For this week, I focused on the article Vocabulary Lessons (Blanchowitz & Fisher). After reading about vocabulary, I started to realize how important it truly is. Usually, people associate a strong vocabulary with being smart and educated. Knowing this to be true, it is important to start early when building a child's vocabulary. This article does a great job of giving suggestions for teachers to use to expand student's vocabularies and their overall reading comprehension. The four methods listed in the article were: "Develop word awareness and love of words through word play", "Develop explicit, rich instruction to develop important vocabulary", "Build strategies for independence", and "Engage students actively with a wide range of books". In class, we have already learned several ways to deploy these methods in the classroom. The article mentioned that a great way to "Develop word awareness and love of words through word play" is to make a word wall. Displaying and exposing students to a list of words that they encounter on a daily basis can help them better apply these words in real-life situations. By reinforcing the learning of new words by winning points or a reward, this makes students motivated to learn new words
The article also mentioned that a great way to "Engage students actively with a wide range of books" is through the use of book clubs and literature circles. This reminded me of the literature circles we did in class, and the job of the "Word Finder". By assigning this role to students, they are able to explore and find words that they may have not previously known, and adding them to their own vocabulary.
- What fun ways could you teach vocabulary instruction in your future classroom?
- Do you think literature circles are useful in enhancing children's vocabulary? Why or why not. Will you incorporate these into your future classroom?
I think literature circles are very useful in expanding a child's vocabulary. Most students find the same words to be difficult so I think that a Word Finder is a great way for peers to talk amongst themselves and learn about new words. I know I will definitely incorporate lit circles into my future classroom because I enjoy doing it so much for our Reading Ed class and remember loving doing it as an elementary schooler.
ReplyDeleteI think that literature circles that you mentioned is a really great way to teach vocabulary along with the also mentioned word walls. I think that literature circles are a great way for students to learn new vocabulary while also becoming more engaged in a text. I plan on using them in my future classroom. I also really like the idea of learning new words and having the students be able to see it in real life. Like if you are learning the word hammer, bring in an actually hammer. It will really help urge an understanding of the word. I also like the idea of having word days where a word is focused on for the day and fun activities are centered around it. It is just important to keep the students entertained and engaged while also providing a rich, new vocab.
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