Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Central
to learning a subject is learning its terminology.
Developing
vocabulary among students is not only an essential component in their learning
process but also a challenging task for the teachers. According to Amy Benjamin,
in order for the students to know a word, they need to understand that how it
is used in its context, its tone, its nuances and its flexibility. Benjamin skillfully
presented the teaching model for writing definition using left brain (methodical)
and right brain (metaphorical) thinking. With the aim to describe the left
brain (Methodical) thinking, she indicated 6 clear steps to extract clear
definitions.
1. Noun
2. Verb
3. Realm
4. In/Of
5. Which
6. Action statements
I find it quite useful to teach
students as it is very systematic and organized and provide with a layout for
the students. It provides effective and comprehensive steps towards structuring clear definitions.
The right brain thinking is
metaphorical and creative. It allows the learner to visualize it and thus helps
to remember it. Both thinking together establish real and lasting learning that
outcomes from a whole brain thinking.
The most challenging task for the
students is to use the new words in the sentences that enable to meet certain
criteria. Often student find it difficult to visualize the word into its
practical usage. I even observe in the classroom that some students know the
spelling and definition of the words but when they are told to use it
in sentences, they cannot think of its application. Definitely they need more
understanding of the words.
I
admire the list of verbs Benjamin provided in all content areas. It is really helpful
while teaching the students to write definition and explain terminologies in the
content area. I thought selecting two-hat words will be a fun activity for the
students as it provides the opportunity to consider the words using in its context
as a technical term as well as in ordinary speech.This book indeed is a very good source for providing the samples for content area writing.
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Hi Iram,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post very much. The visual aids were an added treat. Like you, I admired the list of fifty verbs which Amy Benjamin provided. I was quite taken aback that there are so many verbs related to each content area. We received a task in class to write fifty words in my content area,and it took quite some time for me to do it. I can just imagine how hard it would be to for me to write fifty words which are verbs only.
The introduction of the two-hat words by Benjamin was also very practical. Some might argue that introducing two hat-words to lower elementary students might be too early. It is not too early for students to realize that words have different meanings based on the context in which they are used.
Thank you for your comments, Caroline. Welcome back. How's everything? When I saw your name, I was so happy that you are managed to communicate with the class again. Good luck with rest of the things.
ReplyDeleteOh.. I really appreciate the hard work Benjamin did to provide us with those words in all the content area. But I am also glad at the same time that now we have bag of tricks full with these techniques and strategies that will be really useful while teaching the students. It is a great resource indeed.