Module Three Reflection

The first very important thing I learned in this module is that students have four kinds of vocabulary.  Two are receptive, their listening and reading vocabularys and the other two are expressive, their speaking and writing vocabularys.  I had never thought about their conversations being different than their writings or their reading abilities.  This really motivates me to provide them with fresh words every week to give them an opportunity to grow each of their vocabularys.

Another important thing I learned was the importance of teaching students root words.  The text suggested providing instruction that laid a background knowledge of root meanings.  Latin and Greek roots are very common in our "American" vocabularys and are a great place to start.  This research excited me.  I had started after Christmas introducing two Greek/Latin roots a week and connecting to our thematic unit.  This last week we began our 3 week thematic unit about the Earth and Solar System.  Our two roots were astr-meaning "stars" and geo, meaning "Earth".  I am so glad to know and read about something I am doing right.

Another important thing I learned about vocabulary is that students pick up more from natural conversation than instruction.  I think this is why shared reading and read a louds are soooo important, because they provide the student with words and thoughts they would not be able to read or create on their own.  I enjoy these kinds of activites in my classroom, because they always bring up questions that sometimes leads to other important questions and the sharing of wonderful information. 

I think a very important aspect that will affect my classroom in the future is the importance of vocabulary words not only be taught in a semantics fashion, but in a contextual format as well.  This is the reason I love thematic units and a holistic approach to Language Arts.  Vocabulary words make more sense and connections for students when they relate to something they already know or understand.

Another implication that I feel is very helpful to realize is the importance of the instruction of affixes and the meanings of them when connected to other words.  This last week we used the word splash strategy to discuss our vocabulary words and played with them added a variety of suffixes to them.  We also used the Chunk-n-Chew with our weekly journaling activity and then they shared with the class. We used the magnet summary in a modified form.  I used them for our Greek/Latin roots and I included the meanings and then examples of each on each magnet.  I Brailled the information for the Braille students.

Each week, we have vocabulary and Spelling words and I think the important thing to remember is that vocabulary words I want them to add to their receptive vocabulary and Spelling words are intended more for their expressive vocabulary.  For me, knowing this difference helps me to make bridges for the two to meet and merge into a more well defined vocabulary.