Effective Vocab

I had a teacher in high school, one of my Algebra teachers, who did a word of the day the instant we walked into the classroom. We reviewed the word, put it in a sentence and she taped the large pieces of paper filled with words and sentences to the walls of the classroom she taught in on a daily basis. We were tested over these words when it came time for any type of exam and the vocabulary questions were worth just as much as any of the math questions. Needless to say, I studied my vocabulary as often as I studied my math-which happened to be quite often. Chapter 7 in Beers speaks of the effective was of using vocabulary within the classroom and I can see that it is a struggle for students to overcome their language barriers or fears and to be able to effectively use and understand these words. I think Beers brought up an excellent idea when she talked about word charts in which the students associate a central idea to each letter of the alphabet. The example she gave for one teacher's word chart was photosynthesis. Students then had to come up with words that described photosynthesis with each letter of the vocabulary (97). I haven't seen word charts like these before and gained yet another idea for my future classroom. I think the use of these charts is simple yet brilliant-just as in my high school literature class we could apply words from The Scarlet Letter to these word charts. . .the use of these charts may seem childish but I think the idea of it is simply wonderful. It seems so easy yet so applicable and simple for the students to understand. Another fantastic idea for my future classroom that I pulled from this chapter was the use of the possible sentences worksheet. This allows for peer instruction over vocabulary. This introduces, similarly to the word chart, the use of vocabulary words in a slightly different context that allows students to gain a better understanding of the vocabulary. The worksheet provides a word bank that instructs students to work in pairs to use them within a sentence (100). This not only helps with the unit being instructed upon but also allows students to become comfortable with their classmates. Learning the vocabulary is essential to any student's advancement in their education and these varying methods may help students understand those important words and ideals we as teachers are attempting to convey.