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Supporting Academic Language

This week, I actually delivered my unit on Polytheism, so I will reflect on my experience with academic language.

For my unit on polytheism, I anticipated that students would struggle the most with remembering, or even understanding, the following terms: Polytheism, Monotheism, Pantheon, Henotheism, Anthropomorphism, and Animism. The pre-assessment they took indicated that they had no or very little prior knowledge of these words, so I knew I needed to at least provide definitions and examples.

I created a slideshow that included each of these words with their definitions. I also verbally and visually provided examples of these words. Students took notes on these words in their notebooks.

In the second lesson, students were asked to read an article on Polynesian culture and identify examples of these words from Polynesian religion. So, for pantheon, students listed a couple of gods/goddesses within Polynesian religion. For animism, students identified aspects of Polynesian religion where we see objects having a “soul” or “essence.” Throughout this identification process, students did have access to their notes in case they needed to refer to the definitions. The article they read did a nice job of explaining these concepts, so students didn’t need to rely on their notes too much.

In the future, I may incorporate one of the tips mentioned in Robert Marzono’s article titled, The Art and Science of Teaching / Six Steps to Better Vocabulary Instruction. One of the steps he mentioned was to have students create a visual representation of the word, whether it be a picture, a pictograph, or a symbol. Using visuals is such a great way to get students to remember information, and vocabulary is no exception.

Thanks for reading,
Hattie

Marzono, Robert J. (2009, September 1). The Art and Science of Teaching / Six Steps to Better Vocabulary Instruction. ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/six-steps-to-better-vocabulary-instruction

Comments

  1. Chloe CroteauFebruary 17, 2024 at 11:07 AM

    Hattie,
    I love how you took evidence from your pre test data to determine that your students needed a little more support with the academic vocabulary for the lesson. Visually and verbally providing examples helps with making connections, and taking notes helps with repetition. I think you did a great job making sure students understood the vocabulary words necessary for your lesson!

    ReplyDelete

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