Chapter three was a very interesting and informing chapter. I love vocabulary and love teaching students vocabulary. One of the complicating issues mentioned in the text that I most agree with is word schema. Students' schema and knowledge of words can vary greatly in a classroom. Some students may or may not have a schema of the world "safari". There most likely will be students that have never heard of the word, some who have been on a safari, and some who have heard it, but are not familiar with the exact meaning. Students’ background knowledge will vary. The important factor is that you create background knowledge of the vocabulary word or the situation to build the students’ background knowledge. Doing this will help the students in the future. For example, my mentor teacher at Oak Grove creates background knowledge of thanksgiving with her students and her co-teachers students. Not all students have had a thanksgiving dinner. Financially challenged parents they may skip thanksgiving and skip straight to Christmas to save money. So, my mentor makes sure she creates a traditional thanksgiving dinner for her students. She has done this for years. This is a great example.
This goes hand-in-hand with the four concepts that the book mentions about effective vocabulary instruction. One of the concepts is to make personal connections. You want students to think about making connections with their life or the world. It is always a great thing to encourage students to make connections, any kind. It is important for students to make connections and hear about other students’ connections. It is important to allow students to share aloud at these times. Sharing stories can build other students’ and the teacher’s background knowledge also.
The last thing that I agreed with in the text is visual representation. Making vocabulary cards and putting them in a 3-ring binder is a wonderful idea! The vocabulary cards could vary, but I think that having the page divided into quadrants and having the four items or topics as:
1. Definition
2. Synonym/Antonym
3. Sentence
4. Picture
Visually representing something can be very helpful !
That's All! -MB
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