[MOSAIC] End of Year Reflection

[Joy]

Elaine,
  I find these comments very interesting. I came to similar conclusions when I taught second grade, and immersed all the strategy instruction into read/think alouds. The kids who seemed to "get it" the most and the quickest were ones who did the most independent reading, both in school, and at home. That is why I guard my self-selected reading conferences so strongly. I really believe that the independent work I do with each student is tremendously valuable. I wouldn't trade anything in the world for that.
   
  You mentioned vocabulary, which was something I worked very hard on this year. I noticed that my fourth grade students did better with vocabulary acquisition when I switched my instructional strategy to more closely align with Marzano and Pickering's model. I still find it difficult to introduce words without giving a "definition." My students find it difficult to create visual representations or graphics for unfamiliar words. I felt very inept at times, and hope I didn't botch it up too badly. I'm hoping to do better with this type of instruction next year, because even my well intentioned, albeit inept attempt at this type of vocabulary instruction seemed to work better than the old "copy the definition" model. 
   
  Does anyone have any suggestions that would help me do a better job at this?
   
  Thanks


                Joy/NC/4
  jwidmann at rocketmail.com
  How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org
   









       
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