Pytash Chapter 2: Words and Vocabulary

After sixth grade, I do not remember any time when an English Teacher focused on general vocabulary in a meaningful way. I almost feel like I was cheated, after reading about the way Jago teaches vocabulary to students; the words I know are mostly from my own independent reading and from using context clues. My freshman year of high school I remember being indifferent to reading one difficult text, Great Expectations, until my very passionate English Teacher showed how much he loved it. It made me wonder what I was missing, and made me work harder to understand it. Reading canonical literature became much easier, and I think about how much I would be missing if I kept up with my indifference. Like Jago writes on page 29, stories are better if students understand all the vocabulary!
Because I have no recognition of studying vocabulary, I have a difficult time thinking how to teach it to my students: often times I struggle with finding ways to explain words. I love the idea Jago writes about when she models how to figure out words based on context, prefixes and suffixes. I will definitely use this modeling activity with my students. The skill of figuring out words will be extremely helpful for students when taking the OGT and ACT. Additionally, I love the activity on page 33 where students get the definition of words and have to identify them in characters from Shakespeare, then in themselves. It is critical to apply new vocabulary after learning the definitions to retain it in long-term memory, not just to memorize it in the short-term. This chapter was very helpful in learning how to teach vocabulary effectively.