Module 2: Activities 1 & 2

Activity 1:

Complete Exercise #3c on page 58 in the text: first write a definition of each word listed. Did you notice yourself using any fairly consistent principle for determining what the words might mean? Discuss. Then read the first chapter of A Clockwork Orange to find the meanings of at least six of the words: http://www.hubertlerch.com/pdf/Burgess_A_Clockwork_Orange.pdf. In each case, how do you finally determine what the word means? 

Word	Original Definition	Definition after reading text
creech	A sound word, noise	Scream, exclaim
droogs	To walk slowly	Friends
glazzies	Something that is glazed
goloss	Something that is glossy	Voice
malenky	In a bad or boring way	Little
messel	A container	Feeling
millicents	Something small or a small amount
poogly	To describe something in a bad way	Afraid
razrez	fast	Shred
skorry	Something scary or maybe to move quickly	Quick
spatted	A past tense verb meaning to fight or argue
zoobies	Small creatures

            Prior to reading the text, I used inflectional endings, root words, prefixes, and suffixes to help me determine the meanings of the words.  I found A Clockwork Orange very hard to read due to the nonsense words.  I guess this is how children feel when they come across unfamiliar or challenging words while reading.  I found it very hard to focus on the text, and I didn’t comprehend much while reading.  It was obvious to me that I was using context clues before and after each word to determine a sensible meaning.  Before reading the Weaver text I probably wouldn’t have really thought about “how” I was figuring out a meaning in a text such as this one.  Weaver made a good point on page 49 when she said, “Fluent readers use context so automatically that they are rarely conscious of doing so.”  That is so true, but because I read that prior to reading A Clockwork Orange, I was aware of how I was using context to determine meaning.  Without the context I relied on syntactic cues to determine the meaning of the words, but with the context I relied more heavily on semantic cues to understand the meaning.  I find activities such as these enlightening, and it really makes me look at text from a beginning reader’s point of view.            

Activity 2:

Read Exercise 7 on p. 85 and rather than showing it to an audience, complete the exercise yourself. Answer the questions, including the two at the top of p. 86.

·         I did not try to read the words letter by letter.  I looked for blends and digraphs in each word.  I also looked at the pronunciation key for help.

·         I did use syllables to section the words into parts.  Since the words were unfamiliar to me, I found the pronunciation key useful.  

·         I have an idea, but I’m not exactly sure what “sampling the letters” means, so I think I mostly relied on "chunking" into syllables.

·         Quite honestly, I’m not sure I know the meaning of any of these words.  At least not out of context. 

·         I do not think pronouncing the words gave me insights into their meanings.  I didn’t notice any root words that triggered a definition in my head.

·         I know now I mostly use semantic cues, before and after an unknown word, to determine meaning while I read.  Sometimes I also rely on a dictionary.  

This experiment proves, once again, that reading words in context provides a better understanding of their meaning than reading them in isolated lists.  The information I’ve recently learned makes me not want to ever use sight word lists in my class again or at least use them less.  I have learned that students need a variety of strategies to help them correctly say a new/difficult word and determine that word’s meaning.  Syntactic and semantic cues are both important in teaching a child to read.  I’m going to try to keep all of this in mind when I’m teaching reading in the future.  I like how both of these activities have brought good points about learning to read to my attention by putting me in the “learner’s shoes” rather than my normal teacher role.