Sunday, November 4, 2012

Voluptuous Vocabularies

I have always been a lover of words and I love finding new ways to incorporate newly acquired words into my daily vocabulary.  I really liked how in chapter 6 of Classroom That Work they encouraged picking out three "Goldilocks" words from a book that would be reading aloud to your class.  It would be a great way to keep everyone engaged on the literature and a way to model how to look up words that we do not know in a dictionary.  I would like to include the self-monitoring system where the children hold up a certain number of fingers as related to their own understanding.  I think that if I was reading my class a book it would be great for them to raise their fingers whenever they hear a word that they do not understand.  I realize that this would not be appropriate for every read-aloud as it could be distracting, but I think it would definitely work for some book that present a higher level vocabulary.

I really like this activity for new words that I found on Pinterest!

http://pinterest.com/pin/227924431112371012/

In addition, if my class was engaging in a book club activity I would like for them to identify their personal three "Goldilocks" words and compare them with the rest of the class.  I think that this would be a great way for me to gage the whole class' involvement and understanding of the vocabulary being presented in the novel/book.


  • Do you remember an specific experiences with vocabulary?
  • How appropriate is it for students to copy definitions from a dictionary, and/or how did you feel about having to do it when you were growing up?

5 comments:

  1. I definitely remember copying definitions out of the back of the book growing up, and I still do it in some of my classes today! I personally memorize by writing, so this can help, but I don't think that this type of learning on its own is adequate. I think that in order to truly understand and comprehend a word, young kids need to attach personal meaning, which can't be done through copying.

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  2. In my opinion, I think copying definitions from a dictionary can discourage students on really interpreting a word for what it means. By this, I mean that students may use a dictionary as an "easy way out", and may not fully grasp the word's definition, and be able to apply it to other situations. I remember copying definitions from the dictionary, and i absolutely hated it! I feel that it was better for me to just use context clues to find what the word meant, then using the dictionary for reference if I was lost.

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  3. I love the Pinterest activity that you found- so creative! Looking back on my time in elementary school, I remember copying definitions from the dictionary and that was our way of introducing new vocabulary. I remember thinking that all of the copying was a waste of time because I was never required to apply my newfound definition to anything in class. I don't think it's an appropriate use of time and that there are more conducive ways to expanding a child's vocabulary.

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  4. I remember having to copy definitions from the dictionary as well. While I think it is a good way for students to be introduced to the words, I do think the students should have to apply the definitions. An effective way of doing that would be the students creating sentences with their words or a story. It would be cool to have a group of four or five and the students use the vocabulary words to make a story together. I don't know if that makes sense right here, I'm trying to explain it as it comes out of my head!

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  5. I remember having to write the definitions of vocabulary words and looking back on it I don't really think it helped my vocabulary skills all that much because I wasn't constantly using them in sentences or seeing the word numerous times. I was simply just writing down words that I did not understand.

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