For a vocabulary lesson related to Roll of Thunder, I would have students create a personal dictionary. I have seen these used in classrooms for my 301 placement and I think they are really neat. Each student is given their own folder in which they keep words that they often spell wrong at the top. Then inside the folder on lined paper they keep track of new words and their definitions. I really like this idea for a few reasons. The most important thing being that it is individual to each student. When you have group vocabulary lessons some students might get bored, they may already know the word and use it in their everyday speech (I often had this happen to me and it was annoying to have to do worksheets becuase I knew the words already). I think it also helps lower level students because they are able to pick words that they don't understand. If they need to identify simple words, they do not feel singled out by the rest of the class because it would be in their personal vocabulary book. I also think this helps students have some ownership over what they are learning. They feel the power of being able to choose the words they want and need to learn. I think any time you give students a choice, you are making the activity more interesting more engaging.
I think that unit on Roll of Thunder would need a lesson on vernacular, although I don't know if this would necessarily be vocabulary. I know it would fall under fluency. Do you think it would be vocab too?
(sorry I posted late- I have been sick with Bronchitis all weekend thanks to my boyfriend who got it last week and gave it to me)
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Tina, I really liked your idea! I thought it was both interesting and creative at the same time because I have never heard of an individual dictionary before, typically just word walls and class-wide vocabulary lists. I think this could be a good thing for kids that are embarrassed to admitt that they didn't know how to spell or understood what a word meant. I think that this lesson definitely constitutes as vocabulary because of the terminology that the kids are learning and becoming exposed to. By having their own privatized form of a "dictionary" the kids would essentially be building their vocabulary, comprehension and fluency skills.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this idea for a vocabulary lesson and especially liked the concept of keeping it as individual as possible. We stress a lot in this class of catering to students as individuals and their individual learning needs. This lesson is great because it allows the students to do this and gain a sense of ownership for the assignment as well. More than likely they will take pride in their work and at without even knowing, they are helping themselves in the process. By learning new words and their definitions on their own, the students will get a better sense of the word of hopefully use them in the future as far as their writing is concerned.
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