Vocabulary in Context Focus Lesson

I often feel like the focus lessons that have the most impact are those that weave in personal experiences. One of our focuses this quarter is on vocabulary in context, so I decided to have some post-it notes sticking to the inside front cover of Cruzando al Pacífico while I read it this week. Reading in Spanish gives me even more examples for understanding vocabulary in context since it is my second language. While marking down words that I thought about as I read, I noted the word and page number on my sticky note. Once I completed the book, I went back through and made some notes of different strategies that I used while reading to make meaning of the text. Some of my processes were obvious and that I had thought of frequently before, while others were slightly different and I felt like reflecting on my own process helped better highlight the complexities of what goes on in a reader's mind.

Here are the strategies that I shared with my students, each with examples from the text to link the concept to a text. I know that some ended up straying from the "context" and were other types of strategies to figure out unknown words, not necessarily limited to context.

• Think about what has been happening in the text. 
• Think about the connections you have with the topics discussed in the text.
• If you are unable to imagine exactly what the unknown word is, at least try to figure out which category of word it is, such as: person, food, location, game...
• Notice if an unknown word is mentioned more than once. Test out your developing theories of what the word means. See if your definition fits for the new contexts in which it arises. 
• Think about how the word or a part of the word is similar to other words you know to see if that can help you figure out the meaning. 

While sharing my processes with words I encountered in Cruzando el Pacífico, I emphasized that strategies work together in order to make meaning. After sharing the strategies and my examples, students recorded examples from their own reading during reading workshop and/or while reading at home. 

Being an avid reader and writer has had such an impact on my ability to enjoy teaching reading and writing. While there are many, many areas where I still want to improve, dedicating time outside of class to read and write for pleasure and pay attention to my own processes to convey to my students has helped me to better understand how to be a reading/writing teacher. I can't imagine just following along a teacher's guide and disregarding my own experiences.