A. So you've finished all five chapters in Unit 3. That wasn't so bad, huh? Select a couple of your favorite chapters, and explain how they came to be favorites. How will they help to make you a better teacher and reading specialist? Select a couple ideas you already use a lot in your classroom or would want to imlement in a particular class/unit in the future!
B. Does anything you have seen here have applicability to your upcoming Group Work in which you're planning a vocabulary based lesson. How?
C. Respond or ask questions of a classmate's blog entry.
A. I really liked chapter 9 on Morphology because I find it relevant for my second grade class. I feel like if I can help make compound words, contractions, and the knowledge of root words more clearly for students to understand and use, then they may have an easier time when they move grades. I also liked how contractions were referred to as the “lazy way of writing”. Chapter 10 on context was another chapter I found interesting. I found that I do a lot of the suggestions in this chapter during my daily reading groups. Using context clues is a strategy that I really try to have them use often. I found this chapter to supply a lot of good ideas for me to use during groups. I like the suggestion on page 81. You use pictures to complete a series of sentences. An example was; We played _____ at the picnic. The students would pick between three pictures to select the correct word for the sentence. While I really enjoyed chapters 9 and 10, I truly feel that all five chapters would make me a better teacher. This is because it helps show me what I need to be teaching my second graders so they can be successful in the future.
ReplyDeleteB. There are many ideas in these chapters that would be applicable to a vocabulary based lesson. One activity that could be helpful in many different areas is from chapter 12 on page 88. It is about providing real experiences for students. There is a lot to be said about having students experience what they are learning by touching, tasting, or actively doing something. This strategy could be used in all content areas. Another strategy that could be used in any lesson plan, comes from page 80. It is the explicit instruction of teacher modeling. This is when the teacher chooses four or five difficult words from the reading selection. The teacher would write them down in the order they will appear. The teacher and students would then find the words in the text and the teacher would the section aloud and think aloud/talk through how to figure out the meanings. Again, I think that this strategy could be implemented in any content areas.
A/C: As I read Charity's post I realized that I highlighted and made comments on many of the same things.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that the thought of graphic organizers has always given me the chills because I think of things in a more linear fashion. Although Chapter 8, on graphic organizers opened my eyes to some useful ways I could use them. I like the reinforcement activities on page 64. It gave my ideas of how to use my word walls more effectively and continuously. I also like the Logo and Pictographs. This is a good strategy to use because it not only helps ELL kids but it is a fun way to sort ideas.
I also found chapter 9 on Morphology very useful. As a second teacher I introduce and teach many of these ideas, but struggle to find fun ways to teach them. This chapter gave me a lot of great ideas that I can start implementing and that I think my students will gain more out of. I found the section on compound words and contractions to be the most useful.I also wrote down books suggestions, like The Napping House as a way of teaching these skills. I'm excited to have new ways to teach these skills.
I also found chapter 10 beneficial because like Charity I use this strategy in my reading groups. Although, this chapter gave me some new ideas to try within the reinforcement activities. All three of these chapters will make me a better teacher because I can implement the strategies suggested to make my teaching my teaching more effective. I am going to start using the reinforcement activities about the graphic organizers, morphology and context chapters.
B/C. The strategies that I thought would be most effective for a vocabulary based lesson include: using graphic organizers and extending an interest in vocabulary. I think using as semantic web would be an effective tool for teaching a science unit. I like the ideas of filling out the semantic web as a class and then having students summarize the information into a paragraph. I agree with Charity, that providing real experiences for the students would be helpful. I like the idea of teaching vocabulary while the students participate in an activity and discussion. I also think showing films, television and providing magazines can help expand vocabulary.
