Chapter 9: Vocabulary

“It only took my struggling readers about one week to figure out that if they were honest and listed all the words they didn’t know, they would have very long lists; so instead. They didn’t choose any.” P. 177

Vocabulary to me means getting out flashcards and reviewing them until my brain can’t possibly hold anymore information for the day!! I think calling certain vocabulary work ‘TV Work’ is completely correct, since in college and in high school I would sit in front of the TV or be chatting with friends while I was reviewing my flashcards.

The Word Across strategy is really cool, since it makes the students think about how differently one specific word can be used in different contexts.  This will not only expand their vocabulary, but hopefully expand their comprehension with different meanings of words. 

The Word Collection is a great strategy in classrooms.  I observed and taught in a classroom where the teacher used this strategy, and would then put up the words all around the room, by the end of the year she would have a ‘boarder’ of words around her room.  This was really neat because the students could look around and really get a feel for all the words they now knew.  This was also in a US History class, in which the students needed to know a lot of vocabulary for the OGT. 

The Logographic Clues is a great way to give the ‘flashcard’ a makeover.  Drawing a picture to connect with the word, and still writing the definition and other information about the word is a great alternative to typical flashcards.  I can see this being used in a Social Studies classroom, or specifically in a geography classroom.

Vocabulary is important and so many teachers have always done it in the same way, but I do think these strategies can be used to enhance student vocabulary….without the specifically knowing we are working ON vocabulary!!

Yours Reading,

Sara