A willy stratagem

I see a lot of what I would consider bad instruction in vocabulary development. The title of this entry comes from a vocabulary sheet for The Color of Water that one of my students was working on today. Her English teacher had, as is so often the case, merely handed out a fairly lengthy list of words and told the class to look up the definitions. This is what she had written for "ruse." I asked her if she knew what a stratagem was, and she said she didn't. I casually mentioned that "wily" was misspelled, but I assumed that she didn't know what that word meant either. This was just one of several problems with the student's sheet. But, she was perfectly willing to turn in--and probably receive significant credit for-- an assignment that really didn't cause her to learn and understand any new words at all.

Vocabulary is difficult nowadays because so few students are doing substantial amounts of outside reading. However, I consider it to be the single most important aspect of reading comprehension. There are, of course, many other facets of comprehension instruction, but a student can't get very far with any of them if he or she doesn't know what the words mean. We need to start spending more time with vocabulary. In fact, many of us need to rethink the way in which we teach the subject. Vocabulary should be a DAILY concern in English class. It needs to be embedded in all of the other work we do. Unless we are willing to go through the sheets with the students and make sure they have accurate definitions for each word, we need to do away with instruction by vocabulary list. The Reading Rockets site,

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/9943 ,

has many great ideas about vocabulary instruction, but perhaps most important is its assertion that vocabulary is best learned in context. Ideally, it is learned through varied and multiple contexts. We as teachers need to use our expertise and show through direct instruction how new words are used in contemporary writing. We see and know the words, our students don't. If you are one who wants the students to do more of the work, Joseph Pettigrew has a terrific idea that reverses the traditional model.

http://people.bu.edu/jpettigr/Artilces_and_Presentations/Vocabulary.htm

Pettigrew starts with the definition or synonym then tells students to find in a given passage a word that has the same meaning. His site has many other clever strategies, especially for use with younger students.

Vocabulary can't be left to student chance or to willy stratagems. Don't be lazy; get out there and teach it!