10:2 Word Wall

When and where did I find the word: Word Wall was part of the reading assignment for this week. The word was found in the book Word Wise and Content Rich: Five essential steps to teaching academic vocabulary. By Fisher and Frey.

Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2008).  Word wise and content rich:  Five essential steps to teaching academic vocabulary.  Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

What it means: According to Fisher and Frey (2008), word walls are organized collections of words displayed in large letters on a wall.

Level of Familiarity: I have heard of word walls before in school. When I was in school, we had word walls; however, they were only used to display the new and old vocabulary that we had learned that year/week. We never did anything more with the word walls. Through experience in my classroom, I have learned that word walls are only as effective as they are used in the classroom.  

Do I want to know this word well and tell why? I definitely want to know this strategy well. The word walls are a very good resource to help students acquire new vocabulary, as long as they are used well within the lesson. Using word walls increases students exposure to the words, and when used properly, they are highly useful tools to introduce, review, and use words.

Do I think others should know this word well....if so who and why?  Teachers should know this strategy well. Again, it is important to use the word wall in lessons throughout the unit to ensure the students get the most use of the word wall in the classroom. Word walls need to be actively used in the classroom, and shouldn't be considered passive, but relevant classroom decoration.  

10:1 Shades of meaning paint chip

When and where did I find the word: Shades of meaning paint chip was part of the the reading assignment for this week. The word was found in the book Word Wise and Content Rich: Five essential steps to teaching academic vocabulary. By Fisher and Frey.

Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2008).  Word wise and content rich:  Five essential steps to teaching academic vocabulary.  Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

What it means: According to Fisher and Frey (2008) Shades of meaning paint chips is a strategy used to help students understand the differences between related words.

Level of Familiarity: I have never heard of the shades of meaning paint chip strategy. When I read the chapter in Fisher and Frey (2008), I thought that it was great to find that strategy to use in my classroom.  I think that it will be beneficial and will help my students understand vocabulary and maintain their interest when attempting to keep track of new vocabulary.

Do I want to know this word well and tell why? I definitely want to know this strategy well. This is a new strategy that I can use in my classroom and my students can keep and benefit from all year long.  

Do I think others should know this word well....if so who and why?  Teachers should know this strategy well. Again, it is a great way to have the students concretely see the differences between related words. This is also a great way to have students keep track of new vocabulary and use it in their daily writing.

9:2 WebQuests

When and where did I find the word: WebQuests was part of the reciprocal teaching reading for the presentation this week. The article was Web-based inquiry learning: Facilitating thoughtful literacy with WebQuests. I thought the article was a very good choice and since I am planning an upcoming lesson using a webQuest, it was also very helpful! (Ikpeze & Boyd, 2007)

Ikpeze, C. &Boyd, F. (2007). Web-based inquiry learning: Facilitating thoughtful literacy with WebQuests. The Reading Teacher, 60(7), 644-654

What it means: According to Ikpeze and Boyd (2007) “WebQuests can be designed to offer learners opportunities for multiple knowledge representations and multiple perspectives so that they can capture the real-world complexities to which the knowledge is applied.”

Level of Familiarity: I have used WebQuests in my own classroom as a part of scaffolding knowledge the way that Ikpeze and Boyd discuss in their article.

Do I want to know this word well and tell why? I definitely want to know this word well. It is a new way of scaffolding information in a way that is motivating to students’ learning. The article gave excellent information as to how to create and search for appropriate WebQuests to bring into the classroom.

Do I think others should know this word well....if so who and why?  Teachers should know this word well, The students are always looking for information and along with the previous article on digital literacy, this is a new way students are learning to find and research information. Students’ need to have an understanding of how to read and evaluate online information just as much as in the textbook.

9:1 Media Literacy

When and where did I find the word: Media Literacy was part of the reciprocal teaching reading for the presentation this week. The article was Orchestrating the Media Collage: Being able to read and write multiple forms of media and integrate them into a meaningful whole is the new hallmark of literacy.” (Ohler, 2009)

Ohler, J. (2009).  Orchestrating the Media Collage: Being able to read and write multiple forms of media and integrate them into a meaningful whole is the new hallmark of literacy.  Journal of Educational Leadership. 8-13.

