Here's the "deelio." I looked at the samples. This is just another VOCABULARY PROGRAM. It looks okay and it would make life easier for teachers to just do. It's okay as programs go.
But it is a program separated from whatever else is going on in the classroom. So what happens with the vocabulary that is being developed through the reading and writing activities. When you do a separate program, it really cuts into your extremely valuable class time. There is never enough time in my view to do think alouds and some guided reading experiences and lots and lots of independent reading where kids apply their strategies and build automaticity and build their incidental vocabulary (which is by far the way they build the largest amount of vocab!) We sometimes need to teach specific words explicitly because they are key to a particular text, subject area (e.g. Science concept being read about) etc. And kids should understand then what learning a word in depth actually means. We should be teaching strategies (like the word parts and synonyms and all the others) that are taught in this program. But why not teach those strategies in conjunction with a text kids are actually reading? Both the comprehension and the vocab are then doubly reinforced! I've been a curriculum coordinator in districts and seen practice in specific schools where language arts teachers use a program. The program takes up an inordinate amount of time, leaving much less time for doing the way more important (in my view) learning of actually reading authentic texts and having lots of opportunity to read myself in just right books that I want to read. Have your teachers read the research on teaching vocabulary??? I always like Janet Allen's work. Marzano talks about important research. Sally On 8/16/11 10:21 AM, "Barbara Falotico" <barbara.falot...@verizon.net> wrote: > > > > > -- Sent from my Palm Pre > On Aug 15, 2011 9:52 PM, Schroeder, Richard <rschroe...@nssd112.org> > wrote: > > Has anyone used the Perfection Learning Program called Words to Go-Words to > > Know? > > IT is for Middle School and I am curious about what everyone thinks. > > My resource teachers want to purchase the program for our 7th grade resource > > students. > > > > What Works Clearinghouse does not have any info on the program. > > > > Thanks. > > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
