are capable to comprehend the meaning and visualize the word. Same words have different meaning and some students do not know how to use the word correctly in sentences. The different meanings also need to be discussed. I sometimes use words in a sentence and I am mixing them up because I truly do not know the meaning. I feel that I was not taught to understand the word. I like the hink pink activity, and vocabulary bookmark.I thought this chapter gave great tools for teaching vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter of the DeVries text elaborates on the significance of vocabulary in reading. Good vocabulary knowledge, or lack thereof, can definitely impact a reader’s comprehension abilities. Children who are read to and who are regularly engaged in rich conversations with adults can greatly expand and increase their vocabulary. However, there certainly are students who are not so fortunate to have the benefit of this enrichment to their vocabulary base. Students’ vocabulary can be expanded through life experiences, vicarious experiences from various books and other types of literature, educational videos and television shows. Children can also increase vocabulary through explicit instructional methods. Vocabulary assessment can be accomplished by evaluating students’ oral language abilities in their classroom discussions and smaller group reading time.
ReplyDeleteI love the suggestions of using real items, visual objects, and drama to teach new vocabulary and definitions. This can provide such a visual, as well as tactile experience, in which students can benefit. I also really appreciated the section in this chapter explaining how teachers should accept where students may be, as well as their limited vocabulary.
It makes complete sense to me how greatly one’s vocabulary skills can affect his or her comprehension of a reading. My tutoring content focus has been comprehension; however, because of the vocab/comprehension correlation, I’ve made a point to include vocabulary in each of my lessons. I think this has made a huge difference in how my tutoring students have progressed with the comprehension practice of our reading material.
I did appreciate the additional ideas for working on vocabulary skills in the activities and strategies in the chapter. I like the “Total Physical Response” activity, as well as the “Collaborative Activities” and the “Music Puzzlers”.
Comprehension is the focus of my unit as well. I agree that including vocabulary in every lesson is very important. I am excited to try some of the activities during tutoring as well. I like how they put grade levels on the activities to help guide us as to what would work best with our students.
DeleteI agree with you about learning vocabulary. I too, believe that when I was in school the focus was on memorizing and not learning the meaning. This is another example of how things change in education.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this chapter as teaching vocabulary has always been one of my weaker areas in teaching reading. It is so true that vocabulary plays such an important role in comprehension. When thinking about my struggling readers, I thought about how hard they work just to read a selection. Then add in vocabulary words that they don't know, wow...that makes it even harder. Having the opportnity to do these tutoring sessions I have really focused on the vocabulary instruction as part of our guided reading time. This is something that I need to do consistantly with all of my reading groups. If students understand the words they read they can focus on using their comprehension strategies to construct meaning. This chapter did a great job of giving ideas to use to teach vocabulary. And, as another student mentioned the importance of teaching the meaning and not just memorizing the word and definition.
ReplyDeleteI also like seeing all the ideas they have in here for teaching vocabulary. When I was in grade school, we learned vocabulary words by memorizing and writing. We looked up the words in a dictionary and wrote their meaning, we wrote each word five times, and we wrote the words in sentences. That was not a way to keep students engaged!
DeleteThis was a great chapter that contained a lot of great information for building a students vocabulary. It is important for teachers to take the time to teach students these vocabulary words. So many times where the vocabulary words are mentioned, but never focused on. I can remember in one of my classes, our teacher wanted us to find our own words and memorize them. She would come around the room and ask us either the word or the definition and then that was it on our vocabulary for the week. This chapter had a lot of great ideas for teachers to use to help the students remember, not just memorize for the time, their words. With these activities, the students and teachers are able to go over the words and definitions multiple times during the week, really allowing the students to know the words. It is amazing to see how many new words students learn every year as well as everyday. I have heard some students use a word, but not in the correct context. Some of these activities will help the students learn the correct context to use them in, like the Possible Sentences activity.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of using the vocabulary throughout the week or series of lessons. It is important for the vocabulary to be introduced into the students' language, not just for them to memorize the word.
DeleteChapter 7 discusses vocabulary building. There is a sentence on page 153 that really stuck out to me. It says "Research indicates a strong correlation between readers' vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension." This is so true. We have learned the importance of the Big 5 and how everything goes together. Without knowing vocabulary, how could a student be expected to comprehend what they are reading? This chapter gives us several ways to help students increase their vocabulary and how to select vocabulary for your instruction. I liked the list on page 159 of the four practices for vocabulary instruction. They had great ideas. They talked about informal and formal assessment for vocabulary, which has gotten a lot more interesting that when I was in grade school! I don't really have any questions over what I read this week. I always love all the ideas and activities they give us at the end of the chapter, and am happier every week that I bought this book instead of renting it!
ReplyDeleteI remember in high school, that learning vocabulary was memorizing the words and their definitions, and it all had to be spelled correctly. That was the longest class I ever had to take. I love that more enjoyable ways to assess vocabulary is availabe in this day and age.
DeleteI agree, that vocabulary and comprehension seem to go hand in hand.
One of my favorite things listed was the wordless book. I work with a kindergartener who has communication issues. He does not always understand what you ask of him, and he cannot always tell you what he is thinking. He does have a pretty large vocabulary, and if you did not work closely with him, you would not realize this. One day, he and I "read" a wordless book. He used words I had not heard him use before. He was expressive, and enjoyed that he could read the book.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy incorporating science with vocabulary by having students state their observations.
I also like the music puzzlers activities. I think students often do not listen to the words in the songs they hear. But, they will have full interest in reading the lyrics, and diving deeper into the songs.
Chapter 7 like every other chapter we have read in this book is chalked full of useful information. I liked the many different activities the book suggested to help students learn and expand their vocabulary. I have some good experiences with working with students and vocabulary in my tutoring sessions. One of the coolest parts of it is learning what their back ground knowlege is with the words they know. It is important to realize and keep in mind that studnets come from varying back grounds and thus each has a different relationship with words and what they do and don't know. This is another reason why I think it is so important for parents and family memebers to read to their student. I know that it helped my own kids very much.
ReplyDelete