Chapter 3 Reflection

Building background is very important to a student’s understanding of the material studied. We all connect with what we read by comparing it to our own knowledge or experiences. When you have students who have no background knowledge of the subject, you must build in activities to help them learn about that subject. Brainstorming and other techniques can help you learn what the students don’t know about, then you need to provide activities to build the background. This can be showing a video related to the topic, read a story or article about the subject, or use the Insert Method on page 57 to learn about the subject.

Teaching the vocabulary also helps a child understand the material. Word walls, vocabulary journals, personal word dictionaries, word sorts, and concept definition maps are ways to help them learn the vocabulary. Academic language is particularly difficult for English language learners. Content words, process or function words, and words that teach English function should be included. Using the words in context, posting and reviewing words, and using visuals to provide concrete meanings are used to promote academic language development.

I'm not sure this is what we are supposed to do, but here it is anyway.

Paula