I'm really excited to be trying new reading strategies in my science classrooms. I have learned that demonstrations are a great way to integrate background information into new units of study. I do a lot of demonstrations in my Physical Science and Advanced Chemistry classes, but I have decided to do most of them at the beginning of a unit of study, whereas, I used to do them after I had given the students notes and practice. This new method has proven to be very effective. Throughout various units, the students often refer back to previous demos and what happened or what they can apply after they saw the demonstration. If a student is having difficulty with a certain topic, I can almost always bring them back to understanding by reminding them of a demonstration we had done at the start of the unit.
Another benefit of science demonstrations that I had never considered was the benefit of becoming familiar with complex science vocabulary during the demonstration. Students seem to connect with unfamiliar words more easily when they "see" or "experience" the word first hand. And following the demonstration, I often require the students to do vocabulary exercises to reinforce what they experienced. Overall, I'm having some great results. Thanks IAL!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Vocabulary Module
As a science teacher, I introduce new vocabulary to my students daily. This can be a great undertaking considering the vastly different backgrounds of the students I teach. Much of a student's understanding of new terms depends on their background knowledge and the "size" of their vocabulary. And I believe the root of the problem lies within the fact that most students have never been taught HOW to learn new vocabulary. After reading the vocabulary module, I have decided to apply a few new vocabulary teaching strategies to my classroom.
Many students are turned-off by repetitious, out of reach definitions found in the textbook, which is often way above their reading level in the first place. I thought I was allowing my students more opportunity for creativity by adding a personally constructed sentence to their textbook definition, but I was wrong. Instead, I plan to require what I have done previously, which is a definition put in their own words, as well as, as sentence using the word, synonym, root word, or derivative of the term, and a picture describing or explaining the word in a vocabulary journal.
Following the above practice I plan to make the normally required "Word Wall" and interactive part of the classroom. In order to introduced terms before each unit, which will ease the anxiety of reading new information, I will allow students to pair-share their vocabulary journals. Then each student will place a word or term on the word wall after explaining their interpretation of the word to the class.
Also, as a fan of strange and unheard of words, I am going to introduce a quirky or interesting science specific word at least weekly in each class. We will use this activity to "dissect" words finding the root, prefix, suffix, and Greek or Latin derivative to strengthen the ability of each student to independently learn vocabulary in the science classroom.
Many students are turned-off by repetitious, out of reach definitions found in the textbook, which is often way above their reading level in the first place. I thought I was allowing my students more opportunity for creativity by adding a personally constructed sentence to their textbook definition, but I was wrong. Instead, I plan to require what I have done previously, which is a definition put in their own words, as well as, as sentence using the word, synonym, root word, or derivative of the term, and a picture describing or explaining the word in a vocabulary journal.
Following the above practice I plan to make the normally required "Word Wall" and interactive part of the classroom. In order to introduced terms before each unit, which will ease the anxiety of reading new information, I will allow students to pair-share their vocabulary journals. Then each student will place a word or term on the word wall after explaining their interpretation of the word to the class.
Also, as a fan of strange and unheard of words, I am going to introduce a quirky or interesting science specific word at least weekly in each class. We will use this activity to "dissect" words finding the root, prefix, suffix, and Greek or Latin derivative to strengthen the ability of each student to independently learn vocabulary in the science classroom.
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