a strategy for imparting academic word meanings, making them visible, fostering long term recall,...
TRANSCRIPT
A strategy for imparting academic word meanings, making them visible, fostering long term recall, and enabling enhanced cognition.
Jeff Linn – Franklin Township
Jared Sheffrin, a 3rd grade homeroom teacher, greatly expanded the use of academic hand signs in our building by being open to using hand signs in his readers workshop classes and to thinking of and attempting novel applications and venues, including:•Student-led review•Student input into hand sign creation•Students sent out to teach hand signs to other classes
What is a language?
What are the most obvious, observable parts of a language?
Words and theirmeanings.[Ferdinand De Saussure]
So, what is the most significant information to impart when we teach a language?
How to comprehend, remember, and effectively use words.
But some words, like some ideas, are very sophisticated.
Academic hand signs allow us to picture the un-picturable, and etch these words and their meanings into memory.
Monosemy is the theoretical notion, developed in the work of Ferdinand de Saussure and later by William Diver, that all words have only one basic meaning and that the “shades of meaning” are derived from how words are grouped by the language user.
The monosemic approach of the academic hand sign greatly simplifies the word acquisition process for the language learner, chopping down a forest of alternate meanings down to one.
Unfortunately, words are an arbitrary association of sounds and meanings, but with a hand sign, you can create a non-arbitrary link to the word, a visual definition.
Mnemonic Connections
Visual - viewing the word- viewing the hand sign
Auditory - hearing the word- hearing the meaning script
Tactile - performing the hand sign- articulating the word
The Language of Thought
describe determinesolve chronologicalelaborate explain summarize theoryinfer cite evidence
Discourse Drivers
for example such astherefore sowhenever throughouthowever becauseoften during
Sight Words
a can twothe from tois on tooall have inof with at
Let’s Learn Some Physics!
• I hope the following mini-class is on an unfamiliar topic to you, and you will see how you can learn word meaning and concepts easily and memorably.
• Please be ready to view words, pronounce them, perform hand signs, and answer questions rapidly.
Physics Word Study
gravity curvature sharespace-time exert mass photons travel waves observe behave particles entangled information non-locally unless then
Relativity
Gravity is a curvature of space-time exerted by mass.
Higher Order Questions [Use words like: gravity curvature space-time
exert mass]
TnT: Which are older, Karen’s feet or her ears? Explain. Where would time travel more slowly, on Earth or on Jupiter? Explain.
Then how come the GPS works?
Photons travel as waves, unless they are observed, and then they behave like particles.
Observer Effect Question
TnT: If you try to observe a light wave using a sensor, it starts to act like a _________.
Quantum Entanglement
Entangled particles share information non-locally.
Entanglement Question
TnT: If you quantum entangle two particles and separate them by 1,000 miles, and then measure one of them, the other one will … The time required for this exchange is … This condition is called …
If a language is just a collection of words, then it is very important to know the exact meaning of each word …
because words are therefore defined not only by what they mean, but also by what they do not mean …
AHS Procedure: SKIER
• Select a significant word.
• Know the word meaning well.• Illustrate the word meaning
with a hand sign.
• Explain the hand sign with respect to the word meaning.
• Review, practice, assess.
“Onstage” Procedure1.Students view the printed word.2.Teacher and students perform the hand
sign. [You might recite a meaning script here.]
3.Teacher and students pronounce the word.
Review: 1. Teacher ask for someone to explain why this hand sign is used to demonstrate the meaning of this word. 2. Teacher re-state the correct rationale.
describeo Meaning – Tell what something looks
likeo Hand Signo Meaning Script – “It’s big, it’s green,
and it’s hairy.”
empathizeo Meaning – To feel what some one else is feeling
o Hand Sign
o Meaning Script – “Oh-h-h-h-h-h-h.”
The Importance of Context
• Context and cognition go hand in hand, so it is critical that the words that you select are nested in high quality text, preferably in a thematic unit of study, and that students use the words meaningfully.
Higher Order Questioning
• How could developing a theory and citing evidence help us determine the social issue being addressed in a book?
• Why could a fictional story help us empathize with people affected by an issue?
• Is this event significant to how your character eventually makes history or advances science?
*These questions were developed based on the Teacher’s College Grade 3 2015 Readers’ Workshop Curriculumand used in our RW classes.
Venues for Hand Signs
• The ESL Class• Mainstream Reading Workshop
• Resource Room Reading Workshop
• Mainstream Math
Modalities
• Teacher to Student• Teacher to Teacher• Student to Student(s)• Student to Teacher
Bibliography• Asher, James The Total Physical Response
Approach to Second Language Learning. The Modern Language Journal. Vol. 53, Issue 1, pages 3–17, January 1969.
• de Saussure, Ferdinand Cours de linguistique générale, édition originale: 1916.
• Huffman, Alan "The Linguistics of William Diver and the Columbia School." Word 52:1, 29-68, 2001.
• Wong-Fillmore, Lily. Supporting Access to the Language & Content of Complex Texts for EL & LM [Maryann Cucciara,, a student and associate of Dr. Wong-Fillmore, emphasized precise knowledge of word meanings in our district PD.]
• Zwiers, Jeff Building Academic Language: Essential Practices for Content Classrooms, Grades 5-12 John Wiley and Sons, 2008.