The Power of Words Learning Vocabulary in Grades 49 Scott C. Greenwood ROWMAN soon theyll be putting them on me. I am also reminded of how long it is taking me to write this book! Now my boys are 12 and 10 years of age, which fits nicely with the middle level scope. Anyhow, regarding Back-to-School Night. The local school district is fairly large (thirteen thousandplus students) and fast paced (over 90 percent of the high school graduates go on to four-year colleges). I dutifully follow the abbreviated schedule for my twelve-year-old. I at- tend Nathaniels writing course, which is separated from his reading course. I believe that reading and writing are inseparable, but I dont want to come off as a complaining parent. What really, really troubles me, though, is “the list” of vocabulary words that are assigned on Mon- days for the Friday tests. The teacher notes (proudly) that the students are supposed to use their new words in grammatically correct sentences every week. “I saw the aardvark” is grammatically correct, but it Chapter One Why This Book? 10_322_02_Ch01.indd 110_322_02_Ch01.indd 16/29/10 11:44 AM6/29/10 11:44 AM 2 Chapter One offers no clue as to the writers understanding of the word. The writ- ing teacher has a masters degree and has been teaching for thirteen years. Does she know better? Theres no surer way to teach kids to hate word work than the look it upfind a definitionuse it in an original sentence “drill.” My graduate students are well acquainted with the shortcomings of the “look it up” and “regurgitate it” methodologies. It doesnt help kids to retain new meanings! Most teachers, whether required to or because its important, focus time and effort on vocabulary work. Yes, the emphasis on test scores is a factor, but most teachers have goals that are larger and more altruistic than in- creasing standardized test results. Despite an increasing body of evidence about what constitutes “best practice,” the fact remains that implementa- tion of good vocabulary teaching remains elusive. Fisher and Frey (2007a) state, “Yes, we are flush with information about teaching students to read and write well. The challenge, it seems, is putting all of this information into practice” (p. 32). Vocabulary breadth and depth develop rapidly from the early years through adulthood. It is estimated that children expand their vocabulary at the rate of about three thousand words per yearthis equates, on average, to about eight new words each day. This phenomenal growth is largely due to the social use of language, formal and informal, with peers and adults. Additional and equally important factors are the childs intellectual curiosity and general maturation. Prior to learning to read, and when authentic communication purposes fuel their interactions, children integrate new word knowledge into their “bank” of known words. Then wide reading takes over as the primary source of new words. Vocabulary knowledge has long been recognized as a critical correlate of successful reading comprehension. Many studies have shown that reading ability and vocabulary are related, but the causal link has not been demon- strated. Both vocabulary and comprehension depend upon the meaning of print, but at different levelswith vocabulary denoting individual words and comprehension involving much larger units. As children learn to read and gather experiential information (simply by virtue of more time living and interfacing with others, the various media, and print), their thinking broadens and they develop the tools to express novel conceptual relationships. There exists, then, an ever-evolving recursive relationship between vo- cabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Its also a chicken-egg proposition; wide readers may have strong vocabularies due to the fact that they read widely, or they may choose to read widely because they have strong vocabularies. 10_322_02_Ch01.indd 210_322_02_Ch01.indd 26/29/10 11:44 AM6/29/10 11:44 AM Why This Book? 3 REGARDING SKILLS, STRATEGIES, AND ACTIVITIES Teachers are often imprecise in the use of the terms “skills” and “strategies” as they relate to reading (Afflerbach, Pearson, more recently reading strategies have been popu- larized. One of the reasons for confusion is that strategies are used by teachers (to teach students) as well as by students (to construct meaning). Also, some strategies are used by both teachers and students. Thinking aloud, for ex- ample, is done by a teacher, as he makes his thought processes apparent. That same teacher might then teach his students to think aloud for the clarification of their own thought processes as well as their peers. Also problematic is the fact that skills and strategies may be overlapped, that is, used in tandem. Please be patient as the following discussion un- folds. When the teacher selects, say, the Frayer Model (see chapter 5), he is choosing a strategy and a structure for delivery to his students according to his