In reply to Kim's email about vocabulary, I liked Felicia's suggestion (from Taberski) about posting vocabulary words on the wall. In Linda Dorn's book, Teaching for Deep Comprehension, she talks about powerful words. Dorn suggests posting these on the wall on large enough cards to be read by the students. Each card has (in this order): the word, a dictionary-type definition, a definition negotiated together by teacher and students, and the word used in a sentence (which can be generated by students also). These words aren't meant to stay up on the wall for long periods of time, but are meant to be a temporary scaffold. Of course, just like we teach our students to use regular word walls as reference tools, you'd do the same with the "powerful words" on the wall, or these wouldn't be of much use. The words would come from shared reading/read alouds/guided reading/writing---not just words at random. Hope this helps. Mary M. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
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