Week 22: New Routines with ELD 2 that Promote Critical Thinking and Conversation

Vocabulary

For a while now, I'd been feeling like I needed to up my game with my vocabulary routine in my ELD 2 class. It's not that the words I've been giving them need to be more rigorous; I've been using words from Averil Coxhead's Academic Word List in addition to words from the readings we do in class, and I've been quite happy with the results. What I needed to improve was the way in which I presented that vocabulary to the kids and had the kids work with the vocabulary throughout the week. My routine followed this sequence:

• Monday:
• Give the students the vocabulary worksheet (sample)
• Go over the pronunciation of each of the words
• Give the students the parts of speech and definitions using a Google Presentation (sample)
• Students work together to come up with synonyms and antonyms for the words
• Go over the synonyms and antonyms with the class
• Students write sentences and draw pictures for #1-5 on the worksheet in class; check to make sure the sentences use the words correctly
• Tuesday:
• Spelling test
• Students write the words they missed 5x each
• Students write sentences and draw pictures for #6-10 on the worksheet in class
• Wednesday:
• Spelling test
• Students write the words they missed 5x each
• Students write sentences and draw pictures for #11-15 on the worksheet in class
• Thursday:
• Spelling test
• Students write the words they missed 5x each
• Students write sentences and draw pictures for #16-20 on the worksheet in class
• Practice test using a Google Presentation with pictures to represent each of the words (sample)
• Students have to guess which picture matches with each word
• Friday:
• Vocabulary Quiz (sample)

While this routine gave the students plenty of practice with writing the words, it did not really help the students to internalize the meanings of the words. Also, the method in which I delivered the definitions did not encourage them to do any critical thinking to try to figure out the words for themselves, which is the very skill they need when they are reading or having conversations out in the real world; they need to know how to use context clues and how to tap into their prior knowledge in order to figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word because they won't want to stop everything to look up a word every time they come across a word they don't know. 

I decided that my routine needed an overhaul. I needed to do more in order to help my students develop their thinking skills as well as their vocabulary. 

At 8:45 on Sunday night, the last night of Spring Break, I was busy grading notebooks when my wonderful husband asked me if there was anything he could do to help. I looked at him and said, "Well... I need to make my vocabulary for ELD 2..."

"Okay. I can do that for you."

"But... I am going to start doing it differently..."

"What do you want me to do?"

"If I put together the word list and a worksheet, will you come up with three sample sentences for each word? You can just get through as many as possible; if you don't want to do all of them, you don't have to..."

"Sure. I can do that."

I quickly came up with a new worksheet template that had 4 columns - Word, Sample Sentences, My Definitions, Actual Definition - and set my husband up with the computer. Here is the result. I planned on having the students work in groups to try to figure out what each word means, based on the sample sentences, before I gave them the actual definitions. This would start teaching them how to use the rest of the sentence to make meaning for themselves, which is exactly what good readers do. It would also get them working in groups, teaching each other, which promotes learning. 

I still wanted to give them the actual definitions because I wanted to make sure they had the correct definitions in the end. I also needed to figure out a second worksheet that would have the students write sentences and draw pictures for each word because I really feel that those are beneficial activities in helping students understand the definitions. I also wanted to give students the related word forms, so they will start to recognize that if they know what the word verb "communicate" means, then they can also figure out what the noun "communication" means and what the adjective "communicative" means. I came up with this basic worksheet, which I can use for every list for the rest of the year. 

On Monday morning, I began introducing the changes to my students. I told them, "I am going to change the way we've been doing vocabulary-"

"Awww! Why, Miss?"

I explained to them that I wanted them to start learning how to use context clues in order to help them figure out the meanings of words they aren't familiar with. I explained that "this is what good readers do." I gave them the worksheet, and they got to work. It took them about 40 minutes to work through all 20 of the words. Then, I presented the actual definitions. What I didn't do, which I plan on doing in the future, is have them reflect on which words they were able to figure out and which words they were not able to figure out; I think this will help them refine their thinking process in the future. By the end of the second period on Monday, we got through about 2/3 of the definitions, and I told them we would pick back up where we left off. 

