Sunday, March 31, 2013
Reflection on Putman and Kingsley
In reading Putman and Kingsley's work, I was easily able to connect what I was reading to the new literacies project we did. The article was focused on how the current generation of students are learning in the classroom and how they are benefitting from 21st century technology. The article started off by explaining a fun way to engage students in learning about science through song. It gave an example and a way in which is impresionable on students. The article then went on to talk about podcasts and how they are helping develop students' vocabulary. When I first read this I thought it was strange to connect students' vocabulary competence to listening to podcasts. It was shown that by researching students who listened to podcasts, there was a correlation to their understanding of more science vocabulary. Students reported that listening to the podcasts motivated them to find out more about the vocabulary words being stated. Listening to podcasts is a way for students to interact with what they are listening to by being able to control what they are listening to. For instance, if a student is struggling to understand a certain concept, they can rewind the podcast and go back and listen to a certain portion over and over again. Hearing these things more than once will aid students in comprehending the material. Students today are very drawn to learning in interactive ways because this is accesible to them in and outside of the classroom in most cases. Even though podcasts may not be as exciting as interactive online games, they still allow for students to take control in their learning. It is important in this day in age to keep students engaged in what they are learning, so in order to do so we need to make learning fun to the best of our ability as teachers. I originally thought that by introducing students to certain technologies, such as podcasts or games would hinder their learning, but studies show otherwise. It is nice to see that students are able to learn while also doing something that they enjoy. The students are getting the best of both worlds.
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Although Winter's article on "Interactive Frames for Vocabulary Growth and Word Consciousness" did not involve technology, I thought it was yet another interesting way to learn new vocabulary words. Winters article discusses how the use of a "Morpheme Triangle" acts as a great visual for students and provides them with a way to further understand new words. To use the "Morpheme Triangle" the teacher first picks a vocabulary word that can be broken into multiple morphemes, such as the word "transported". The teacher writes the word on the board and breaks it up into three parts (trans-port-ed), as students are asked to think of similar words (transfer, transplant, transition). After students come up with some words, they then have a discussion. It is important for teachers to choose words that are coming up in their future reading material so students will be able to apply what they have just discussed. It was also suggested in the article that the class makes a personal or group morpheme dictionary that they can refer back to at any time, which I think is a great idea. I also really liked that the "Morpheme Triangle" benefits all students in the fact that mixed ability students can all participate by offering words and making meaningful connections that contribute to group thinking. I think this is a good way to interest your students in learning new words, and helping less advantaged students develop a rich vocabulary. Natalie's article focuses more on ways to cater to auditory learners, where the article I read is very good for visual learners, while also giving equal opportunity for student participation. Both of these techniques are very interesting and should be considered when thinking about teaching vocabulary. Unfortunately, I have not seen my sixth grade students talking, analyzing or dissecting words in any of these ways. However I do think that these strategies would benefit them greatly. The Winters article mentioned that fifth grade students learn 100,000 new vocabulary words, which really surprised me! And because students at this age are constantly learning new words and strengthening their vocabulary, I think podcasts and Morpheme Triangles would be great to use in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteAs were the two articles above, my article called Teaching All the Children, was also about vocabulary in the urban classroom. The article discusses how it is critical for students who are economically or culturally mainstream. Students who come to school from homes that are economically disadvantaged come to the classroom with smaller academic vocabularies as opposed to their peers who come from a more economically stable home. This gap is very obvious in the first three years and then increases more and more as the child gets older. This needs to be a wake-up call to parents and teachers alike, these students are under deserved, underfunded, and under the gun (according to the article). These students all come to school with different cultures and sometimes these students even come to school having used a different language at home, a language which is very different from what they see and hear while they are in their classroom and what they are expected to write and read in. As teachers, we need to close this vocabulary gap that is so present today. It isn't fair to these students that they are falling so much further behind than their equal peers just because there is a different socio-economical background (something they have no control over). The article tells teachers that we need to not only mirror but also intensify the type of informal vocabular coaching that happens in economically advantaged homes. Since we find it so important for students to be experiencing sophisticated language outside of the classroom in order to succeed while they are in school, we need to create situations where this language is present and those vocabulary words are used throughout the school day. I completely agree with this, I think there is such a difference between what students from different economic backgrounds come to school knowing. I have not really seen this in my classroom though, possibly because my students are only 5 and just beginning school, maybe that is why I don't realize a difference in students but possibly that difference will be more obvious over time. Teachers need to move forward and not just do what we are supposed to to get this sophisticated language into our classrooms at all times. Words matter especially to students who need those words to teach them academic language!
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