Understanding Vocabulary, For Real This Time....

Think real hard: When is the last time that you learned a "new" word and why did you learn it? Chances are that you were interested in the new word or perhaps, you had a use for it. Language acquistion occurs for us as young children in a much more organic and natural way. As Dr. Feathers states in her chapter, " memorizing a definition is not the same as understanding a concept" and often times, in our schools for a variety of reasons our students are forced into "breadth" rather than "depth" as it relates to learning. How do we let our students naturally explore a topic like the Math teacher described in this chapter, yet still find time to make sure that we are hitting our pacing charts and preparing for standardized tests? There is substantial data demonstrating students begin to have a loss for a love of learning between the fifth (5th) and eighth (8th) grades. I believe much of this decline in student learning is the gradual loss of curiousity that is fostered between these years in the lives of youth. As a father of 13-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old daughter, as an example, I can certainly see differences in how they interact with the world. While my 13-year-old, a seventh grade student, certainly does a great job asking "interesting questions" per her Reading Teacher, my conversations with my 7-year-old are a bit more curious and spiraling in nature. No question is unasked and I often find myself taken away by how stiff and uncurious I become the more older I get. Learning must not be done in isolation and for a large part of this chapter, language and vocabulary acquistion follow a similar pattern. I particularly like the strategies of "context clues" and thinking about whether we should teach vocabulary "formally." My former students performed well with context clues and I think this particulary paid dividends when it came to preparing students for the American College Test (ACT). Whenever students would come to a passage they did not understand, they would usually encourage each other, or use the voice inside their heads, to tell them to "use context clues" to aid in comprehension. I think to this day, if I were to ask them what context clues, was they would do a great job of explaining the strategy. I also strongly believe, as you heard during Mid-Term Demo's, that I am a big fan of culturally responsive teaching and code-switching when it comes to learning new vocabulary. Many of our students will use slang or African American Vernacular to speak, talk and to understand the world around them. Its not right to say one way is right or wrong but how might we aid and increase students vocabulary by tapping into our students use of language so that they might adopt new words and apply them in situations that are appropiate. What are some of your thoughts as it relates to this chapter? What challenges do you think that you will face when you are working to build students vocabularly as it relates to your content area and grade level? How do you plan to create a classroom that is rich in language and ensures students are prepared to both comprehend and understand new words? How can you provide "depth" and not "breadth" as it pertains to student learning? I will be interested in hearing and learning from you all as this topic will be timely with our guest lecturer this week.