Teaching Vocabulary

In my science classes I have had teachers that weren't very good at explaining new words and some that were good. Most of my teachers had us look up words or have a definition posted on a slide show. Very little instruction was dedicated toward vocabulary. I remember I had this one physics class where I felt like my teacher was talking in code. He would use a lot of math terms that made it difficult to understand the physics. I had heard them before and probably used them, however, I hadn't mastered them. When he would lecture I would lose attention so fast because he wasn't speaking in a language that was clear to me. As a student, it is hard to translate everything into meaningful language all of the time. I was in a seminar last semester and the speaker said that is how ELL students feel all the time. Students will be more engaged and understand more if they already know the words. Then they don’t have work so hard to understand the material. The vocabulary reading says, “A rich receptive vocabulary, however, can enable learners to process texts more efficiently and fluently by providing them with the ability to make connections what they read and hear and to articulate their understandings of any domain when they speak or write” (pg. 2).

I once had a great teacher, who helped us expand our vocabulary.  He wasn’t a science teacher. He was my humanities teacher. Before the class started, he told us that he was intentionally using words that he hoped we wouldn't understand. Therefore, we were to ask what they meant. We were at school to learn and expand our knowledge. I thought that was a great thing to do, because it made students comfortable asking questions.

Some things that have helped me in my science classes, even though I can’t think of a specific instance or teacher, is when they relate the material to something I already know. My Earth Systems teacher did that this week. He said radioactive leakage of radon in the decay of uranium to lead is like someone eating your popcorn before you can count it. Basically saying that it is hard to account for how much is gone because you don’t know how much you started with. It helps me when teachers use layman’s terms to explain a new concept.

I wish my teachers in the past would have used more ideas from Harmon, Wood and Hendrick. There are some things that I plan on doing that implement some of their ideas. I like the idea of word consciousness. I think the more I use the words, especially in different contexts, the more the students would understand. The text gives the example of puns as a way to familiarize them with words. This is brilliant and I would like to do that. I would also like to implement what my Humanities teach did: I will tell them that I will use words that they don’t know and I expect them to ask about them. Then I will write the words they don’t understand on the board as a visual reminder that they can refer to during the lecture, especially if the word is used again. Another thing I plan on doing that the texts suggest is to make that I teach the new words. Obviously, I cannot predict all the words they won’t understand. That is why I will pick words that are essential for the unit. I will try to teach them in context so that it has more meaning for them. Lastly, I would have them share what it means to them. Maybe I would ask them to tell me a short story with the new words or I could have them simple share how it influences them in their life. Of course they would have to understand it by the time they share, but I will know if they really understand if they can explain it in the context of their lives. Hopefully they would remember it better that way.

All in all, I feel vocabulary has a huge impact on our ability to learn. It is of great importance that we teach our students new vocabulary so that they can excel in future classes.