Teaching Vocabulary

This week in class we discussed what teachers need to do when they are teaching new vocabulary. Teachers need to keep in mind that the words being taught need to be conceptually related. This information is important to remember because if the words are not related there will be no way for students to relate the words to each other. If the words are not conceptually related it would be like trying to teach students how to play pingpong, football, and how to read directions at the same time.

Students need the context before the isolated definition. The words used the most are the easiest to identify in context. Teachers need to expose the students to many new words, but only teach the most important words that will help the students understand the rest of the words.

Students will not incorporate all the words into their everyday use, but teachers should strive for the receptive or expressive levels. Teachers can teach more words if they have the ability to group the words and provide students with plenty of opportunity to use the words.

I like the word wall strategy because before the teacher has even started teaching the students are getting exposure to the new words. Students without even realizing it are making predictions about the lesson and that the words mean. The during activity that I will employ is the vocabulary log. In this strategy students keep a running log of how the vocabulary word is used. For the teach I am doing this week I am focusing on Repetition and related literary devices. The after activity that I am going to employ is independent writing and sharing. I think that students learn best by sharing what they think and developing their own definitions.