Chapter 3 - Word for Word: Vocabulary Development Across the Curriculum

When I started reading the open scenario I knew that this chapter was going to be very relatable to my childhood learning experiences. As a child in elementary and middle school grades, I always struggled with reading comprehension. But it was not because of my phonics, well okay maybe a little, but it was mostly because I lacked vocabulary knowledge. Lacking this word knowledge affected my ability to read and learn effectively in school.

            All my teachers did to help me improve on my vocabulary was repetition of practicing flash cards. Yea I learned the vocabulary words for the test but I could not tell you how to use them in any content. What’s the point of that? Being from a huge southern family with strong dialect and use of slang did not help me either. I needed an intervention!           

            I love the ideas in this chapter of how to incorporate vocabulary learning throughout the day and not just as a single lesson. Word walls, vocabulary cards, word list, Journals, shades of meaning, and many more are things I will DEFINITELY use are mentioned in this chapter. Even now I would like to take the vocabulary self-awareness test to see how developed my vocabulary is at a college level. I know that my vocabulary has expanded with age (common sense right) but I have developed a love to read since I have been in college. So I would like to see were my vocabulary is now that I like to read compared to when I was in high school and HATED to read.  It says during secondary school years that students should know about 88,500 words but I can guarantee that my word knowledge was half of that when I was in high school.

            However through time I have learned the importance of breaking down words and looking for context clues. (This technique has saved my throughout the years) This is a skill that I see the importance of and plan to teach to my future students. 

            In all I would say that I really found this chapter beneficial with a lot of good ideas, but as an experienced teacher, does using all these collaborative vocabulary ideas really happen due to instructional time? How do you differ the ability to teach vocabulary on different levels to make sure each child is achieving new word knowledge?