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English Composition 1 with Workshop

Instructor: Myra Thomas

Presentation:

“Defining Moments: Teaching Vocabulary in an Engaging Manner”

Introduction

For instructors of English Composition 1 with Workshop, the students come to the class in need of additional help in many areas. But before we can get to the point of writing a very rudimentary essay or breaking down a brief nonfiction story, the students need to have a basic understanding of vocabulary.

1. Words in Reading

Without a good command of the English language, it is impossible for the students to read well. Many of the difficulties in reading the essays in Fields of Reading happen, not only because the students do not like to read or don’t read often enough, it is because many of them are truly struggling with the definition of words we assume they should know by their age.

2. Words in Student Essays

Without a decent vocabulary, they simply cannot produce a college-level paper. As instructors, I know we often read papers with syntax problems. Proper syntax is very much determined by the interplay of words, so instructors need to emphasize vocabulary in the community college setting.

Additionally, there are students who will get in the habit of using “BIG” words, trying to write what they think is a college paper. Many of these attempts with “big words” fail. The students will misuse words or mix-up unrelated words.

3. Best Practices

  1. The Dreaded Vocab List

I give a vocabulary assessment. They are advised that it will not be held against them. But, it gives me an idea of the words they do not know. The quizzes are made up of words pulled from Kaplan’s SAT review words and other words I pull from the essays we will read in Fields of Reading. From that, I build a vocabulary list for the students. They are required to find the definitions on their own. At this point, the students need motivation. I give pop vocabulary quizzes. If they do well, they can earn extra credit points on an essay.

English Composition 1 with Workshop

Instructor: Myra Thomas

Presentation:

“Defining Moments: Teaching Vocabulary in an Engaging Manner”

  1. Team Exercises

The word lists become the basis for a number of “fun” projects and games we do throughout the year. I will actually post a game on the white board—a Soul Train scramble. They play in teams, and each team gets a vocabulary list word to unscramble, define and use in a sentence. They compete for participation group points. I keep track of the people in each team game we play, making sure to mix the people up in subsequent games and projects. The team approach helps to avoid embarrassment.

  1. Encourage Cheating

Near the very end of the year, when we are past the final out of class essay, the students will play a game of Scrabble. They are able to bring in paper dictionaries and use dictionary.com on their phones. While some might consider it cheating, I get them in the habit of thinking about words and using dictionaries to help them.

  1. Group Presentation Work

Students are required to work in teams, leading grammar and vocabulary presentations. Students are broken up into groups of 4 to 5. Each team needs to teach a short lesson, offer study material and then give a short quiz. After the quiz, they go over the material with the class.

  1. Rethink Academic Writing

Students will often write what they call “fancy” or “academic” writing “like my teacher wanted”. They Say, I Say has a wonderful chapter on this, which I do assign for student reading. Many of my comments on papers focus on definitions and the need to use “fancy” language. In my in-class lectures, I emphasize streamlining sentences—short and sweet. I provide examples of complicated sentences and ways to revise and rewrite.

  1. Educate, Backtrack, Restate

In class conversations, I make sure to use language that might be considered “above their heads”. Then I will purposely restate the same idea, again in a new and simpler fashion. Often, I will use the words I used in conversation, as the basis for a new word list. The word lists I give do not turn into a dreaded thing after all, since the students come to learn that any activity related to the definitions will result in a stronger participation grade or extra credit points.