A. I was immediately drawn to Chapter 8 on Graphic Organizers. Unlike Charity’s second graders, my students do not yet have the experience with reading and making connections to words and concepts in an academic setting. Using these graphic organizers allows my students to investigate words and concepts that may be new to them. It also provides an opportunity to present students with the academic language necessary for book discussions. Such language includes; retelling a story, comparing and contrasting, identifying problem and solution, and clarifying unknown vocabulary. In turn, the visual representation and organizational structure is appealing to the students and promotes an active involvement in the learning process (Crawley & Merritt, 2009). Many of my students are advanced “word-callers,” but they require more instruction when comparing and understanding complex story lines, definitions, and text structures. Graphic organizers allow for explicit instruction in these areas of comprehension. In addition, they can also be used for decoding words and identifying relationships in word structures. The range of applicability in the classroom setting is undeniable.
ReplyDeleteI currently use word walls in my classroom. We participate in word sorts by alphabetizing words, creating word family charts, and identifying words with similar digraph beginning and ending sounds. I also use definition word maps during shared reading and semantic maps during guided reading. As a reading specialist, I believe it would be critical to identify a few graphic organizers that all teachers could implement in their classroom. Students need tools that they can rely on to make sense of a variety of texts. They also need to be allowed to make choices that appeal to their own personal learning style. Providing variety and stability across content areas and across grade levels will offer students extensive experience with graphic organizers to the point of proficiency. In turn, the students can use the organizers to make sense of the reading process and to organize their own writing.
The second chapter that interests me is Chapter 9 on Morphology. I am specifically interested in this chapter, because it does not necessarily apply to my kindergarten students. Compound words, contractions, prefixes, and suffixes are concepts that are advanced for emergent readers. However, it made me aware of “how” I can teach some of my truly gifted students. It also allowed me to understand the concepts that my students will be taught in first and second grade. With this new understanding, I can begin to introduce the terminology (compound words, contractions, root words, prefixes, and suffixes). I should introduce these concepts as they occur in our shared reading and guided reading, but not emphasis or explicitly teach them at this time. Embedding this background knowledge, even in a casual way, will support the future learning of the concepts. As a reading specialist, I can provide teachers with the opportunity to have lateral team meetings where teachers can discuss the concepts taught at their level. This experience will help teachers introduce key terminology that students will need to learn in the next grade.
B.After reading Charity and Tamra's posts on strategies that would be applicable to our group work, I can only agree with their statements. Fortunately, all five chapters offer strategies for any content area. Depending on our specific lesson objectives, I think we will have several choices to best meet the needs of the different students that we will be teaching. I also think our strategy choice will not just be a reflection of our students needs, but a reflection of our strengths as a teacher. As Tamra stated, graphic organizers can be frustrating to some. I would not imagine that she would choose this for her teaching strategy. Perhaps we will learn something during our group work in how we can instruct with strategies that we are not yet comfortable applying in our own learning.
Chapters 10 and 12 were chapters that interested me. Context is so important. Good readers use context clues as they read to build meaning.Prior knowledge and experiences as well as, the context in which words are used build meaning. I was amazed at how limited some of my students were in vocabulary, and realized that their lack of reading or being read to made a big difference. Good readers read a lot and gain vocabulary. Struggling readers think reading is decoding and pronouncing words accuately. They need lots of reinforcement and strategies to learn how to read for meaning.Chapter 10 had many reading recommendations and activities. I model how to use words regularly, and have students do the same. Having students supply a missing word, or a missing word that shows the initial sound are two practices I would like to do more often. Chapter 12 is about extending an interest in vocabulary. The semantic map shows the use of actual experiences, reading, writing, and vicarious experiences that foster vocabulary growth. Integrating all of these ways to acquire and use language supports my view that children acquire vocabulary in multiple, meaningful ways. Teachers that provide these activities know that vocabulary is being learned,and used in thinking, speaking, reading and writing. I have used interesting wall charts, object descriptions, listening walks and have taught prefixes and suffixes. The more active and creative the activity, the more excited the students were to use their new vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI think that the group lesson should have a way to hook the students interest- whether it is hands-on that makes the new word "come alive", or something that they can contribute from their own personal experience. Then as they learn the new vocabulary, use it in their written reflection or post reading discussion.
