Vocab Vocab Vacab June 16th

Vocabulary is not only a crucial part of children being able to read but it is also an extremely important contribution to understanding what is being read.  Each of the readings stress the importance of vocabulary throughout every child's life in various ways. According to each of the readings there is a strong connection/correlation between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Vocabulary can be used, taught, and seen in a variety of ways. The article, The Vocabulary-Rich Classroom: Modeling Sophisticated Word Use to Promote Word Consciousness and Vocabulary Growth by Lane and Allen talks about the four different types of vocabulary including: oral, print, receptive, and productive vocabulary. When I first read this section, I thought they were crazy. I thought that vocabulary was just plain vocabulary and there couldn't possibly four types. They go on to describe each type describing oral vocabulary as the many words that one understands when communicating orally or even when an individual reads aloud to others. According to the article print vocabulary are the words that an individual knows when he or she reads and writes whereas receptive vocabulary are the words that one understands when they are reading or listening. Lastly, they explain that productive vocabulary consists of all the words that a person uses when they are talking and writing (Allen p. 364). I would have never thought that there were so many different dimensions of vocabulary. If vocabulary is such an important component is a young child's life, then can we as future teachers prevent what Hart and Risley call "the 30 million word gap" in the their article, The Early Catastrophe, the 30 Million word gap by age 3"? I feel that there must be some way to either prevent or decrease this so called word gap between children of different socioeconomic statuses. In my opinion it is sad to just sit back and know that child in low SES families will not only have a less sophisticated vocabulary knowledge but this in turn will effect many other aspects throughout their lives. 

Having somewhat voiced my opinion about the idea that less fortunate children will not have as great of vocabulary  as a child who happen to be from a family of high SES status, I am still wondering what are some of the ways in which teachers can make a difference when it comes to teaching vocabulary? The book along with the article Vocabulary Lessons  By: Blachowics and Fisher and the article about creating a vocabulary rich classroom, all give great examples and ideas of teaching vocabulary in the classroom.  In Vocabulary Lessons, the authors state that some vocabulary practices include: "Developing word awareness and a love of words through word play, teaches can deliver explicit, rich instruction to develop important vocabularies, build strategies for students' independence, and lastly engage students actively with a wide range of books" (Blachowics p. 67-69). These are just a few ways in which teachers can help students to develop better vocabulary within the classroom. Chapter six in the book also gives wonderful games that teachers can use in their classrooms. Some fun and interactive ones that I could see myself using in my future classroom include: teaching a couple of new words in your read aloud, reading and creating alphabet books in order to learn new words, and using a picture to help build children's vocabulary. 

I found the vocabulary articles interesting because not only did they explain the importance of vocabulary in every child's life but they also gave examples of how to make teaching and learning vocabulary fun and interactive. I can remember having those repetitive spelling lessons every single week. Each week we would right all fifteen or so words, the definition of the words, then write then in alphabetical order and so on. I can tell you right now that I remember doing the activities but I can't remember any of the words that had. I think that if we had used some of the techniques described throughout the readings I would probably have enjoyed vocabulary more and remembered it better. I learned a lot from these readings and I will most likely use some of these techniques in my own classroom one day.