Two things that really stuck out to me were Robert (Bob) Marzano's 6 steps to vocabulary acquisition and Lucy Calkins's writer's workshop.
I like having a plan especially plans that are successful! Marzano's 6 steps makes sense and it can be a universal way to teach vocabulary. This process would work well for our ELL/ESL students as well. I like linking drawings to terms I think it helps the students take ownership of the terms and helps them remember the term. When I was in elementary school I was taught vocabulary by writing definitions from a dictionary and then memorizing them for a test. These were also spelling words so part of the memorization part was writing them 5 times each. It worked, but there are much better options know on how to teach vocabulary.
The following link provided a great detailed explanation of the 6 steps with real life examples.
http://www.altonschools.org/media/pdf/Marzano_Vocab.pdf
I like this visual, it would provide a quick reference for me when learning a new term as a class.
I love Lucy Calkin's Writer's Workshop. I have seen a variation of this workshop in action at Ridgeway Elementary in Mrs. Cox's 4th and 5th grade classroom. The students seemed to really enjoy the process. The students selected their own book to use in the workshop but I really like the idea of having a read aloud for the whole class. I think the read aloud would work better for the lower elementary students but once they gained more reading and writing responsibility I could see the process as more self-driven. I love the image below, this is my personal goal for all my students. I want them to feel the way this student does when they take what they have read and transfer their knowledge into writing. I don't remember ever feeling this way during my primary education. My memories are more of writing to what I thought the teacher wanted to hear. I think the writer's workshop allows me to model how words can be powerful and that everyone's writing is gold, its doesn't have to be perfect all the time.
When I was in elementary school, the vocabulary process was very traditional, what ways were you encouraged to learn new vocabulary or do you have found memories of writing assignments?
I like having a plan especially plans that are successful! Marzano's 6 steps makes sense and it can be a universal way to teach vocabulary. This process would work well for our ELL/ESL students as well. I like linking drawings to terms I think it helps the students take ownership of the terms and helps them remember the term. When I was in elementary school I was taught vocabulary by writing definitions from a dictionary and then memorizing them for a test. These were also spelling words so part of the memorization part was writing them 5 times each. It worked, but there are much better options know on how to teach vocabulary.
The following link provided a great detailed explanation of the 6 steps with real life examples.
http://www.altonschools.org/media/pdf/Marzano_Vocab.pdf
I like this visual, it would provide a quick reference for me when learning a new term as a class.
I love Lucy Calkin's Writer's Workshop. I have seen a variation of this workshop in action at Ridgeway Elementary in Mrs. Cox's 4th and 5th grade classroom. The students seemed to really enjoy the process. The students selected their own book to use in the workshop but I really like the idea of having a read aloud for the whole class. I think the read aloud would work better for the lower elementary students but once they gained more reading and writing responsibility I could see the process as more self-driven. I love the image below, this is my personal goal for all my students. I want them to feel the way this student does when they take what they have read and transfer their knowledge into writing. I don't remember ever feeling this way during my primary education. My memories are more of writing to what I thought the teacher wanted to hear. I think the writer's workshop allows me to model how words can be powerful and that everyone's writing is gold, its doesn't have to be perfect all the time.
When I was in elementary school, the vocabulary process was very traditional, what ways were you encouraged to learn new vocabulary or do you have found memories of writing assignments?
Love your post! I wrote down Lucy Calkin's name and book marked a website, however when writing my post, I totally forgot about it! When I was a kid, we too just memorized the words. I think we had to write out our spelling words 5 or 10 times. If we missed them on the spelling test, I think maybe it was 5 times. If you missed very many words, you had a lot of writing to do.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about having a plan. It never hurts to have a plan, even if it doesn't go exactly right. I also learned through memorization and see the benefit of associated drawings and actions to words to help learn the definitions. Benefits for ELLs are pretty easy to see as well!
ReplyDeleteI remember writing words and definitions. I liked the challenge of using the new words in every day language. That's what I enjoy today. Learn a new word, use it with someone, and make it part of your talk. I liked this growing up because it was like I could feel myself getting smarter. Not that this is the ultimate goal or anything for me because it's pride-based but that's what kept my vocabulary growing. I also wanted to know what someone was talking about if I heard them use words that were new to me.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember a lot of my elementary education. I have always loved using new vocabulary words though... I always have a thesaurus or a thesaurus app handy when I am writing anything. That is a habit I would love to pass on to my future students:)
ReplyDelete(fanning the tears in my eyes) I loved this post and the kid writing... eek!
ReplyDelete