Vocabulary Strategy Lesson Plan

Getting students ready to learn:

Before actually beginning the lesson, pick out three words from the text that the
students may not know and that they have not yet encountered in the text. With
these words, create a worksheet asking the students to write the sentence the word
is found in, a prediction of the definition based on context clues, and finally the
actual definition of the word. Get the students introduced and ready to learn by
handing out the worksheet with the chosen words already written and allowing
them to look it over before they begin reading. This will make them aware of the
task so they pay attention to the reading material, searching for these words and
their meaning. Make sure, however, that they do not complete their predictions for
the words before reading since they need to base their predictions on the context
clues of the sentence the word is found in.
Steps to follow:
1. Hand the worksheet out to the student(s), allowing them to look it over
before they begin reading. Answer any questions and clarify any
confusion the students may have about the assignment and what is asked
of them. The students may then begin reading.
2. Once they come across an assigned word, ask the students to pause what
they are reading and fill out the part of the worksheet for the particular
word, writing only the given sentence and the prediction of the definition.
Have the students wait until the end of the reading to complete all of the
actual definitions.
3. The students should then continue reading and repeat this process for the
other two words.
4. At the end of the assigned portion of the text and with everything but the
actual definitions filled out on the worksheet, have the students look up
all of the actual definitions using a dictionary, computer, cell phone, or
another helpful tool. Allow them to compare these definitions to their
predictions.
Making sure what you meant to teach was learned:
At the end of the chapter or section of the text that the students were assigned to
read, allow them to look up the actual definitions of the words. There should then be
a discussion with the students about how context clues help us come up with
definitions for unfamiliar words. It should also be discussed how an event or the
story in general may be different from what was originally thought with just one
incorrect vocabulary prediction. This demonstrates to the students the importance
of looking up unfamiliar words and using context clues to help figure out their
meaning. It also shows how each word contributes to the big picture and the story
as a whole.
Bridget Coneys
READ 312- Dredger
October 23, 2014

Vocabulary Strategy Reflection

I completed this vocabulary strategy lesson with my eighth grade practicum
student. Unfortunately, performing this lesson was not nearly as successful as I had
imagined it to be when I first came up with the idea and wrote my lesson plan.
Because my student is reading a very simple book below his reading level about a
topic he is very familiar with, he already knew the meaning of each of the
vocabulary words I chose. The book he is currently reading is called Crash: (The
Heights) by Saddleback Education. It is about an airplane crash, which is something
that my student is very interested in and knowledgeable about. He enjoys learning
about airplanes and how they work. For this reason, he knew the vocabulary words
that I did not know regarding the parts and functions of planes.
His predictions for all three words matched the actual definitions we
eventually looked up on my phone after reading the two chapters that day. Even
though he did not need to use them, I explained to my student what context clues
were, the benefits of them, and how sometimes they are easier to use than others.
Also, because we worked one-on-one and he knew the definitions for all three
words right away, he did not actually fill out the worksheet. If I did this in a larger
classroom with more challenging vocabulary words, it most likely would have been
much more successful and the students would have actually completed the
worksheet. We then could have had a better discussion on context clues and the
importance of defining unfamiliar words when exposed to them in a text.

VOCABULARY PRACTICE
Name: ________________________________________

Date: ________________

As we read together, we may discover words that we may not know the meaning of.
Please identify any unfamiliar words and the sentence it is used in, a prediction of
what you think it means, and the actual definition of each.
Word: _______________________
Sentence it is used in: _______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Prediction of Definition: ____________________________________________________________________

Actual Definition: ____________________________________________________________________________

Word: _______________________
Sentence it is used in: _______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Prediction of Definition: ____________________________________________________________________

Actual Definition: ____________________________________________________________________________

Word: _______________________
Sentence it is used in: _______________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Prediction of Definition: ____________________________________________________________________

Actual Definition: ____________________________________________________________________________