On Tuesday, we finished going over the definitions; then, I gave them the second worksheet. I went over the different word forms (something I will have them do on their own in the future), and I told them that I wanted them to write sentences and draw pictures for all 20 words for homework that night. Most of the students gawked, "What? All 20 words?" But a few of them just nodded and packed the worksheet away into their backpacks. After I explained, once again, that I am trying to help prepare them for their future classes, the rest of the students quieted down and packed away the worksheets as well. I told them that I wanted them to try; my paraprofessional and I would check their sentences the next day and help them with any they were unsure of. I also told them that anyone who didn't do the assignment would receive a detention (a method I had to implement much earlier this year when 3/4 of the class weren't doing their homework). 

On Wednesday, I only had 2 students who didn't do the assignment. We checked the students' sentences while they worked on an independent grammar activity, and most of them were very good. After that, I had them take a spelling test and write the words they missed 5x each, like we used to do in the past. I planned on having them write conversations using some of the vocabulary words, but since some of my students had to go to an assembly during the 2nd period, I pushed the activity to Thursday.

On Thursday, I was out for professional development, but I left plans for my sub to do the spelling practice, 5x each, practice test using the Google Presentation and the pictures, and the conversations using this worksheet. 

On Friday, we had our vocabulary quiz as usual. Prior to the quiz (I think on Wednesday), I told the students that I would just choose one of the 3 sample sentences to use for each word on the fill-in-the-blank portion of the quiz. I told them that I didn't want them to try to memorize all three sentences for each word; instead, I wanted them to focus on really trying to understand what the words mean, because, if they know what the words mean, then they will be able to figure out which word goes in each sentence, especially since I include context clues in the sentences on the quiz to help them figure out the answer. Here is what their quiz looked like.

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Ease of use: Now that I've established this routine, it will be easy for me to follow. The key with any new routine is that you follow it. That's all. Kids love routines. Also, it wasn't very difficult to switch from the old routine, since they were already used to doing some vocabulary work every day.
Would I use this again: Yes; I am going to continue with this method throughout the rest of the semester. (Although, I may continue to refine it.) I like that this new method has them think about the words in different ways - from figuring out the definitions, to writing sentences and drawing pictures, to using the words in conversation; the more work students do with new vocabulary, the more likely they are to remember those words.
Downsides: Although I like our new system, I don't think I would start the year with this in ELD 2. I feel like it was beneficial to do the vocabulary the other way for a while, because the students need a strong foundation in the English language before context clues are any help to them in figuring out what words mean. Also, now I (or my husband) will have to come up with 3 sample sentences for each word, which means a total of 60 sample sentences every week. However, once it is done, I will have those worksheets saved to use in the future. Also, my students did not do as well on this week's quiz. However, I think the scores will start coming back up once they get used to the new routine. Furthermore, the thing that really matters is that the kids start using these words on a daily basis, and since they've started doing this, I don't really care that the quiz scores aren't that great.
Applications: Routines, in general, help with classroom management. Other than that, I could see this kind of system used in almost every level of ELD or English (you would obviously just tweak it a bit to fit your level of students - perhaps in a high level English class, the students have to go out and find examples of the words and use those examples to come up with the meaning). Also, the conversation component is good in any language class, and I know it is a method that is used often in language classes. For my conversation worksheet, I tied in the grammar concept we were working on this week with the vocabulary. Speaking of conversations...
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Conversations about Watching Television and Current Event Assignments

Every week, my ELD students have to turn in a Watching Television assignment on Tuesday and a Current Event on Thursday. Every week, one student presents his/her assignments to the class. This has been working pretty well, but since I wanted to give my students more structured opportunities to talk to each other in English, I decided to create a conversation activity centering on these assignments. I put together this Google Presentation which walks students through discussing their Watching Television assignment. By using this presentation, I got all of my students speaking in English, instead of just the one student who was presenting. On Thursday, I did the same with their Current Event assignments. 

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Ease of use: This is really easy to use. I walked the students through the presentation, and I wandered around the room while they were talking to make sure they were actually speaking in English.
Would I use this again: Yep. I am looking for every opportunity I can to get my students speaking in English.
Downsides: Students got a little confused on Part 2 of the conversation, and I blame myself because the slide is a bit confusing. However, now that we've gone through it, they should know how to do it in the future. Also, if you have students who did not do their assignment (like I did), you will have to come up with something for them to do while the other students are talking.
Applications: Promoting discussion in the classroom.