Sherrill Wight - Learning new vocabulary

Opportunities for students to identify and learn new terminology before delving into a reading will help them "build greater fluency...as well as a disposition to reflect on and analyze unfamiliar words and novel syntax.  They gain greater control of academic English." (Shoenbach, Reading for Understanding, p. 258).  The attached study tool allows students to select their own vocabulary list of unfamiliar words that create stumbling blocks as they read the assigned text.  They are invited to practice  metacognitive thinking and word-learning strategies to find meaning before consulting dictionaries or other resources.  This activity was adapted from the Reading for Understanding text, Box 8.16, p. 267.