I can recommend a really good vocabulary book: Accelerated Vocabulary: Closing the Achievement Gap (something like that)-- by Nancy Akhavan. it has ways to actually get kids involved in the tasks and actually has an envelope at the back of the book that has transparencies of the organizers. Vocabulary to me has always been one of the hardest things to teach. There are so many layers to it, and it's a skill that's never "done." Nancy was a bilingual teacher before she became a principal. Right now she is the principal of a school that is comprised mostly of ELL's. When she started the school was one of the lowest performing in the area. Since she's taken over, she has turned that school around and raised the AYP's.
She writes about her approaches. Her book on vocabulary instruction is definitely worth looking at. It's easy to read, easy to follow. Not too complicated but very sound, good, practical ideas for instruction. On Monday, May 28, 2007, at 07:17 PM, Joy wrote: > Elaine, > I find these comments very interesting. I came to similar > conclusions when I taught second grade, and immersed all the strategy > instruction into read/think alouds. The kids who seemed to "get it" > the most and the quickest were ones who did the most independent > reading, both in school, and at home. That is why I guard my > self-selected reading conferences so strongly. I really believe that > the independent work I do with each student is tremendously valuable. > I wouldn't trade anything in the world for that. > > You mentioned vocabulary, which was something I worked very hard on > this year. I noticed that my fourth grade students did better with > vocabulary acquisition when I switched my instructional strategy to > more closely align with Marzano and Pickering's model. I still find it > difficult to introduce words without giving a "definition." My > students find it difficult to create visual representations or > graphics for unfamiliar words. I felt very inept at times, and hope I > didn't botch it up too badly. I'm hoping to do better with this type > of instruction next year, because even my well intentioned, albeit > inept attempt at this type of vocabulary instruction seemed to work > better than the old "copy the definition" model. > > Does anyone have any suggestions that would help me do a better job > at this? > > Thanks > > > Joy/NC/4 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and > content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org > > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
