night vocabulary strategies
TRANSCRIPT
Attacking Unknown or
Multiple-meaning Words
Strategies for
Comprehension
Have you ever been reading and felt the way this guy looks?
Me too.
What “hurdles” stand in our way of
understanding?
vocabulary
text structuretext lengthlack of context
Let’s Tackle One Hurdle Today…
Voca
bulary
Strategies for Attacking Words
You have to have a
playbook..
PLA
Y 1
PICK YOUR BRAIN.
What do you already know about the word?
If you don’t know what it means, you might be able to identify connotations.
Cono-what?
DENOTATION
• The dictionary definition
CONNOTATION
• The emotional overtones of a word
• Typically described using “positive”, “negative”, and “neutral”.
WORD
CONNOTATION
DENOTATION
PLA
Y 2
LOOK AT THE GUYS AROUND IT.
Context clues are important!
PLA
Y 3
MAKE IT YOUR LAB RAT.
Dissect the word.
Prefixes?
Suffixes?
Roots?
PLA
Y 4
MAKE FRIENDS WITH A DICTIONARY &
A THESAURUS.
Research:
• Denotation
• Part of speech
• Origin
• Synonyms
HA
IL MA
RY!
It’s 4th down and none of the other plays have worked?
• Run ‘em all at the same time!
Let’s try it.
SA
MPLE
WO
RD
Let’s use “indifference” as our example today, we’ll practice against that opponent before we meet the other guys on the “field”.
PLA
Y 1
What do you already know?
What connotations does the word carry?
PLA
Y 2
Use context clues. Can you figure out
the definition by considering it’s
environment? Look at these passages:
• “So much violence; so much
indifference.”
• “Can one possibly view indifference
as a virtue?”
• “Yet, for the person who is
indifferent, his or her neighbor are of
no consequence.”
PLA
Y 3
Look at the parts of the word.
Prefixes?
Suffixes?
Roots?
PLA
Y 4
Pull out the big guns:
Look it up…
HA
IL MA
RYDo you need the Hail
Mary?
Let’s review…
What are the strategies to use when you don’t “get” a word?
1.Use your brain; examine connotations.
2.Use context clues.
3.Dissect its parts.
4.Look it up.