Chapter 8: Building Vocab

Reader Response #8

Vocabulary is the key to reading comprehension. A reader needs a deep vocabulary to understand what is being read. As students encounter new vocabulary in content areas he or she begin to struggle if they do not have the strategies to decode new words. As we have discussed in class the traditional strategies for teaching vocabulary do not help a student long term. Not only do students have an overabundance of what they need to learn over the course of the day, teachers are competing with each other for that space in the students’ brains. The main point I took away from the textbook and the class discussion is to decide what words need the most in depth, direct teaching. These are the words we want to carry over from year to year and be able to use and understand without fail. These are the words that are part of a broader concept we need students to understand and apply to the content area. The textbook gives some very good strategies for vocabulary instruction and reading comprehension.

Graphic organizers are an uncomplicated way for students to learn vocabulary and apply it to a main concept. Graphic organizers help visually enforce making connections between vocabulary and concepts. It helps students find what is important and leave behind what is filler. I use graphic organizers in my notes when I am discovering a new concept or subject. It helps me organize my thoughts and is a good tool to go back to when I need to refresh or study. What I like most about graphic organizers is that they can be as simple or complex as needed; there is variety and each student can personalize them. The other types of writing to learn strategies mentioned in the chapter, word exploration, brainstorming, list-group-label, word sorts, and knowledge ratings, are also simple ways to form connections between the content and vocabulary. They can be executed with little preparation and do not take much time during the lesson, but go in depth.

The other vocabulary strategies mentioned in the chapter are a little more complex and take much more time than the previously mentioned strategies. I feel that they would work better for students who are already good readers and have a strong background in the content area. They seem to be better for in depth analysis of a concept; incorporating the vocabulary into the analysis instead of learning vocabulary first and then exploring the concept. I was overwhelmed by the magic squares strategy and could not see myself using this method. I see how it would be beneficial, but it felt too complicated for some of the students I have worked with. I can see spending more time explaining what they are supposed to with the squares than actually applying the strategy to vocabulary. The limited time in class would be better spent using a simple strategy that does not require a lot of time giving directions on how to use it. As a student I would immediately tune out because it is not the way my mind works. The concept circles, on the other hand, give as much in depth meaning to vocabulary as magic squares, but are so much simpler for students to use. There are many ways to use them and can be used individually, in groups or in a whole class.

Using context to decipher vocabulary is a skill that is being taught in elementary schools. My first grader already knows how to look for clues to words he does not know by looking at the words and sentences around it and looking at the pictures, if there are any. The chapter gives more complex strategies for context clues, but the idea is the same. We use what we already know to figure out what we do not know.  Depending on the skill level of the reader, different strategies can be used. I would think a student reading three grade levels below would be able to find meaning looking at the Latin root of the word, but they could break down a longer word into smaller words they already know.

All the strategies discussed in this chapter are helpful for all reading levels and can be used to help a struggling reader or an accelerated reader.