Outside the Box (1) – When schedules and structures don’t work

Some families just don’t fit into that square, structure-and-schedule box, even though a box can support the goals of homeschool and make it somewhat more manageable. It is important to note that learning happens in multiple ways throughout a day. With a little bit of background and some forethought, parents can provide important foundations for students and a leg-up for when formal schooling reconvenes. This series of posts provide reasons why it is important for parents to arrange opportunities for students to learn and provides some simple ways to do just that. 

Background: Vocabulary is the primary factor that contributes to comprehension, providing a means for understanding and an avenue thinking. Beck, McKeown, and Kucan (2013) classify words into three different types: 

a)    Common words that do not need to be taught because they are used in every day  conversation (e.g., go, like, home, beautiful, simple). 

b)   Content words (e.g., bicameral, meaning a government with two chambers) that are best taught when studying a specific subject. 

c)    High- frequency, sophisticated words with precise meanings, crossing multiple contexts (e.g., maintain, sinister, emerge) that DO NEEDto be taught because they are used to communicate ideas and are embedded in both narrative and expository text. 

Families are prolific users of common words because communication is usually focused upon the customary activities of daily life and seldom extend into more erudite, meaning intellectual or cultural, topics. (See, I just used one of the strategies that I will discuss below) Another reason that many families do not use those “big” words is the assumption that students comprehend more with more straightforward language. While this may be true to some extent, this thinking precludes the value of instilling a more extensive and elevated lexicon that will prepare a student for interactions with text. 

For more convincing evidence, just look at the paragraph above and notice the terms that a student may not know, which we take relatively for granted (e.g., prolific, customary, assumption, elevated, lexicon) and that do need instruction. A school cannot teach all high-frequency “big” words. There are thousands of them. The meanings of these types of words come through the natural environment, through families who are the students primary teachers of vocabulary since they model communication, and through wide reading.  With that being said, here are some simple, almost painless ways, to incorporate and reinforce vocabulary into your student’s daily life. 

Suggestions:

1.    Choose “big words” to replace common words. For example: “Stay inside the perimeter,” instead of “stay inside the fence.” Think about selecting “big words” that can be useful later. In this case, students will recognize “perimeter” when presented in the context of geometry, even at the elementary level, thus, reducing the learning load and positioning students ahead of the game.

2.    Define the “big words” with immediate, simple common words.Such as “perimeter, meaning the outside edge.” See example in the paragraph above. 

3.    Avoid referring students to the dictionary. Dictionaries have their place, but often define “big words” with even bigger words and have multiple definitions. 

4.    Keep track of the “big words” that you choose. Write them down in an accessible spot. This will remind you to use these same big words often. Remember that one and done is never successful. Students need multiple opportunities to interact with words. They will forget. For example, when you go camping, use the word again and generalize to other contexts, “This is your perimeter. You can play anywhere within it.”

5.    Provide opportunities for students to say the word, especially in sentences. This has to do with receptive versus expressive vocabulary. Students do not completely “own” the word until they can use it (Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, 2013). For example, “Go tell your sister about staying inside the perimeter.” 

6.    Tell students to inform you when they do not know a word and provide immediate positive reinforcement when they do tell you. Provide the brief, simpler definition or synonym and say for instance, “Wow, that was great. I like how you noticed that word. That was smart.”  

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of building a student’s vocabulary. It pays big dividends later in life. And this is something that a parent can do to support educational outcomes even if the family does not adapt well to boxes. 

I invite comments, suggestions, ideas. 

If you have questions that I might be able to answer generally, please email me. Please keep in mind that this blog is for suggestions that may or may not work. Here is the disclaimer, professional advice requires much more in-depth information and contact and is beyond the scope of this blog.  email: gail.coulter@outlook.com