What it means: According to Ohler (2009), media literacy is the ability to recognize, evaluate, and apply the techniques of media persuasion.

Level of Familiarity: I have never heard of the formal definition of media literacy before reading this article. This is however is a very important word to know especially when considering how our students are growing up in a multi media generation. They have to not only know how to read media, but also how to evaluate and write media. 

Do I want to know this word well and tell why? As explained above, I am teaching students how to be successful in the world that we live in and one part of that is teaching students how to read, write and evaluate media.

Do I think others should know this word well....if so who and why?  Teachers should know this word well, they need to know how to teach and bring into their classrooms multi media. Teachers need to give students as much exposure to multi media as possible, and show them how to read and evaluate it for usability.

7.1 Reciprocal Questioning

When and where did I find the word: Reciprocal Questioning was in the reading this week, in the article “Did You Ask a Good Question Today? Alternative Cognitive and metcognitive Strategies” ( Ciariello, 1998)

Ciardiello, A.V. (1998).  Did you ask a good question today?  Alternative cognitive and

metacognitive strategies.  Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 42(3), 210-

219.

What it means: According to Ciariello (1998), Reciprocal Questioning is a procedure in which the teacher and students take turns asking and answering each other’s questions about reading or a picture.

Level of Familiarity: I have heard of Reciprocal Teaching which is a similar strategy in which te student takes on the teacher role and leads the class in a discussion. Reciprocal Questioning would be an interesting strategy to use in the classroom.

Do I want to know this word well and tell why? I do want to know what this word means; I would like to use this strategy in my classroom, not only as a comprehension and questioning strategy, but as a whole class review.

Do I think others should know this word well....if so who and why?  Teachers should know this word well, It can be of benefit to them when developing questions, or having their students develop questions in class. Teachers can also use this type of strategy as a review.

6.2 Rubrics

When and where did I find the word: Rubrics was in the reading this week, in the book Content Area Writing (Zemelman & Steineke 2007)

Daniels, H., Zemelman, S. & Steineke, N. (2007).  Content-area writing.  Portsmouth,
             NH: Heinemann. p. 121

What it means: Rubrics are tools that help students and teachers assess students skills by measuring for different levels of completeness, understanding, or creativity.

Level of Familiarity: Rubric is a term I am very familiar with, both in my undergraduate and graduate programs. I have given rubrics to my students in school to use and use them often as a grading guide. I love getting a rubric in class because I know what is expected of my work and how I will be graded. In a way, for me, it also scaffolds the project or paper that I am working on.

Do I want to know this word well and tell why? I do need to know this word well. It not only helps me as a student understand what the expectations are, but also helps me to organize my work and my thoughts before I start the project.  As a teacher, I think that it decreases subjectivity in my grading.  

Do I think others should know this word well....if so who and why?  Teachers need to know what rubrics are because not only can they help in the grading process but also students who need that extra support with their writing or specific projects.

6:1 Write-Aloud

When and where did I find the word: Write-Aloud was in the reading this week, in the book Content Area Writing (Zemelman & Steineke 2007)

Daniels, H., Zemelman, S. & Steineke, N. (2007).  Content-area writing.  Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann.

What it means: According to Zemelman and Steineke (2007) Write-Aloud is talking your thoughts aloud while you project your draft for students to see. p. 123

Level of Familiarity: I haven't really heard of Write-Alouds; however, it makes sense that if you are going to do something like a read aloud where you tell your students your thoughts while you are reading a story to them, why wouldn't you use that same strategy while teaching writing?

Do I want to know this word well and tell why? I need to know this word and use this in my classroom, so that my students see the process that writers go through when writing for different audiences.   

Do I think others should know this word well....if so who and why?  Teachers need to understand what Write-Alouds are and why we as teachers should use this strategy to help our students understand what their thought process should be as they begin the writing process.