The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis is full terms that directly relate to the Afghanistan culture, which would make for a harder reading for American students who have never been exposed to these terms and experiences. Ellis did however put a glossary at the end of the book that explains many of the new vocabulary terms, which I think is very beneficial. I know when I was younger if I didn't know a word in a good I would just skip over it and try to make sense of the word through the content of the other text. This doesn't always work, and can cause students to not comprehend what is going on in the book. I know this book would be to difficult for the students in my kindergarten class even if it was read to them, I think the issues in the book are beyond their current level. However, the issue of new vocabulary is universal. Students will always face issues of new vocabulary, and it is up to us as teachers to get students to comprehend what they are reading. Lessons on new vocabulary words I believe are to often over looked and doesn't get the time it deserves. Creating a fun and engaging lesson plan, or even activity for students to learn new words is a great way to expand not only their own personal vocabulary but allow them to be able to move to the next level of literature. I really don't see any lessons about new vocabulary in my classroom. Gabe and Lauren does your teacher take the time to do an activity or lesson on new vocab words?
The lesson I would create for new vocab words would be for chapter 1 in The Breadwinner. I think its important to have lessons on new vocabulary for every chapter, and I think starting off a book with a good solid foundation of what is going on is the best way to start! I would fist introduce the book and give a brief overview of what it is about. Basically, the setting, and the time (in terms of what year the book takes place in). I would then have students research in groups of about 3 of 4 what society is like in Afghanistan today. This will give students some background knowledge about what is happening in the 'real world' and what happens in the book. I would then give students this list of words:
Taliban, marketplace (depending on the location of the school I was at; if I was in a very urban setting students may not be familiar with a marketplace) Dari, Persians, Alexander the Great, conquerors, Soviets, and burqas. I would let students research with the list of these words, and have them try to find the definition of them while they research. Then as a class we would discuss what students thought the meaning of these words meant. As the teacher, I would have pictures, maps, and examples prepared for all the vocab words ready to show students what the words mean. I think its important and fun for students to be able try to figure out the meaning of the words before I just give them the definition. It makes the words come to life, instead of them just being letters on a paper. Gabe and Lauren, do you have any other ideas about a lesson for teaching these new vocab words?
Hey Rose!
ReplyDeleteI liked your idea about the vocabulary lessons where you first make a context clues guess on what it means, and then compare that to what it actually meant. I thought of doing that first, but then I remembered a teacher I had in seventh grade who did that, and it actually confused me because he would give us so many terms and a week later I found myself not being able to remember whether my guess was correct or incorrect. For example, I would guess first what the word meant, but then after a while I would only remember my guess, but not the actual definition. That didn't get me anywhere on the vocab exams!
I think that perhaps I would make an activity where partners work together and grab a dictionary or thesaurus and find a word that means the same thing as that particular term. That way when they go back to remember what it means, there aren't two completely different definitions, you can remember the word you paired it up with that meant the same thing.
Rose, I totally agree with you that the glossary at the end of the Breadwinner is very beneficial for students. I would also however like my students to be able to do some exploring on their own. I really like your ideas about spliting them into small groups and allowing them to look up the words in dictionaries, encyclopedias, online, and other informational texts in the classroom. After they all had time to do some exploring, I think it would be great to bring the class together for a class discussion to see the variety of definitions found. This, in addition to supplying pictures and maps will allow for more students to really understand these new words, becasue one definition on the board or worksheet may not click for everyone.
ReplyDeleteIn my class right now, my CT does vocabulary worksheets that are very close ended and thus do not require higher level thinking. The students do not enjoy doing these, especially since they do the same thing week after week. I do not think these help the majority of the students to learn the meaning of the words, but since they are only tested on the spelling, I do not think my CT is too concerned about having the learn the meanings. I think this should and could be changed in a variety of fun activities to ensure the students are learning both the correct spelling and meaning of the words.