Giving Students a Schema for Learning Vocabulary from ReadingAuthor(s): Geraldine MaxwellSource: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 37, No. 8 (Apr., 1984), pp. 800-801Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20198607 .

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My vocabulary builder

Name_

Words I want The sentence used What I think What the dictionary to learn in the story it means says it means

2.

I can show I know these words by using them in a sentence on the back. For an extra challenge, I can try to use all three in one good, sensible sentence.

For my teacher Name_

1. _2. _3.

Giving students a schema for learning vocabulary from

reading G?raldine Maxwell, Brenham Middle

School, Brenham, Texas

All the discussion about developing in students a concept of the schemata

of stories prompted my thinking in another area: vocabulary develop

ment. If developing students' expec ! tations for story structures is good,

then perhaps we can help them

develop a schema for the process by which many adults learn new words from reading.

To my observation, vocabulary development has four stages. Initially we confront a word with which we are unfamiliar, either in pronunciation or in meaning or both. Then we may

800 The Reading Teacher April 1984

have two reactions?either we skip the word entirely or we skip it

temporarily while we try to determine its meaning from context. Third, some of us confirm our guess about

the word's meaning by looking in the

dictionary. The final stage is rein forcement?we ask "Do I really have a use for this word?"

On the basis of these observations, I developed the accompanying Vo

cabulary Builder (see the form), intended to implant a schema of sorts for learning new words into the

minds of my disadvantaged sixth

grade charges. This form may be

reproduced, or if you prefer the Ditto-less life, used on an overhead.

The best part is the section "For

My Teacher." Here the students

provide their names and the words

they personally selected for learning. You clip this part off and save it for

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evaluation, and the students retain

the rest for study.

| I have used this form as another

option in the several ways I present vocabulary in a basal story. It gives

me a break and gives the students a

chance to use a little initiative.

All about me:

Language arts

strategies to enhance

self-concept Anne E. Gottsdanker-Willekens and Patricia Y. Leonard, University of

New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana

Three strategies help children develop a positive self-concept by providing for concrete, frequent self-assessments

and feedback from teachers and peers.

Everyone focuses on positive qualities and behaviors, rewarding each child's classroom effort, interest, and im

provement. And everyone practices reading and writing.

The strategies help by making explicit other people's perceptions of

positive aspects of a child's behavior. The positive tone of the messages makes children eager to read them.

Materials required are ordinary, such as plain and lined paper, pencils, crayons, markers, paint, and

folder covers. The strategies require little teacher preparation.

1. Notes from my teacher. Write notes daily (if possible) to each child,

praising an aspect of the child's

performance that day. Be brief, use

words the child can read, and be concrete. You might write "I liked the way you drew your picture." or

"You were a big help to our class by passing out work sheets today." The child may put these notes of praise in a folder, to reread later or take home, as the child desires.

Caution: Some days it may seem

hard to praise all of your class!

However, the children quickly learn to look forward to these notes, so it is

well worth the effort. Allow time to

help poor readers read their notes. 2. My thoughts about me. Some

students explore their own self

concept and develop a sense of worth

by keeping ajournai about themselves.

Weekly entries may be written on

such topics as "What I did well this

week," "What I like best about

myself," "Why my friends like me," and "How I make others happy." Form and length of entries could

vary. A child who is unable to write could dictate to you. Journals may be

updated throughout the year and

provide a view of the child's devel

oping feelings of worth. Caution: Sometimes you may need

to help students identify positive aspects of their behavior and person ality. If they produce negative state ments about themselves, point out to them that this may be an area of

personal dissatisfaction and they may want to work toward personal change. Point out a positive way to look at the very area the child is

worrying about. 3. No tes from my friends. Weekly,

students can select randomly or be

assigned a classmate to observe. At the end of the week each child would

write (or dictate) positive statements about that classmate, identifying positive attributes or telling what the student likes about that person. Students might complete open-ended sentences such as "I like you be cause. ..," "I like the way you...," "You are my friend because...,"

"You make me happy when you...," or "I had fun when we.. .together." Other formats: paragraphs, stories, free verse, name poems, cinquains,

couplets. Students could illustrate their comments and present them

orally to the class. Each would be

encouraged to compile and read their

journal of peer comments. Caution: Screen all statements

before giving them to the recipients. Statements should be positive in

tone, specific, and focus on personality

The CLASSROOM Reading Teacher 801

3

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