Karen Eggebraten
When it comes to graphic organizers my brain just about melts, I just cannot follow them but I understand the use of and how effective they can be for some of my learners. I really like the Symantic Feature Analysis, I am working with our Math teacher and I think this would be a very useful tool for review before a test or as the text suggests to guide students to write an essay.
ReplyDeleteI too found the chapter on context to be the most valuable, most of my kiddos can decode at grade level but when it comes to understanding and finding deeper meaning in what they read all bets are off. When we read texts together I find myself constantly using the suggestion on page 80, explicit teacher modeling, it works great because it also takes away the idea that the teacher is a know it all. I really like the added suggestion of student modeling, I just hadn't thought about doing an activity like that before.
I also really like the word relationships, so many times I hear kids who are expressing the right idea it just sounds very "simple" if they could only use a more exact word or vary their word usage they would be a much more effective communicator. We do a lot of work with homonyms and homophones and it gets repetitve so I like the use of the homophone search it is a bit kinesthetic and illustrates to students that these words are used on a regular basis.
I agree with earlier statements, these strategies are very broad and could be used in almost any content area with small variations. I am working currently with our math teacher and have had a lot of fun bringing some of these ideas to him he has most especially liked the activities that were games as that really fits with his teaching style. I think it is important when you are planning a lesson to find activities that not only benefit the students but mesh with your style of teaching. In these chapters there are so many suggestions that I think it would be quite easy to find something that works for you.
Hi Ya'll Wasssuup!!
ReplyDeleteJust thought I'd preface my Blog with the lingo du jour. Most high school and middle school children are doing so much texting using poor grammar, a disregard for correct subject verb agreement, and a total disregard for other word forms. It is no reason that many of today's youth are struggling readers. There was a time, back in the day when the issue at hand regarding reading was popular.
Oh! This was before some of the technological advances took over to marvel the masses, so I must first say that as an African American, I was quite perturbed about the vocabulary disparities that plaqued people of color. There is research that shows language acquisition is slow among minorities and an average student only continually learns approximately 3.000 new words a year. Unfortunately, the demands for academic language are significantly higher with at least 5,000 to 7,000 everyda speech words, and this is not considered a job well done when according to research most secondary students should have between 85,000 words in their repertoire. This is not good news because vocabulary knowledge can also have a profound influence on reading comprehension, and the fact that the acquisition of vocabulary knowledge, is a strong predictor of reading comprehsneion than cognitive ability.
My job as a reading specialist if given the opportunity will be to help close the gap. So lets get started with ECE and start with sight words, quick writes, oral language and many discussions. The chapter four vocabulary development was informative and created a great deal of 'buzz", something to think about!!
B. I enjoyed the Crawley text Chp 8 regarding graphic organizers. I love graphic organizers because they are such great visual representatives and they assist with comprehension. The organizers are truly an added advantage for ELLs and for children with delayed language. I love the fact that there are so many different kinds, and the purpose of them is to develop a great understanding of words and being active in the process. I use graphic organizers with my students who are just learning to read. The children and I use them to enhance decoding skills and assists with similarities differences. We used a Venn diagram recently in regard to similarities/differences about animals in the wild and wild animals who live in captivity. The children enjoyed the Venn diagram I drew and thouroughly distributed to the discussion. it was phenomenal..
