The robust instruction approach proposes a 5-day cycle, and while that would be ideal, it just may not be reality for many of us speech teachers as we only see our kids 1-3 times per week for only 30 minutes on average! Here's how I try and block out my vocabulary instruction:
Day 1: Read text selection, take Pre-Test
Day 2: Vocabulary Journal/Introduce all words
Day 3: Vocabulary Questions, Brainstorming Topics, Matching Comments, provide them with carryover activities
Day 4: Review vocabulary words, Post-Test
So basically I block out TWO WEEKS for my vocabulary instruction. Most of my language groups are 2x per week.
To get a better idea of how I do each activity listed above, open up my SAMPLE VOCAB PACKET for the book 'The Stranger' and follow along!
- I provide all of my students with the full vocabulary packet. This is especially helpful for the Vocabulary Journal section to save on time. I originally had the students write everything down in a notebook but it was just taking way too long. So I typed up the journal and took out some words and added blanks instead. This way they still had to follow along with the lesson as they had to write the appropriate word in the blank. I don't always leave out the actual vocabulary word. I usually pick out words important to the overall meaning or sentence. In my sample I provided you with the entire definitions/sentences so you know what it's supposed to say! You can take out whichever words you want.
- For the first bullet point in the journal, I just show the students the page the word originated from and read the entire paragraph so provide more context. We just write the actual sentence the word is in though.
- For the second bullet point, we talk about the definition. We use a website called COBUILD. This is a fantastic website that provides you with student-friendly definitions so they actually make sense to kids (and adults)!!
- Third bullet point is an additional sentence that uses the word. You can make one up or sometimes COBUILD provides extra sentences.
- Last bullet point allows for interaction with the word.
Vocabulary Questions:
- For this section, I either read the questions to the group and they answer out loud OR they work in a group and write down there answers before discussing with me.
Brainstorming Topics:
- For these I usually give a few examples then have the students work together to make the lists and discuss. Then we come together as a group and talk about what they came up with.
Matching Comments:
- We usually do this section as a big group. I say the comment and they tell me which word it goes with.
Sentence Stems:
- I actually don't do the Sentence Stems as an additional activity. I use this task as my Pre and Post tests. I often create the Pre and Post Tests on Edmodo which the kids love! Check out my previous post to find out more about Edmodo (basically a Facebook for education).
Vocabulary Carryover:
- I pick a few different tasks for the students at the end of Day 3 to promote carryover.
I hope this all makes sense! Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback!
Hi
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post. I'm curious how you do the pre and post testing. Do you ask them to give you a definition, put the word in a sentence, etc?
Thanks again!!!
I've done it a few different ways. Haven't officially decided which one I like best yet. As I mentioned, I create the pre and post tests on Edmodo since the kids love it and it keeps track of scores for me :).
DeleteI have done multiple choice where I just give the word and they choose the correct definition. I have also done sentence stems which I provided in the sample packet. So instead of doing the sentence stems as an additional practice activity, I use it for the pre and post tests.
The book suggests either doing True/False or Sentence Stems for assessment. So this year I will probably stick to sentence stems as that will really show me the students' true knowledge of the words.
Giving a definition may just show that they memorized it and may not really understand the word or be able to utilize it in conversation. Putting it in a sentence might not be a bad idea! That might be something I try this year just to see how it goes. You could tell them to make a strong sentence using the word _____.
There are a few different ways you could go and I'm sure they would all work. It just depends what exactly you want to know about their knowledge of the word.
Thanks....I'll have to give it some thought too.
DeleteDo you find that the kids forget when you stretch it over a two week period? Most of my students are 1-2 times a week.
ReplyDelete
DeleteThat's a great question. It definitely isn't ideal to stretch it over 2 weeks because of that reason, however I haven't really had much of a problem with that.
Throughout each lesson I try to use the words as much as possible in our natural discussions. Whenever I see an opportunity to use the word, I take it! So I think all that modeling really helps them hang on to the word for that entire time.
Have you thought about sharing any more of these lessons or possibility selling them on TPT? I love the idea of teaching new vocabulary this way, but my time is limited and I don't know that I could get these vocabulary packets together for my students.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely consider doing that :)
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