Introduction
It's been a little while since I posted on my blog, so I wanted to re-introduce myself by explaining the purpose of my bog, my beliefs on academic vocabulary development, my philosophy on education and provide sources/vocabulary activities that I use in the classroom.
The purpose of my blog is for me to share successful instructional strategies, activities/lessons, and links to resources that I use with students in the classroom. I just completed my student teaching in 1st and 4th grade. During my student teaching, I developed my current philosophy on education.
Philosophy on Education
My personal goal for my future classroom is to challenge
students and assist them to reach their full potential. I want to meet each
individual student’s needs by differentiating instructions, content, and
assessments as needed. I also value forming a sense of community within the
classroom. Therefore, group work is key in developing a community within the
classroom. Group work allows students to support and learn from one another
while also transforming the atmosphere of the entire class.
In my classroom, I want students to freely express their
ideas and be creative. Students will express their interests, dislikes, and
gain an understanding of their strengths and areas of improvement. After I have
identified this information on each student, I will develop the curriculum to
meet each student’s learning styles, needs, and abilities.
I strongly believe in a classroom management that has an
emphasis on reinforcing positive behavior. I have had great success when I
provide students with lots of praise and focus on the desired behavior rather
than undesired behavior.
When presenting new content, I use direct and explicit
instructions, while also providing students with room to expand on the content
independently. I believe students should create their own questions and try to
find the answers independently. This will help students to gain information
through a variety ways. I also believe in integrating technology throughout my
lessons and curriculum. For example, I frequently have students use Powtoons,
Prezi, IMovie, Kahoot, and much more.
As an educator, I believe my philosophy on education and
teaching styles may change throughout my teaching career. I want to remain
receptive to new ideas, open to suggestions, and motivated to grow and improve
my teaching skills.
During my student teaching, I was also able to create my ideas, or theory, for general academic vocabulary development.
My Academic Vocabulary Development Theory
During my student teaching in 1st and 4th grade, I found a few successful strategies for academic vocabulary development for my students. The first strategy I used was to have my students read independently everyday to improve their vocabulary during morning reads. I also encouraged my students to pick books from different genres. When reading about vocabulary online, research said that the more a student reads independently at their independent reading level, the more they will increase their vocabulary. Another strategy I used for increasing students' vocabulary is through direct instruction. For example, I used direct instruction for vocabulary when I do a read aloud with the class. I make a PowerPoint presentation where each slide consists of the unfamiliar terms in the book, their definitions, and pictures to further explain the terms. I pre-teach the unfamiliar vocabulary terms prior to reading the book so that students may increase their vocabulary and have a better understanding of the book. While I read books aloud to the class, I also provide instructions and model how to use context clues to figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar term in a book or story. To improve students' academic vocabulary, I also provide students with weekly spelling lists that students must also learn the terms' definitions and use the terms in sentences. I have found that using these strategies have improved my students' academic vocabulary development. During my career in education, I will continue to research for new strategies to improve my students' academic vocabulary development.
Curricular Resources and Vocabulary Activities That I Use in the Classroom:
Lexia Reading Core 5 is a website students can use on their chromebooks, or an app that students may use on their IPADS. This website offers a personalized learning path based on students' individual levels of abilities. Lexia Reading Core 5 also offers students support in phonological awareness, phonics, structural analysis, automaticity/fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Students will complete independent application of their understanding of vocabulary terms and demonstrate mastery of the selected vocabulary. If students do not show mastery of the selected vocabulary, the website will provide guided practice, or scaffolding support. If students are still not understanding the meaning of the selected vocabulary terms, the website will provide direct, and explicit, instructions and resources for teacher-led instruction if needed. This is a wonderful tool for students to use at their own pace and independent levels of abilities within the areas that this website supports, for example, vocabulary development.
Spelling City is also a website that students may use on their chromebooks, or an app that they may use on their IPADS. This website offers students practice and an opportunity to develop their vocabulary and spelling abilities. Teachers are able to upload their own spelling and vocabulary lists to the website. Spelling city then offers students fun, game-like, activities to practice their spelling list and develop their vocabulary lists that were uploaded by the teacher. This website also allows students to move at their own pace on each activity.
This is a book that you may purchase from Amazon, Scholastic, Barnes and Noble, and many more places for all grades.
I like to have one of the pages from this book copied and set on students' desks before they enter the room. Students come into the room and begin this vocabulary development worksheet as a daily warm up while I take attendance. The worksheet will provide one word on the bottom. Students will then read the clue, or definition, for the words in the box above and write the word in the box. Students will start on the bottom box and climb their way up the ladder, or boxes, to the top of the page. This a fun and engaging strategy for students to develop vocabulary and a great way to start the morning.
Kahoot is a fun, engaging, and quick assessment strategy that I use for multiple subjects. One subject that I use it for is vocabulary. I use Kahoot to pre-assess my students before beginning our new vocabulary for the week to see which words some students already know. I also use Kahoot to assess students' vocabulary development throughout the week to see which students are mastering their vocabulary lists. I am able to make my own quizzes on Kahoot. One vocabulary quiz may provide the word and students must select the correct definition from four choices. I may also provide students with the definition and they must select the correct word from four choices. After each question, I am able to see how many students selected each choice for the answer of the question. If needed, I am able to re-explain the vocabulary term to the class in that moment before moving on to the next question.
I have made a packet for students consisting of the Greek and Latin roots, definitions, and example words for my 4th graders.
During my student teaching in 4th grade, I gave my students at least 5 Greek or Latin roots on their weekly spelling lists. I began by explaining the Greek or Latin roots on their spelling lists at the beginning of the week. I reviewed the definition, example words, and showed how the words can be broken down to smaller parts, where the definition of the words will become clear. We practice our Greek and Latin words for the week daily. We practiced by myself saying the root and the class responded by saying the definition. We also played around the world with the Greek and Latin words. One student would stand next to another student sitting down. I would state the Greek or Latin root and the students responded by saying the definition. The first student to say the correct definition moved on to the next student in the class and so the game would continue. The goal is to get all around the room getting each definition correct. I may also switch around the world by myself saying the definition and the students say the Greek or Latin root. I have found that when students have a mastery of Greek and latin roots, they also have a better understanding of vocabulary in the English language. I have found this to be true because much of our English language, or vocabulary, comes from Greek and Latin.
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