Vocabulary Ideas

from Jen Krause   on English Companion Ning 

Hi Julee!  I, too, am trying this for the first time this year in an attempt to assess 3 of the CCSS for Language Arts: 

• L. 9-10.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases...choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

• Use context... as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
• Consult general and specialized reference materials..., both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning, its part of speech, or its etymology.

• R.L.9-10.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text...

To do so, I came up with the idea of having students identify words/phrases they do not understand when they read any text  -- one that I assign, an independent reading title for my class, something for another class, or even (*gasp*) something they read for fun outside of school.

I created a Google form available online that they should complete when they come across an unknown word/phrase, with the emphasis on completing the form in "real time" rather than afterward (which is why I added a time stamp to the form to tell me whether they're honoring this request).  The Google form requires them to fill in information for the following prompts:

• What is the word you do not know/are uncertain of?
• PREDICT what you think the word means, either based on context clues given in the text or on your background knowledge.
• Identify the source you used to find the definition (e.g., iBooks dictionary, dictionary.com).
• Copy the definition here.
• If your prediction was CORRECT (or close), please write a sentence or two to explain why you feel your prediction was successful.
• If your prediction was INCORRECT, write a sentence or two explaining how you developed your prediction and why it was off-base.
• Carefully copy the sentence from the text in which you found this word.
• Write your own sentence using the word you just learned.

To start small, I'm asking for only 15 of these entries due the week before the end of each quarter. Not sure how it will go, but I'm excited to try!

Yes - in my Google drive, I click on the CREATE button, then choose FORM from the drop down list underneath it.  Google lets you choose from dozens of pre-loaded templates for your online form and also lets you choose what question type you want:  multiple choice, free response (both short and long), etc.  Any data entered gets stored in a spreadsheet that you can access through your Google drive. Like Excel, you can filter the spreadsheet in any column. It was really easy to create and, I'm hoping, easy to go to to assess student work.