Learning Blog 5

Vocabulary development is my second important component to teaching reading. Once decoding is mastered I believe the main focus needs to be on continual development of comprehension and vocabulary. As adults we will always encounter new vocabulary. Using context clues, glossaries, and dictionaries are skills that will never go to waste.

The strategy that I absolutely love for teaching vocabulary is the word inventory. I believe as adults we do this sub-consciously. When reading textbooks and article journals we quickly skim over the bolded or italicized vocabulary noting those that we are unfamiliar with. I remember in 4^th and 5^th grade we would have to do a “how many words are in your brain” test in the beginning of each chapter and unit.  We would use ratings (1-I don’t know it, 2-I’ve heard it, 3-I know it!) and anything under three had to go in our “learn it” section in our notebooks. This strategy helped me not only learn how to handle new vocabulary but also solid note taking skills as well.

The other section of this chapter that really intrigued me is the incidental vocabulary development. I believe that this is also a very important section of vocabulary development. As teachers we cannot possible teach every important word to a student, they have to assume some of the responsibility. We can assist by changing some of our conversation vocabulary to challenge our students but the text also points out that reading is the biggest tool for incidental vocabulary. Students don’t even need to read books but rhymes, poems; advertisements are all things that can foster vocabulary development. However with incidental vocab development teachers need to be sensitive to multi-use words when teaching intentional vocabulary. One thing I have experienced working in upper elementary is that pop-culture has shaped meaning of words that you have to very conscious to in order to keep school appropriate conversation in the classroom. One tool that helps me ensure this is to use urbandictionary.com or other slang sites to research words I think may have an inappropriate context. In these cases I don’t leave these words open to discussion but allow students to ask questions on exit slips if they need clarification.

Vocabulary is an extremely important concept of reading to focus on. Vocabulary is also universal throughout the reading process. Different vocabulary strategies can be used for pre-, during, and post- reading activities.