Chapter 16: I Will Tell You Just a Little
Tier 1: Laughing, Written, People, Brave, Doctor
Tier 2: Rhythmic, Irritated, Hastily, Grumbled, Hesitated
Tier 3: Halt, Nazis, Resistance, Milking, Jews
For my very first vocabulary lesson focused on the book Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and the content topic of World War II I would focus on tier 3 words. I know that the Tompkins books supports teaching generally tier 2 words but it also states; “Teachers choose words that are essential to understanding the book or the unit, words that confuse students, and general-utility words students will use as they read other books or study other topics.” (Tompkins, 237) The tier three words such as Nazis, Resistance, and Jew are words that students must know before they can really understand what happened in World War II or what is going on in the story. The tier three words are essential for understanding the book and therefore must be taught right away. In addition, students who already know the word resistance will understand it as the refusal to accept or comply with something. This understanding of the word will cause confusion with the Resistance in the book which means a group of people using different tactics to fight against the Nazis during World War II. For these reasons, I would focus on the tier 3 words first to help students our book club novel.
After teaching the significant tier 3 words necessary for understanding Number the Stars I would teach tier 2 words that would not only help students understanding our book club novel but other reading in the future. “These words are used more frequently in writing than in oral language, and students should learn their meanings because they have wide application across the curriculum.” (Tompkins, 238) Although students may have a general idea of what is occurring in the book, teaching tier 2 words will help students gain a deeper understanding of the story’s events. In addition, tier 2 words often appear in other content areas the students are learning about and books they are reading. Teaching them in conjunction with Number the Stars will not only be beneficial for the book club but other areas in the students’ learning. After students know important content words essential for understanding their book club book tier 2 words should be taught to improve their general work knowledge.
A lesson I would use for vocabulary development with our book club books is word posters. “Students choose a word and write it on a small poster; then they draw and color a picture to illustrate it. They also use the word in a sentence on the poster. This is one way that students visualize the meaning of the word.” (241) Word sorts offer students opportunities to examine words in multiple dimensions; written, with an illustration, and in a sentence. Many students are visual learners and developing word posters allows them to see an image to connect with their definition. In addition, seeing the word posters around the room would remind students of the words definition, how to spell the words, and to use them in their writing. To connect the words to our book club book even more, the sentences written by students on the word posters could be related to Number the Stars. Finally, the one activity of word posters provide students with multiple different encounters with the new words. For these reasons I would plan a lesson on vocabulary development using word posters. I would not use dictionaries in my vocabulary development lesson.
There are many reasons why having students look up definitions is not an activity I would choose to improve student vocabulary. “Sometimes the definition that students choose-usually the first one-is the wrong one. Or, the definition doesn’t make sense.” (Tompkins, 246) When students use the dictionary they typically only look at the first definition and use it even if it does not fit with the sentence or book they are reading. In addition, definitions often use a form of the word the student is trying to define in the definition. This can lead the student to further confusion or to give up on even trying to learn what the word means. If students are to use a dictionary it is important that they are taught how to use one to look up and check a definition along with a lot of teacher assistance while they are being used. Teachers can model how to use a dictionary and help students to decide which definition makes sense with their sentence and book. While dictionaries can be very useful they are not a strategy I would use to develop vocabulary knowledge in book clubs.
Tompkins, G. E. (2010).
Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced
Approach, 5th Edition.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Merrill, Prentice-Hall.
The word poster vocabulary lesson for "Number the Stars" that Hannah discussed will provide students with meaningful opportunities to learn new vocabulary words. One reason this will be meaningful is because the students will have a context to learn these new words in. When the students are taught new vocabulary words as they read "Number the Stars," they can see how these words are used by Lowry in the book, which will help them use these words in their own speaking and writing. Hannah’s idea about having the students locate the words in a sentence in the book would allow them to learn about these words in the context of the book. Another reason this lesson will be meaningful is because the students are given multiple representations for each word. Not only do the students have to correctly use the word in a sentence, they must also illustrate the word on the poster, as well as write down the word. This is a higher-level thinking task for students because they actually have to reason how they will display this word correctly to an audience, as well as use the word accurately in a sentence. Therefore, this lesson would be much more useful than simply looking up words in a dictionary because there is more of a thought process behind representing the word, rather than looking up a definition in the dictionary. Also, this lesson will be meaningful to the students because they will learn about words in different tiers. I agree with Hannah that the students should be taught the essential Tier 3 words first because those words are crucial to understanding the historical context of the book. Therefore, I would teach students the essential Tier 3 words before reading the book so the students already have background knowledge about these concepts before reading about them in the book. If students have knowledge about words in the various tiers, then the students will be better able to use these words in other situations (outside of the vocabulary lesson). Additionally, the students will have a broader vocabulary, than if they were just taught about Tier 2 words. Finally, this lesson will be meaningful to the students because the posters will be displayed in the classroom during this unit, so the students can always reference back to the posters if they forget what a word means.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I would make a couple of minor changes to the lesson. First, I would have the students create the word posters for the essential Tier 3 words before having them read the book. Therefore, the teacher would provide the students with background information about these terms to allow the students to understand their meaning. Once students have a firm grasp on the important Tier 3 words, then I would have them begin reading the book, completing Tier 2 word posters after each chapter or two. This way, the students learn the content-specific words before reading the book, and the more frequently used words as they come across them in the novel. Second, I would assign a student or small group of students (3 students maximum) to work on the word posters, and have each person/group complete a poster on a different word. Having each student create a word poster for each vocabulary word could take a long time and be overwhelming for the students. So, if each student/group creates a poster for one word, then they can become an “expert” on that word and not be as overwhelmed. Then, I would have the authors of each poster share their creation with the class. This way, each student gains knowledge about all of the vocabulary words without having to create a poster for each vocabulary word.
Wow! Hannah and Allison have wonderful ideas for how to make a great vocabulary activity for students. The word posters seem like a great idea and to add to what Hannah and Allison wrote, I would assign student roles to make sure that all students are participating in their word poster groups, so that one student does not take control over the task. You could also further this by doing a type of word sort. Students could use the word posters they made, which already has many benefits for the students (that Hannah and Allison both wrote about), but by sorting the words, students can further see how the words relate or do not relate to each other.
ReplyDeleteI agree, that it would be helpful to learn the tier 3 words first because the students will need to know the meaning of those words (like Hannah's example of tier 3 words in "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry) in order to read the text and understand the story. Also, "students with larger vocabularies are more capable readers," so by building up a student's vocabulary you are also modeling strategies of how to find the meaning of unfamiliar words without using a dictionary and helping them to become better readers (Tompkins, p.227).
After, going over the vocabulary, reading the book, and going over more vocabulary after reading, the students can have an informal or formal assessment so the teacher (our future selves :)) can see how comfortable the students are with the new terms. I like the idea of the informal assessment in chapter 7 of our Tompkins textbook on page 249, which is a number system where 1= I don't know this word at all through 5=I know several meanings or other things about this word. This will allow the students to be honest and not afraid to share how well they understand the vocabulary words. Formal vocabulary assessments may take a lot of time, but can show what definitions the students know. An assessment that students could do for "Number the Stars" would be to show pictures that the student has to match up with the new terms. Some words may be difficult to show as a picture, so instead students could think of a synonym or antonym. These assessments would be great for young learners and to do after the vocabulary lesson that Allison and Hannah both described (word posters and so on).