Bud, Not Buddy: Words
to Study
Chapter 8, pages
60-87
Tier 1 Words: sneaking,
staring, blanket, critter, train, nervous, delicious, suitcase, tomorrow, worry,
criminal
Tier 2 Words: figured,
direction, probably, suppose, instead, finally, imagine, steady, alias, suffer
Tier 3 Words: Flint,
foster home, hoodlum, Hooverville, crawdads, mission, Detroit, Chicago,
orphanage, Shantytown, Commies
Learning Tier 2 words have a huge impact on building and
strengthening students’ vocabulary and help them to talk about and describe
things with greater accuracy. It is for
this reason that Tompkins suggests we focus on this tier when teaching. These are words that students can use again
and again, and will help them to be more precise with their language use. However, that being said, if the goal is to
help students better understand our book club novel, I would recommend focusing
on the Tier 3 words instead. Yes, Tier 2
words are still effective and beneficial, but the words in Tier 3 are ones that
really help us to understand the novel; they are the words that not only
provide context for the story, but they also allow us to better understand the
characters and the events that they’re going through. As Tompkins mentions, “They [Tier 3 words]
aren’t used frequently enough to devote time to teaching them except as part of
thematic units”, in which they “are important to understanding the big ideas”. I think that this is exactly the case in Bud, Not Buddy. Without these Tier 3 words, we lose our
background and perspective of not only the story, but the characters as well.
Mini-Lesson
2. At the front of the room on the board, the definitions of the words above will be written on a piece of paper, one for each word.
3. The students must use tools around the classroom, such as a dictionary or computer, to find the definition of their assigned word. They must then find the matching definition from the board and bring it back to their group area.
4. Once they have the correct definition from the board (checked by the teacher), the group is ready to create their Word Poster. This will consist of their word at the top, a drawing or picture of the word as the students visualize it, as well as writing the word in a sentence.
5. Once each group has completed their poster, they share with the class.
6. Each poster is posted on the board or somewhere in the room where they are visible to all students to look back on when needed.
7. Read Chapter 8, paying special attention for the words from the lesson.
*Throughout reading this book, I think it would be
beneficial to keep a map handy. This way
we can show students the different cities included in the story, and can trace
Bud’s path as he travels.
I really like this mini lesson! A lot of students in the classroom today are visual learners so I think they will really benefit from having the visualization pictures on the posters. I think a good extension for this lesson would be to continuously add things about the definition that the students either research or find out from the book. For example, a foster home is hard to completely understand with a single definition. Therefore, the more students learn about foster homes the more they can continue to add to the poster. I think that all students should have free reins to all posters in the classroom so in the end the collection of posters belongs to the entire class.
ReplyDeleteI like how this mini-lesson has different steps that continue to deepen students' understandings of the word, rather than just relying on the dictionary definition. I understand your point about Tier 3 words being important so that students have the background knowledge to understand the content of the book, but I think what could improve this mini-lesson is incorporating the Tier 2 words into this poster project, as well. As you said, Tier 2 words are the most important for students to improve in their overall vocabulary development, so we should be using this novel to help students be prepared overall, rather than just for this novel. I think each group could receive a Tier 3 and Tier 2 word, since they could easily be related to each other, such as "suffer" and "Hooverville." Students would work with both of these words to find their definitions, create posters, and go one step further by relating the two words and creating a context within the book in how they relate to each other. That way, you are building background knowledge AND boosting important vocabulary development!
ReplyDeleteI agree that tier 3 words help shape the background and culture of the characters and events in the book Bud Not Buddy. These content specific words lead to great instructional activities that can broaden the students understanding of the text. The mini-lesson suggested by Ashley will allow children to explore the definitions of these Tier 3 words and make connections to the contextual meaning they have in the story. I like Sam's idea of including both Tier 2 as well as Tier 3 words in order to deepen children's conceptual understanding of each word. In addition to expanding their vocabulary, tier 2 words will support children's writing development and can be used across different contexts.
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