AlexisDennis

Dr.TanyaSantangelo
EDUC699
5April2016

ReflectiveTeaching:ExplicitVocabularyInstruction

AtFreireCharterHighSchool,IteachonecourseofninthgradeIntensiveReadingto
remedialreadingstudents,whohaveinstructionalreadinglevelsbetweenasecondandseventh
gradelevel.ThecourseisdesignedaroundtheVoyagerPassportJourneyscurriculum,which
providesstudentstextsgroupedtogetherunderacommontheme(theenvironment,space
exploration)withalargeemphasisondevelopingreadingcomprehensionandfluencyskills
throughextensivereadingcomprehensionchecksandvocabularypractice.Eachtextisalso
pairedwitheightvocabularywordsthatareselectedtomaximizestudentunderstandingofthe
textbecausetheyarecriticaltodevelopingmeaningandunderstanding.Priortothislesson,I
taughteachsetofeightvocabularywordsasthecurriculumsuggestedbyprovidingstudentsthe
word,thedefinition,andacontextsentencethatcorrectlyusedthewordjustbeforereadingthe
textwholegroup.
Afterreadingvariouspracticeguidesontheimportanceofexplicitvocabulary
instruction,IdecidedthatIneededtoincreasetherigoraswellasprovidemoreexplicit
instructiontoensurestudentswerefullylearningeachnewword.Thepracticeguidesonthe
WhatWorksClearinghousesuggesttheimportanceofrevisitingvocabularywordsthroughouta
unitortext,statingthatitcouldtakeasmanyas17exposurestoawordforittobecomeapartof
astudentsmemoryandworkingvocabulary.Thepracticeguidealsodescribedtheimportance
ofstudentsseeingthewordinmultipleformatsandinteractingwithnewwordsthroughvarious

reading,writing,journaling,anddiscussionactivities.Iintroducedthenewvocabularychartto
studentsandframeditasanewtoolforimprovingvocabularyinstructionanddiscussedhowto
usethenewchartasastudytoolforupcomingvocabularyquizzesandtests.Thevocabulary
chartincludedspaceforstudentstowritetheword,thenumberofsyllables,thepartofspeech,
pronunciation,andasynonymofeach.Iprovidedstudentsthedefinitionsandpronunciations,
andchallengedthemtodeterminethenumberofsyllablesaswellasthepartofspeech.
Ithenassignedcontextsentencesforhomework,challengingmystudentstousethe
informationontheircharttocomposeasentencethatcorrectlyusestheword.Thefollowingday,
inclass,studentsweregivenaseriesofsynonymsandaskedtomatchtheprovidedsynonymsto
theircorrectvocabularyword.Thesynonymmatchwasfollowedbyanopportunityforstudents
towriteresponsestoquestionsusingtheirvocabularywordsandhavediscussionssurrounding
theiranswers.Thelessonwentverywell,andIfeelthatstudentshaveabetterunderstandingof
theseeightwordsandtheirimportanceinrelationtothelargerunit.Ididreceivesomepushback,
however,whenthechangewasmadefromtheoldformatduetothelossofregularityand
familiaritythatIwasdisrupting.Mycoteacher,whoobservedthisportionofthelesson,
reflectedthattheexplicitinstructionincreasedtherigorandshowedstudentstheimportanceand
valueoflearningnewvocabulary.Duringourmeetingfollowingclass,hesaidthathebelieved
thenewformatwouldbebeneficialtoourstudentswithlearningdisabilitiesaswell,manyof
whomrequiregraphicorganizersandneedextendedtimetocopydowninformationand
material.Thisexperiencehasbetterinformedmyplanningforthiscourse,asIamnowmore
thoughtfulandcognizantofthewayIapproachvocabularyinstructionforeachunit.Iamnow

consideringmorewaystointegratevocabularyreviewandpracticeintoeachlessontoincrease
exposureandaidwithretentionofthesenewwords.