Blog #5

When reading chapter 3 about vocabulary I found some things interesting and learned new things. One thing I learned about was the importance of word knowledge. Vocabulary knowledge can have a profound influence on reading comprehension. Blachowicz and Fisher identified four principles for effective vocabulary instruction. Students should: be actively involved in word learning, make personal connections, be immersed in vocabulary, and consolidate meaning through multiple information sources. This will help teachers be able to effectively instruct vocabulary. Another thing that stood out to me is that Vacca and Vacca suggest that there are three types of vocabulary to consider—general, specialized, and technical. General is everyday language, specialized is flexible and transportable, and technical is words that are specific to only one field study. This would be a good way to show students the different types of vocabulary and talk like the different ways to show them and have them guess which one is which. I like the fact that this chapter gives several different ways of incorporating vocabulary into different subjects. The Brain Pop technology we did this week was very interesting and engaging. I believe that students would really enjoy this activity; especially since us college kids had so much fun with it. You could use this technology with any subject. With this technology it could help the students understand and think about what they listened to.

Questions:

1. What are some good ways to teach vocabulary to ELL students, since we have so many different definitions for the same word?

2. Where can I find more information on teaching vocabulary that would be fun and interesting for my students?