For my real-life reading inquiry, I chose to study the skill
of vocabulary as it has always been a favorite reading skill of mine. I decided
to go home to my elementary school where I grew up in Memphis, TN and ask one
of the fourth grade teachers if I could sit in on her class and observe her
vocabulary teaching tactics. While I was there for the two hour lesson, I
observed her helpful class decoration, the interactions she had with her
students, and how they reacted to the lessons.
When I
first walked into the classroom, I immediately began to observe the charts and
wall decorations having to do with vocabulary that surrounded me. There was a
giant Social Studies map that covered one wall and interestingly enough had
words labeled all over it. This was Ms. Jackson’s* way of making sure her
students knew what a compass, ocean, island, and more were. I thought this was
a great way to incorporate expanding vocabulary into other subjects. The
students also had a whole row of student dictionaries next to their desks
which encouraged them to look up words they may not know or struggle to
remember the meaning of. Word walls also appeared on every wall having to do
with each subject the student was learning from math to science to language
arts. Blachowicz and Fisher’s article “Vocabulary Lessons” emphasizes the
importance of independence by putting up word walls for the students to learn
at their leisure and giving full access to dictionaries whenever a student
feels encouraged to look up a word. This is a great way to show students that
subjects can be intermixed. The students were surrounded by opportunities to improve
or expand on their vocabulary at all times.
After I
observed the classroom decorations, the lesson began. Ms. Jackson first had her
students categorize spelling and vocabulary words into a spire before the
lesson by syllables, suffixes, prefixes, and root words. They used both
academic vocabulary and bi-weekly vocabulary that related to social studies
knowledge on Indians. This warm-up for the students allowed them to focus on
the activity at hand. I was able to figure out that the students were in a
Derivational stage of reading where they were focusing on root words and adding
endings, learning bi-weekly vocabulary, and were learning to think critically
and creatively.
After the warm- up, the teacher
moved into a reading exercise using Bud
Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. While she read the chapter aloud to
her students, she also encouraged them to write down words for four different
categories: misspoken (due to youth, lack of education), slang (due to dialect,
region, time period), Old- fashioned (usually found in dictionary but not used
anymore), and new words. The students listened attentively as Ms. Jackson read
the story animatedly occasionally laughing at the story. Blachowicz and Fisher’s
article “Vocabulary Lessons” suggests that students develop oral vocabulary
about two years faster than their reading vocabulary. Ms. Jackson allows the
vocabulary to sink in easier by encouraging the students to read the book to
themselves while she reads it aloud. After she finished reading the chapter,
the students were put into small groups and were told to focus on finding one
of the four categories of words. While the students were working, Ms. Jackson
clipped a giant piece of paper onto the chalkboard and wrote down the four
categories. Then she allowed her students to raise their hands to be chosen to
write the words they found on the board. The children became immediately enthusiastic
and excited about writing the words they discovered on the board. For the new
words, Ms. Jackson made the student look it up in a dictionary to find out its
true meaning. Once the students looked up the word, she chose an approach
similar to Lane and Allen’s in their article on sophisticated vocabulary.
Instead of giving her students easy synonyms she invited them to think of
complex words such as thrilled instead
of excited or intimidated instead of frightened.
She gave examples for the other three categories that the students may not know
using familiar references like Facebook, family, recess and homework. After
they finished this vocabulary activity, Ms. Jackson smoothly transitioned into
allowing her students to perform skits together demonstrating what they had
learned from Bud Not Buddy.
Sitting in on Ms. Jackson’s
vocabulary lesson helped me realize how enthusiastic students are to learn if
interaction is key. The students’ response to being read to aloud, working in
groups, and being allowed to write on the board showed me that being actively
engaged is important to learning any skill. Being a teacher, I will need to learn to
teach creatively and interactively with my students to ensure that I can keep
them attentive while also allowing them the leisure of having fun while
learning. I also learned how easy it can be as a teacher to seamlessly incorporate
other subjects into skills such as vocabulary to create a bridge in the
students’ minds intellectually.
