All About Words (Pytash)

One thing that I noticed tutoring at Firestone last semester is that students lack a solid vocabulary. In the beginning of the chapter Jago explains that students that struggle with reading will avoid reading books (Jago 22). She also states that reading increases vocabulary knowledge (Jago 21). How can one explain unknown words to students? I think that it is impossible (and impractical) for teachers to supply the meaning for every word that students do not know. Students may remember the word momentarily but I believe that they will forget the meaning shortly after. A powerful statement that Jago wrote about this subject is that teachers "help students develop habits of mind for approaching unfamiliar vocabulary" (Jago 22.) If we teach students the tools like thinking about root words and thinking about what the word means in context we can teach students how to figure out what words mean on their own-- without having them regurgitate Webster's definition for 20 words at once. Jago states that a goal would be, "teaching prefixes, suffixes, and roots; teaching students to derive meaning from context; and teaching words as part of semantic groupings" (Jago 23).

I also supported Jago's view teaching vocabulary words that are important and useful (28). I remember memorizing the definition to words that I never saw/heard again. I think that when I teach I will choose literature that is rich in vocabulary (Jago 32). I will also use the words when I am teaching so that students will come in contact with the words not only in the text but in spoken language.