Vocabulary

Vocabulary is very important and another way to incorporate content literacy. It helps students improve their reading and create a wide range of words in their internal dictionary. I hated in middle school when we would have a different set of words each week in our Wordly Wise workbook. I never wanted to study for those quizzes each week and never had any motivation. Learning just a random set of words for the heck of it seemed pointless to me. In class we discussed different ways to incorporate a vocabulary instruction into the classroom. We came up with ways that would make it connect to what the students are learning. Vocabulary instruction needs to be a daily thing. It should not be a subject on its own. Instead it needs to be incorporated into every lesson. Students should be defining words that they need to know to understand the concepts of the subject they are studying. I think it would be a great idea to have students add on to their vocab list everyday with words they learn from lessons they had that day. We learned the Frayer Model in class which is a great tool for students to use. You place your word/concept in the middle then have four sections coming off from it. These are labeled definition, characteristics, examples, and misconceptions. I think it would be great to use in review sessions. Here is one I created for the math term “absolute value.”

This is something that is definitely very helpful in math classes because the students will have examples of how it works. They can look back at these whenever they have trouble with a problem. 

Making Accommodations

In class we have been discussing how to handle a classroom with students on all different levels. Sometimes you will have students who are struggling and other students who are more advanced. This can be very difficult because you need to make accommodations, but you don’t want other students to not be working as hard or struggling students to just not understand anything. This is also a challenge as a teacher because parents will get involved and worry about their child not being challenged enough and the work being too easy. Teachers have to make accommodations for all of there students. You don’t assign work so everyone get’s 100s. You want them to discover and struggle some and be challenged. I thought of some different ways that could help solve this problem.

            Pairing students up can be very helpful when working on different assignments. I know some teachers who pair up students who don’t understand the material with students who do understand the material. This way the students who understand it can help walk through the material with the students who don’t understand it. It is very benefitting for both students. When I was a student teacher last semester, my mentor teacher did a great job helping her students who were on all different levels. Each week there was a spelling test. She would have a challenge list and a regular list. The students who were more advanced and were not challenged in the last spelling test had the opportunity to take the challenge list. Parents really liked the idea of that and brought it up in every parent teacher student conference. There are many different ways to teach a classroom of students at all different levels. It is difficult and parents might get upset, but as a teacher you have to know that you are doing the best you can. Pairing students up and having different spelling tests or assignments are just some good examples that I have seen used in a classroom. There are so many other ways to make it work. Just remember as a teacher you have to stick to the common core. That is very important!