Ms. Carson is eager to start a new unit in her first period eighth grade mathematics class. She has been teaching for seven years and knows her content well. She believes vocabulary is important for her students to understand in order for them to be able to master the concepts she teaches, so she consistently presents and makes assignments for each instructional unit in the same way. The following is her approach.
“I hope you had a great weekend and are ready to start fresh with our new unit on probability and statistics. I've listed the vocabulary terms we will focus on for this study. You know the drill: Copy the terms, write the definitions, and write a sentence using each appropriately. Some of them will be a little difficult for now. Give it your best effort. Are there any questions?”
Your Jigsaw Task:
In the comment section below, provide a Home Group response to 1 of the following questions:
- Ms. Carson asked you, a member of her teaching team, to observe her class and offer some feedback. Now, she is sitting across from you expecting you to share your insight. What are 3 pieces of advice you'd give Ms. Carson about teaching vocabulary? Use your textbook to point out specific pages Ms. Carson might want to look at to get a better understanding of your advice.
- It seems like Ms. Carson is in the preparation phase of her lesson. Using your textbook to support your response, make a case for expanding vocabulary instruction to the assistance and reflection phases. (please include page numbers)
Source:
"VOICES FROM THE CLASSROOM" from Reading to Learn in the Content Areas 8th ed., p. 168
5 comments:
Ms. Carson should consider changing her preparation for vocabulary. One option that could be used is a word-inventory (page 179). She should also change up the activities and give some variety or options to the students (pages 179-183). This way it can help with all different types of learners.
She could still use her drill at the end of the lesson as a reflection activity (Page198-199).
Question 1)
Ms. Carson's approach to this vocabulary instruction will benefit from teaching new terms in the middle of the lesson rather than in isolation; putting meaning behind the words before, during, and after will help her students to retain contextual knowledge. Concept maps or graphic organizers (p.180, 183) will be useful for this strategies. Additionally, word inventories (p. 179) can be useful for students to reference prior understanding.
Question 1
The best advice we will give Mrs. Carson is trying some new strategies such as
➢ Possible Sentences (page 182)
➢ Vocabulary Podcast (page 190)
➢ Use Keywords and Imaging (Page 200)
These strategies will ensure that Mrs. Carson appeals to each learning style for every student in her class.
Our advice to Mrs. Carson, is to begin with the Word Inventory Activity (179) as a diagnostic assessment to figure out what students already know, combing words from the text and words she suggested. This activity will be repeated again later to evaluate understanding.
To transition into the Assistance stage, we recommend Mrs. Carson to utilize the Jot Chart strategy (191). Having students list the word, and predict a possible definition for the word, you would be activating the students prior knowledge. During learning, students will record the verified definition to clear up any misconception they initially had previously.
Within the reflection stage, the students will extend on the Jot Chart with a visual representation of the word, and a brief knowledge connection, similar to the Four-Column Organizer for Word Mastery (199).
Our group thinks that Ms. Carson should use techniques other than busy work.
1) Word inventory helps the teacher assess prior knowledge and to introduce vocabulary words (pg. 179).
2) We suggest that she uses the activity on page 199, four-column organizer for word mastery. The students could write down the word, the definition, the knowledge connection and a picture that represents the word. For example- For the word hexagon, the students could write that they know the prefix -hex means 6 sides. Therefore they know that a hexagon is refering to a 6 sided figure.
3)Ms. Carson could promote intentional vocabulary development by showing the students a video about the math vocabulary. The video should include the vocabulary, music, and examples. This would engage visual learners and help to introduce the students to a creative jingle to help remember definitions.
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