Stephanie, Where are you in California? Renee (Northern California here) On Jul 7, 2008, at 8:41 AM, Stephanie Sanchez wrote:
> I do agree with part of what you wrote below. Children do need to hear > their teachers model the language and point out words within context, > however there are populations of children that need explicit > vocabulary in isolation. > > For instance, my school in California is made of 75% English Language > Learners. Most are directly here from Mexico with little or no > knowledge of the English language. When reading, there is no context > due to so many unknown words. Meaning simple gets completely lost with > no ability to use all vocabulary strategies that we teach. > > In the case of the teacher's picture strategy your mentioned for the > Daily 5 list serv, this would be awesome and well worth the time to > spend with my children so that they can be independent readers.They > need exposure and visuals so that they can grasp them and use them in > class since most likely they will not hear these words being > reinforced at home. However, if the population she is teaching > already know the English language, I could see this being a waste of > precious time that could be used to dive deeper into reading. But for > my population, I am extremely excited to use this strategy and find it > highly effective! > > :) Stephanie > 3rd grade/CA > > "Waingort Jimenez, Elisa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi Beverlee, > I had saved this post to respond to at a later time but never intended > to wait a month, as it turns out, to do so. However, given a recent > conversation on the Daily5 listserv it is more appropriate that I am > responding now. > > There has been a thread on word walls over the last few days on the > Daily 5 listserv. One teacher, specifically, has been describing how > she does picture word walls with her students. The teacher chooses 15 > words a week from a current reading selection (seems a lot to me) and > over a period of 2 - 3 days (seems a long time to spend on somewhat > isolated vocabulary instruction) illustrates the meanings of the words > while the kids copy her illustrations or create their own as a memory > piece for the meaning of the word. The teacher's illustration, I > think, goes on the word wall and the children have a vocabulary folder > or notebook into which they insert their week's word pictures. > Although, on face value this seems like a worthwhile way to remember > vocabulary it seems that an inordinate amount of isolated time is > being spent on words to the detriment of the same amount of time being > used to read independently. All of the reviews of the research that > I've read say that > extensive reading is what produces high levels of vocabulary > knowledge. I think illustrating words is a good strategy to use but > it seems that in the example I've described it is being overused. I > think teachers tend to do this sometimes by taking a good idea and > turning it into a bad idea by overusing it or making everybody do the > same thing regardless of how useful it is to individual learners. I > use big words with my students and then they start using those big > words back because we employ them in meaningful contexts with > interesting books and focused lessons. In a previous post I wrote > about teaching my students about what a miscue was and then they > started pointing out their miscues and mine (a favorite activity as it > turned out!) when they were reading on their own or when I was doing > a read aloud. > Elisa > > Elisa Waingort > Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual > Dalhousie Elementary > Calgary, Canada > > > > What I didn't include in Elisa's response was her description of > vocabulary acquisition: usage, scaffolding, usage, scaffolding... and > that's what I've seen through the years with both immersion kids and > ELL/LEP kids. I just haven't seen any evidence that big words on > worksheets/workbooks transfer. I've seen plenty of evidence that > USING big words transfers. And I'd guess that Elisa would agree that > using big words along with concrete experiences pays the biggest > dividends. My guess is that the next-most-profitable would be using > big words with symbolic experience (following the math metaphor here), > such as when reading a picture book, would be the next-more-effective. > The least effective would be defining words with more abstract words. > > Some of the vocabulary programs sold today seem to me to be a way to > make us (educators) and the public "feel better" that we're actually > doing something in regard to vocabulary acquisition and are "bridging > the gap" between the haves and have nots. Also, we can believe our > students are "accountable" for vocabulary acquisition when we use > these programs. Translation: we have a grade for a grade book. > > The heartbreaking agony of this whole topic of vocabulary acquisition > to me is that when someone like Elisa talks about usage/scaffolding, > we see a rich language environment with lots of experiences, and know > that's what works. But with the current pandemic of testing, testing, > testing, that's the part of our curriculum we cut out!! We take away > (and I'm not faulting any of us) the very thing which does teach > enable children to acquire language, including vocabulary. > > And, to make it all the more frustrating, sad-to-the-bone to me is > that our professional newbies are seeing education as it is today and > extrapolating that that's all it can (or should) be. Dry, > "efficient," droning. > For years I have used big words when reading aloud and helped kids get > the meaning by explaining them right along with what's in the actual > text. Other times, I've just kept reading in anticipation of the story > doing its work. Make sense?Elisa > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > "I take my work seriously, but it's not the only thing that exists in the world." ~ Viggo Mortensen _______________________________________________ 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.