A. I really enjoyed chapters 8 and 9.
ReplyDeleteI already use some of the techniques in chapter 8 "graphic organizers", such as categorizing words and cloze activities. I think this is a great way to follow up with new vocabulary terms in all subject areas. Students can practice using the terms and also think about what events or important information the terms identify with. Reading about reinforcement activities is very helpful, to find ways to reach all students and provide a variety of strategies to help them gain the understanding and knowledge of the terms. In chapter 9 "morphology", I also enjoyed the reinforcement activities to help guide practice of identifying compound words. When students are matching words to create compounds, they have to think about what word they are creating, "butter" and "butterfly" have very different meanings even though the word "butter" is in each. I thought the scavenger hunt idea was great too. I think students at any age can really benefit from looking through all types of literature and finding words that fit the mold of contractions, compounds, or affixes. I have done a similar activity before with my fifth graders, having them search for a few minutes through various children's books looking for compound sentences and creating a class collection. I have not thought of collecting types of words. I hope to use these reinforcement activities with my own students to help strengthen their vocabulary. As a reading specialist these can all be shared with teachers to help strenghten the students' vocabulary and word recognition. Helping teachers explicitly instruct these types of words and how the meaning can be changed or altered due to an added prefix or suffix will help their students.
B. I think there is a lot in these chapters that can be applied to our next lesson plans! Since we are planning a content area lesson there will be many new terms the students are exposed to. I liked the idea of a vocabulary scavenger hunt, as mentioned on pg. 90 in chapter 12. It allows students to connect to the terminology and to the content of what they are learning. If students are needing to find ways to represent the word, they are putting the words into motion and should retain the meaning more.
C. I wrote my responses to A and B before reading others posts, and have now gone back to see what others thought while reading. Karen, I agree with you that the lesson should have a way to hook the students interest- have you used any of these strategies or do you have suggestions on ways to hook secondary students so that they feel involved in their learning and can pull from their own personal experience? I enjoyed hearing about your prereading lesson you had planned, and it sounded like you were already planning on ways to engage the students.
Wow! It seems to me that everyone has really internalized what they read in the past chapters. I can safely say that I agree with everyone. Charity is correct in saying that morphology is so important. Kids have such an advantage in understanding context when they can break words apart. Children need to understand that words can follow a certain pattern which provides for clearer understanding. I spend a lot of time before the ITBS test discussing prefixes and suffixes. Morphology is harder to use in the lower grades but completely necessary to use in the upper grades. 3rd graders can totally handle it all and can retain the knowledge and use it at a later time. I also spend time with my students on compound words and contractions I find that contractions are used more often that I would like in my students writing and I hope that the students realize that they should write the whole words out when writing formal writing. Elise mentioned the idea of a scavenger hunt for particular types of words in a given text. My kids love that. It gives them a purpose and direction. They also love to make it a contest. In my classroom we spend time drawing pictures to go with words to help with context clues. We spend time working with comics to tell stories just using pictures. This helps kids to associate words within a context. In our lesson that we developed we used pictures as a way of checking for understanding. I agree with Elise also wondering how to get the buy in from the older students as I have not had much experience with those over 5th grade. I know that the subject that is being taught needs to be something of interest but not all kids are interested in the same things. So when teaching the less interesting subject how to get the attention of those whom you are teaching to?
ReplyDeleteA/C. I would have to start by agreeing with Ellen about the graphic organizers. Our little kinders are just learning to make connections and look deeper into text so to give them a structure to aid in the use of academic language is a powerful tool. I really enjoyed reading chapter 8 because it took what I am already doing with graphic organizers and showed me how to do more with it such as using it for explicit instruction and reinforcement. Right now I use graphic organizers as a way to connect ideas that we are reading about.
ReplyDeleteLooking at chapter 8 through the lens of a reading specialists two things stood out. First, there are so many uses for graphic organizers so when using them as a tool I will need to remember not to go overboard with them but make sure that they are used for meaningful activities. Second, when I looked at the different examples of graphic organizers I realized that this concept/tool can be very overwhelming to some so when implementing it with students I will need to be aware and stick to a few simple ones.
B/C. As Charity shared providing real life experience is an important part of teaching vocabulary. This was particularly important as we worked on the desert. Providing the students with a purpose for learning about the desert and could be done through incorporating real life scenarios.
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