This week I was assigned
to read chapter 3 out of the book about vocabulary development across the
curriculum. The chapter is very insightful and most interesting to me so
far. It started off with an excerpt about a student writing a poem but
having trouble thinking of a "certain word". His teacher gave
him good advice and the end result of his poem was AWESOME. So awesome I had to
reread it to my boyfriend and he loved it as well. Throughout the chapter
the author touched bases about vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary instruction,
and strategies to use for each content area. A thing that caught my eye
in the beginning of the chapter was that it said that the vocabulary gap for
many students is so large that it is difficult where to begin. That really touched
base with me because currently I am tutoring a student for CIR 411 and she is
having trouble with comprehension and vocabulary and I am at lost with where to
start as far as helping her. As I read more and more it enlightened me
with plenty of "ah ha" moments. Vocabulary and comprehension go
hand in hand. One cannot be understood without a full understanding of
the other. Instruction is often relied on rote memorization of
definitions followed by weekly vocabulary tests. The words are rarely derived
from the students texts. Honestly that was how it was when I was in grade
school. Instead of learning the difference between concepts and labels,
students (including myself) are just thrown a couple of random words, told to
get the definition and memorize it. No reinforcement and not actually
learning to "know" the word.
All in all, teaching
vocabulary involves many effective strategies. Many strategies stated in
the chapter I know I will definitely use in my teaching career. One
strategy that I read about, the electronic vocabulary journal, I started doing
myself. That is a great idea! I know my vocabulary can be better
and this is a great strategy to use to better myself!
Two questions:
-The strategies that are
listed in the book, is there an age limit for those? I've seen word walls
in lower grades but not in any upper grade classes. I honestly don't
remember any vocabulary strategies while I was in high school.
-Besides differentiated
instruction, are there any other ways to help students develop task value
orientation?
That's really funny, I read the poem at the beginning of the chapter to my boyfriend as well. I love the parenthesis "Like Tiger Woods (but a faithful version)". I would also like to agree with you when you said that so many times teachers try to teach vocabulary by memorization giving vocabulary tests each week. I feel this is not very effective method. It would benefit students more by using variation in strategies. They wouldn't become as bored with it.
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