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Final Reading Assignments!!!

5: The Place and Purpose of Vocabulary Instruction – May 1, 2009


There are two domains of vocabulary: expressive and receptive. Expressive vocabulary is shown through speaking and writing. Receptive words are words that we encounter while listening or reading. So in other words, we make expressive words and receive receptive words. Some researchers say that students in grades 3-12 acquire an average of three thousand new words each year through osmosis and context. I beg to differ. It depends on what each student is exposed to and chooses to be exposed to. There are also more specialized sets including literary terms, genre-specific terms, background knowledge, and domain-specific terms.

This section just lists all the content standards for high school students. I agree with most of these, and ideally, these are standards that the students are learning. Context clues are perhaps the strongest, only because it is the most naturalistic and also realistic for high school kids.

The very first strategy listed is to “read, read, read” and I wholeheartedly agree with that! I believe that nobody is reading anything worthwhile anymore. Facebook, myspace, and whatever spoon-feeds information the quickest is all students are generally interested in reading. Another strategy is to carry the right dictionary with you at all times. That is sorta ridiculous, only because of the internet. However, I do believe that access to a dictionary is very important.

Using poetry to improve vocabulary is a good lesson. It does take different layers of effort, though. First, they must define the words and then memorize the definitions and be able to apply them. Secondly, the students must be able to understand the poem itself. Understanding the vocabulary is necessary to comprehending the poem. Word cluster diagrams are pretty cool ideas because it forms a visual. This could be helpful to many students. The vocabulary log is a great idea because it keeps everything in context. Students will have the use of the word from the source, and all dictionary info along with it.

Students recognize the importance of a varied vocabulary. Ashley Arabian’s essay is very well written and explains the necessity to understand words. If a student does not know what words mean, they lose the meaning of the message. Messages are constitute communication. Without vocabulary, communication is lost.

6: Putting Grammar in Its Place – May 1, 2009


Grammar and mechanics tell us to identify and correctly use clauses, but that’s pretty much all that the content standards state. Burke bullets several ideas on how to teach grammar. Among them are: using grammar to generate ideas and clarify thinking, develop grammatical intelligence, using precise active verbs, specific nouns, know the parts of speech, reinforce what is correct, and omit unnecessary words.

Burke’s appositive lesson seems very useful. He illustrates the significance of appositives by writing two paragraphs: one with appositives and one without. He has students read both, one at a time, and then they realize how important appositives are. He has an exercise on punctuating appositives and sentence combining. Both are excellent methods to bolster grammar.

Burke lists many ways to use grammar to understand how to “read and write better and to think with greater clarity”: annotate, revise, identify patterns of usage or error in their writing, identify all nouns and revise for precision, conduct grammar brainstorms, work on grammatical synthesis, tap into intuitive knowledge, use student examples in contest, participate in daily language workouts, combine grammar and reading, write sentence additions, study stylistics, draw the text, play with sentence practice, look at paragraph logic, change the point of view, and to teach students to read the language of tests. All of these are excellent ways to get students better acquainted with grammar. Personally, I like the “change the point of view” because it changes the perspective of readings and gives students a good experience with playing with words.

Kress and van Leeuwen state that “grammar goes beyond formal rules of correctness. It is a means of representing patterns of experience […]”. Grammar does just that - it represents our personalities.

12: Digital Literacy – Technology in the English Class – May 1, 2009


I cannot believe that Burke was confused at a disc. Now, I don’t mean to be mean (pun unintended), but to be confused when a student handed him an assignment on disc is something that is pretty darn funny. In the opening paragraph, Burke discusses how technology is changing education. It’s just plain true and I’m sure that you (Dr. Gen) really loves this chapter. Current cell phones can do just about any task our computers can do at home.

Technology standards are listed, and it’s quite interesting. Almost all of them state that teachers must be well-versed in technology and actually use it in their coursework. The funny thing is that we don’t (aside from you). It is ironic that students have so much technology available at the palm of their hands, but must keep it in their pockets or lockers when they come inside the classroom.

The Internet is not perfect. It does have most of the information available, but it is not organized. Students can easily find sources, but the quality of each one must be examined – the Internet does not necessarily sort and distinguish quality. Teachers can use multimedia sources in the classroom, but must make sure that content is present. So many students focus on the entertainment value, rather than the content value of computer-generated assignments.

Teachers should use the computers to help them with their lesson plans. There are several ways that teachers can implement the Internet into our courses. We have already studied the use of Google, and the “forms” section is something that I am already implementing into my classes. Turnitin.com is something that should instill fear to all would-be plagiarizers. 

Okay, Dr. Gen… did you enjoy that Star Trek reference as much as I did? The question is interesting. Combining Hamlet with the Holodeck is quite interesting. However, I would argue that the beauty of literature comes from our own imaginations – in other words, our interpretations. The Holodeck is already pre-programmed. We access and retrieve data (pun totally intended) that was someone else’s interpretations.

14: Integrating English Projects and Exhibitions into the Curriculum – May 1, 2009


Burke surveyed what projects are being used and the came up with three main types: senior exit projects, exhibition, and class projects. Senior exit projects act like commercials to colleges advertising the experience of the student. Exhibitions are a culmination of weeks’ worth of material and are usually research papers. He ends this section with his own Huckleberry Finn project. He has six options, but I personally enjoy the graphic novel option. The fact that he includes variety suggests that projects should include different options to suit different learning abilities.

CyberGuides has a really stupid name. Sorry, I really had to get that out of my system. It sounds like an adaptation of a Dolph Lundregen action movie. In reality, “CyberGuides are supplementary units of instruction based on core works of literature, designed for students to use in the World Wide Web.” It contains all the information used for a unit lesson plan, but implemented online. I feel that they can be used effectively, if the correct amount of effort is used alongside appropriate content.

Projects as a “personal rite of passage” is an interesting parallel. It’s true, a project is a demonstration of attained knowledge. Students tend to remember their projects and Burke even states that some students’ projects led them to success when they were older. He also states that it decreased his paper load, and that is definitely true. The important thing is to maintain the content area of projects and to keep them realistic.