Fisher 4/1 Response

I like that the students are able to use pictures or other context clues to help them figure out what the words mean and then discuss their definitions with a partner. However, like Kayla said I fear that the students would create incorrect definitions and spend time believing or internalizing these. I also am concerned by how many words they will be given to define at once as students may be overwhelmed and confused. Perhaps instead student definitions can be recorded one at a time on the board, overhead, etc. and then have a class discussion to eliminate incorrect definitions or interpretations. After, you could read the page to see if the remaining definitions fit in with the context of this story. Also, I appreciate that students have access to a dictionary and thesaurus and using these resources is a good tool but again, the instruction needs to go beyond just defining the word and perhaps after a definition is created within the classroom the students could look up the words in the dictionary. Once a solid definition is established, having the students create a sentence with this word, or create a word web may help students make connections with the word beyond just defining and recognizing this definition. Also, when using the thesaurus the students could talk about synonyms and antonyms for example, melted or thawed out, dissolved, soften, etc and then melted vs. freeze. Students could also create their own dictionary of words for this unit. Again, a page would have the word “melted”, the definition created by the class, the word used in a sentence, words that mean the same thing as melted, and a word that means the opposite as melted. For this particular unit or story making a word wall could be beneficial as well.

In my classroom I do not see much vocabulary instruction and the instruction that I do see does not seem very beneficial or meaningful to the students. For example, before reading a piece from their language arts book the teacher will review the vocabulary words often by telling students what the words mean. By this I mean she would say, the word hazardous means dangerous and this means to keep your distance. She would read the story and stop at the bolded vocabulary word to make note of how it is used. After the story is read, the students typically complete worksheets asking questions about the text. The words are not discussed, the students are not prompted to define them, and the students do not make connections with these words.

I liked the Winters article and think that breaking the words apart into their morphemes can help students make sense of a word and help them decode words they do not know. Having students think about the word, “transported”, sperating this word into "trans-port-ed”, generating a list of other words that begin with “trans”, finding a related meaning between the words generated and discussing this link helps shape definitions and allows students to make connections. Students have this misconception that same spelling means same meaning but this strategy leads students to question the words and develop independent word solving skills.