Classroom Reflections

June 2013:  Vocabulary Development in the Secondary Classroom by M. McCrary

I remember the exercise but not which specific muscles were built or developed. That recurring nightmare of adjectives, verbs and nouns popping up on your day off, uninvited. Dropping by to  just “check-in”. I am convinced that specific terror is linked to the rote vocabulary development training that must have begun in the first classes in the cave and is still insisted upon today all over the world. Every two minutes, somewhere in the world, a child is forced to write down a single word twenty-five times.* (*Not a real statistic).

As a secondary classroom teacher in English Language Arts I am very aware of the link between vocabulary development and reading comprehension. As a secondary classroom teacher in English Language Arts working with mostly, if not exclusively, ELL students I am very aware of the link between vocabulary development and reading comprehension. Painfully aware. I have recurring nightmares. So, what can I do differently to help my students develop their vocabulary in a truly sustainable way? How can I provide them with the necessary tools to aid them in their independent development of vocabulary from today onwards?

I have read words, so many words on this very trouble. I have read about what does not work, (everything I described in the opener and that you definitely related to and have maybe even done yourself in your own classroom.) I recently read a few more words on what does work, (according to some very trustworthy sources like Edutopia, Mr. Marzano and the folks over at ReadWriteThink), and I have hope. I read a few suggestions that I already have ongoing in my classroom and a few that excited me. Imagine. Excited to teach vocabulary!

Confession: I thought I was doing it pretty well by providing not only standard collegiate dictionaries but also bilingual dictionaries as well. Guess what that does aside from establishing and perpetuating a false sense of practice? Not much. Not much at all.  “Without training and guidance, less proficient readers and English language learners are apt to encounter numerous difficulties as they struggle first to locate and then to effectively navigate a lengthy dictionary entry” and “English learners may carry a bilingual dictionary, but this resource is generally inadequate for several reasons. First, long-term bilinguals or more recent immigrants with disrupted educational histories may have limited academic vocabulary in the home language” (http://www.phschool.com/eteach/language_arts/2002_03/essay.html#Does). Before we all get depressed and start blasting My Bloody Valentine or The Smiths until our neighbors have had enough of pounding on the common wall and decide to call the cops, let’s keep reading: “A learner’s dictionary characteristically includes fewer yet more high-frequency definitions, written in accessible language and complemented by an age-appropriate sample sentence. English language learners and less proficient readers benefit from the clear, simple definitions and common synonyms as much as from the natural examples illustrating words and phrases in typical contexts.” As a next step for my own students I have already located and included an online “Learner’s Dictionary” in our Edmodo classroom Library.

“Reviewing the research literature on vocabulary instruction leads to the conclusion that there is no single best strategy to teach word meanings but that all effective strategies require students to go beyond the definitional and forge connections between the new and the known. Nagy3 summarizes the research on effective vocabulary teaching as coming down to three critical notions:

1. Integration—connecting new vocabulary to prior knowledge
2. Repetition—encountering/using the word/concept many times
3. Meaningful use—multiple opportunities to use new words in reading, writing and soon discussion” (http://www.phschool.com/eteach/language_arts/2002_03/essay.html#Does).

With this in mind, a few of the practical strategies I plan on incorporating into my practice and classroom, and by extension into my students’ practice, address each of the above identified “critical notions”. I will first select 50 vocabulary words students will be responsible for with the selections not being explicitly tied to content, (Macbeth currently). I will then create a pre assessment using the Socrative app within our Edmodo classroom to measure students’ initial proficiency and to provide a marker that will be used to measure growth at the end of instruction. Students will be explicitly trained in the use of the Learner’s Dictionary in the Edmodo Library and will also participate in a number of classroom activities such as student created and presented mini-lessons: synonyms, antonyms,  paraphrased definitions, TPR, and “show you know” sentences. Students will participate, teacher facilitates, in word sorting activities. We will also create our own magnetic poetry sets which will include assigned vocabulary words. Magnet sets will be taken home to use on the fridge and one set will stay in the classroom for practice on a white board. Students will be required to refer to and use correctly assigned vocabulary in Do Now responses, classroom discussion prompts, classwork/homework, and even when requesting permission to use the restroom. After all of this, students will participate in a post assessment on Socrative to measure growth and vocabulary development.

One question I have regarding all of this is how do I measure sustained development other than just repeating an assessment? I would like to discuss this further with my  colleagues.

My hope for my students at the end of this initial trial is to inspire more vivid dreams and waking life experiences and their retelling and to eliminate the recurring nightmare of the same grey and dismal rote vocabulary training we have all suffered since crawling out of the soup.