These are a few of the vocabulary words that I found from
chapters 1 and 8 of Maniac Magee.
Tier 1: kid, name, reading, book, walk, run, town, life,
address, orphan
Tier 2: maniac, buzzing, intercepted, punted, rescued,
tattooed, legend, fascinated
Tier 3: scraggly, flap-soled, Children’s Crusade, unexpected
turn, P & W high-speed trolley
I think the main words that are
important for students to understand while reading this novel would be: name,
run, address, orphan, maniac, buzzing, legend, scraggly, flap-soled, and
unexpected turn. I chose these words because they are often repeated
throughout the entire book (or at least variations of them). Several of the
words relate to Maniac Magee himself or describe events happening in his life.
For example, Maniac (which is not his real name) is an orphan who does not have
an address. He is scraggly and has flap-soled shoes because he runs everywhere.
After several unexpected turns in his life, he makes an impression on the town
and becomes a legend as everyone is buzzing about the new kid in town. Having
absolute confidence in the meaning of these few words helps paint a picture of
Maniac and makes sense of everything else that happens to him throughout the
rest of the story.
While thinking of the best ways to
present these vocabulary terms to my students, a word wall keeps coming up in my
head. While I understand the importance of word walls, I feel as though you
need to provide several extension activities that highlight the importance of
committing these words to memory. In the case of Maniac Magee, it would
be good to draw a word poster or a word map to describe the words. This would
be especially helpful with the tier 2 and tier 3 words. For example, knowing
what a maniac is and its characteristics will help the students internalize an
image of his character. Likewise, several of these words can be used to
describe Maniac himself and thus knowledge of their meaning will give further
insight to the character and give background information necessary that will
help explain his actions later in the story. Students will hopefully notice that
some of the words are very similar and can overlap in their descriptive nature
(scraggly and flap-soled). I would definitely like to use a word map for
buzzing and unexpected turn. Both of these words could be used to talk about
multiple objects/ scenarios (for example, when comparing “the buzzing bee” to
“the town was buzzing” or knowing that an unexpected turn can happen literally
as when you are in a car or figuratively in your life). Taking the time to
really learn the meaning of the words will aid the students in overall
comprehension of the book.
The power of vocabulary knowledge in
relation to comprehension is huge. As Tompkins says, “vocabulary knowledge and
reading achievement are closely related: Students with larger vocabularies are
more capable readers, and they know more strategies for figuring out the
meaning of unfamiliar words than less capable readers do”. I was blessed with a
childhood that was rich with vocabulary, and I am happy to say that having a
vast repertoire of word knowledge has helped me immensely in comprehending the
books I have had to read for school or simply those books I enjoy on the
side. I am constantly using Google
to find the meaning of new words in order for me to comprehend difficult texts,
and I don’t think that will change anytime soon. I hope that taking the time to
make word posters/maps with my students will instill in them the same thirst
for vocabulary knowledge that I was blessed to receive as a child.
I think that Stephanie chose a really inspired set of words to feature for Maniac Magee. I read this book a long time ago, and even reading the tier 2 and 3 words brought back strong images in my head of Maniac’s life. That certainly says something positive about the vocabulary instruction I received as a child, while reading this book! It also shows that good vocabulary instruction can really help a student build a LASTING vocabulary - adding words daily into a permanent bank of knowledge, rather than just temporary knowledge, situated only in the classroom or the book.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree with Tompkins more when he says “looking up unfamiliar words in the dictionary is often frustrating because the definitions don’t provide enough useful information or because worse used in the definition are forms of the word being defined” (pg. 246). Had I looked up “flap-soled” in a dictionary, I would have yielded nothing. Looking up “flap” and “sole” separately would give me results, but it wouldn’t be within the context of the book, or even really describe what the author intended it to mean. Stephanie suggests word walls and maps and posters in order to teach these vocabulary terms, and I think these techniques work much better than dictionary perusal!
She also mentioned how a word wall alone was not enough to help students make connections with the words, and really internalize their meanings. She mentioned the word maps as something to use to really describe Maniac’s appearance and experience... why not incorporate a word map with an illustration of Maniac, with illustrations of these words?! I also really like how Stephanie found tier 2 and 3 words with changing meanings. Opening a discussion with students about how meaning changes in context is a great way to really cement the understanding of these words.
Great ideas for your lesson! The activities sound like a lot of fun (and a sneaky way to build vocabulary!)
WAWA WOOZY! You too are incredible. Every time I think I have an original idea, I read one of your blog post, and am blown away at how much better stated your idea is then what mine could have been. You too are fantastic at this!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with what both of you mention about Vocabulary. I really like what you mention Devon about the dictionary. The fact you bring up is so true, and it is something that the students in my placement struggle with. They want to learn new vocabulary, and are encouraged to do so, but when they go to the dictionary, their vocabulary knowledge isn't being built, it is becoming more fuzzy as a result of how the dictionary goes about defining words. Way to go dictionary.......
Stephanie, I like how you mention word walls. That is a great idea, and Devon adds a mega groovy touch to it with her idea of a word map and an illustration of Maniac. Very cool touch Devon.
At this point you two are probably saying to yourself, "come one Matt, why don't you add some of your own original thoughts to this blog post..." and to that I say "I can't because you have said it all and more." With this, I will say good day, but before I do I would both like to give you a round of applause (at this point I am actually giving you both a standing ovation...congrats!) See you both later.
woops, I made a typeOOOO I meant you TWO* not TOO...boy am I embarrassed.....
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