AUTHOR: TIMOTHY RASINSKI

Teaching Words Authentically and Effectively in the Middle

and Secondary Grades

The Goal

"Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including

determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and

analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.“

In the author’s life, as well as my own, I was taught vocabulary as list

that was tested every Friday.

Harvest Words

The author makes a point that teachers should have students “harvest words.”

Harvesting words includes: having the students read enriching texts with great vocabulary,

having the students identify those interesting words, and talking about those words as a class.

This method gives the students ownerships of the words that they chose.

Latin and Greek Roots

Most words that students encounter in the middle grades are derived from the Latin and

Greek.

This study gives students the ability to decipher meaning, not just the pronunciation.

This can be taught in the class by giving one or two roots each week and brainstorm English words that contain the roots. The students

then brainstorm these words together.

Be the Bard

Once students have learned root words, you can ask them to “be the Bard” and invent new

words with their knowledge of the roots.

This gets the student excited to use his or her creative side.

Thematic Idiom Study

This author suggests that teachers group idioms together by themes.

Then, the students use the idioms in their oral and written language.

Since idioms are a little harder to understand, the writer believes that grouping them

thematically helps their understanding.

Word Games

Play games to help study and review words. This get the students excited about the review

while they are actually learning.

The games need to be fun and engaging!