Step by Step with Teacher Zee: Learning Vocabulary Pt.2

 

Step by Step with Teacher Zee: Learning Vocabulary

 I have been teaching literacy skills and language acquisition for students in the middle grades upto college levels for a while now. One of the many hats I wear. My one-on-one sessions and tutorials are areas where I gather experiences that enrich my instruction and pedagogy. Most importantly, I learn from my students. Their responses and engagement with the materials I plan and design fuel my desire to become a better literacy skills teacher.

Allow me to share a teaching practice I apply with my students in learning new words or vocabulary.

First, I select words that I deem important in comprehending the selected article or text. My student and I read the words individually and then, together. At times when a student has difficulty pronouncing the words, I help him/her syllabicate. We chunk the word as to how it is pronounced, for example: bio/mi/mi/cry (bio-me-meek-ree).

Second, I ask the student if the words are familiar to him or her. Where has he/she heard or read the words? We connect them to bigger subject or branches of knowledge. I then emphasize that the words we are encountering are often used in a specirfic subject or area of knowledge. 

In the example above, our main area of knowledge of Science and its sub-areas are biology and nature, engineering, robotics and technology. My student identified these branches of Science.

The third step is to introduce the article or the text, its author and the source from where I took it from.

The fourth step is for us to understand the meaning of the words used in context. So, we read.

We look for clues in the text that inform us of the meaning of the word. We do not go to the dictionary right away. I use the dictionary as a reference tool to verify the author's use of the words in context and to validate our guesses and our own understanding of the words. 

This is another activity for learning the use of reference materials, such as the dictionary. Also, it is a way of planting curiosity, cross checking and documentation. These are habits and traits necessary for research skills in the upper gardes or in high school.

Along the way, we meet important information about the topic we are reading. We take note of it and rewrite the information in our own words. In a way we are paraphrasing without the in-text citation yet. What is important here is our responses to the text and the way we express or communicate them in writing. Then, I tell him/her to review his/her writing for errors or mistakes.

Taking notes is a strategy I teach my students at the beginning of our unit or sessions.

What I enjoy about this strategy in teaching new words is the modeling and explicit instruction happening simultaneously. The brain is a network and it can think fast and slow. An awareness of thinking processes and monitoring the steps to reach a goal are valuable in reading comprehension. 

Watch out for the next Step by Step with me, Teacher Zee!

Direct Instruction and Explicit Teaching

One of the things I have been busy with since recovering from COVID-19 was co-facilitating a DepEd Teacher Training organized by Center for Educational Measurement, Inc. The past four session leaned heavily on theories on language and literacy teaching, especially the psychology and nature of reading. Tonight, we had a session on Direct and Explicit Instruction. I have a group of teachers I monitor, supervise and learn from. Most of them are very new to the ideas we are discussing in the training. Speaking for myself, I am also learning new things and re-learning strategies to teach literacy for students in the K-12 levels.

Here are my five takeaways from the session tonight.

1. Teachers are instructional designers. The framework known as Gradual Release of Responsibility is useful in designing instruction geared towards student agency. In this framework, the teacher is leader, model, guide and companion in the student's learning journey.

2.  Language forms a key role in discourse. Discourse has two kinds namely, Primary and Secondary. The former is discourse that happens at home and in the immediate environment of the child while the later is discourse that occurs in school and in formal instruction. Already, the difference in language acquisition exist between the two. Teachers need to recognize these two kinds of discourse to be able to design instruction that is appropriate and helpful to the child and his/her family.

3. Predicting. Questioning. Clarifying. Summarizing. These are the Fab 4 in strategic learning. These strategies can be taught in isolation or through integration. 

4. There are five principles of Direct Instruction namely, Conspicuous Strategies; Mediated Scaffolding; Strategic Integration; Primed Background Knowledge; and Judicious Review. Of the five, I am most challenged to apply Judicious Review in my teaching practice. I think I need to do more research and to try this our in my tutorial sessions.

5. Learning and re-learning takes a while. The first step is to try. The second step is to continuously do. The third step is to document. The fourth step is to reflect. Last is to take action.

Next session, we will be looking at lesson plans and how these principles can be applied.

The Lighthouse Diary # 36: When Language Expands and Limits Our World

There is a favorite quote I have of Unlce Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender. He said this to Zuko while teaching him how to bend thunder: It is important to draw wisdom from many places. If we take it only from one place, it becomes rigid and stale. This quote comes to mind at the heels of two teacher trainings and professional growth activities at work and in my learning communities. By the later I mean the BTS fandom known as ARMY. 

At the beginning of February, a colleague from work shared her learning from the teacher training she attended where I was a co-facilitator. It was a month of intensive training on language ang literacy teaching for K-12 teachers. This module focused on academic writing and the teaching of language and literacy skills across content areas. Content area teachers teach their subject principles and topics. The language in which a particular subject is taught is a part of the knowledge that students must learn. Reading, writing, listening and speaking skills factor in language learning as tools to navigate and understand knowledge of the subject. It is can be complicated so the best metaphor I can use is that of a twine or a rope that is braided by several threads. 

This rope metaphor to teach the content, the language used for that specific discipline and the literacy skills that go with it is espoused by M. Scarborough. Knowing the theory is the beginning of putting methods and strategies into action. In this framework, the subject area teacher teaches three things: the content, the knowledge of language for that discipline, and the skills needed to communicate and comprehend content and language knowledge.

In the elementary level, language teaching and learning happens through vocabulary acquisition and development. As I have shared in last week's training,  vocabulary is challenging to teach because it straddles language learning and reading comprehension. However, this presents an opportunity to learn an interdisciplinary approach to teaching as well as flexibility to use methods appropriately for different learners. When to focus on the teaching of skills in isolation? When does integration come in? 

This is when Uncle Iroh's quote about wisdom from all places came in. I realized I need to constantly look at multiple views and varied ways of examining, even sensing  content and knowledge. If I stick to what I know, I will not be able to gather an understanding of the big picture and how in its entirety, it is made up of small pieces. The learner's profile and learning modalities are a set of knowledge that I too can use to teach language and literacy. 

Uncle Iroh knows his student so well. Such is the inspiration I take from a fictional character that looms larger than life. 

Apparently, BTS' Kim Namjoon has something to say about language expanding horizons and breaking down barriers. It is interesting how he is leading Bangtan into an expansion of worlds and worldviews through their English songs, Dynamite, Butter, PTD and the most recent collab with Coldplay, My Universe. 

Below is a short interview that the Tannies had last year in August about language.

 

 There is much to learn from these Bangtan young men about language. They sing in Korean, Japanese and English. And everyone is welcome to enjoy it. Everyone is WELCOME to be a part of it. No exclusivity. It is something all ARMYs must consider when coining terms, inventing words and portmanteaus. Language is knowledge we can all share, grow and develop. What ever happened to Bangtan's message of a generation that welcomes if we keep language, those we use and those we create, at the gates?

Learning Filipino Through Play and Toy Making

Tingnan ang post na ito sa Instagram

Isang post na ibinahagi ni Zarah Gagatiga (@zarah815)