Tuesday, July 17, 2012
10 Important Words
I really enjoyed reading the Yopp and Yopp article Ten Important Words Plus: A Strategy for Building Word Knowledge. Instead of explaining multiple mediocre activities, this article focused on one great activity. I think a lot of times students read material without grasping what is really important. The 10 important words activity will help students realize the important points in their reading material by pointing out what they believe are the 10 most important words. I also think the “plus” part of the activity is a great way to keep the students engaged and further their understanding of the words. I think this activity would be great to do to integrate literacy in other subjects. For example, if your students are studying the Great Depression, you could have them read something about that topic and pick the 10 most important words. Not only does this help familiarize students with those words, but it will deepen their understanding of the content while building their vocabulary and reading skills. I made sure to print this article off, highlight some important concepts, and save it for future use!
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I did the same thing! I printed the article and made an outline of directions for myself so that I can use it in my classroom. The activity is very English/Reading class oriented, but I completely agree with you that it would be awesome to use for integrating literacy in other subjects. The whole thing is a win-win-win situation: increasing content knowledge, teaching new vocabulary words and improving reading skills. I think all teachers should be doing this in their classes.
ReplyDeleteJust like you I really enjoyed the Yopp and Yopp article. The activity will be very helpful in my future classroom, and I cannot wait to use it. Picking the ten most important words in a study will really help children to focus more on the very important parts of that lesson instead of getting distracted by many of the little words that are not as affective to the story.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with what you said about the article only focusing on one specific activity. It's confusing to read an article that has so many great ideas, but they give a hundred different examples of how to do that. The 10 most important words is a great way to get children to think critically, but also master skills.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely Madison! I love this activity and think it deepens understanding and expands vocabulary. I will definitely be using this activity in my classroom!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with you Madison. I think that asking children to identify ten important words that are important to the context is a valuable tool for children (especially those with reading comprehension difficulties). If children practice at this, they will become better readers and direct their attention towards the context rather the the accuracy of their word recognition.
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