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Building a Strong Vocabulary: Elementary Level

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Information gathered from the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary estimates that there are likely three quarters of a million English words, and this is a conservative estimation. With seemingly limitless options to choose from when speaking, writing, or reading, vocabulary acquisition is a vital, albeit somewhat disregarded, aspect of academic development. Elementary curricula widely limit vocabulary instruction after a certain grade, making it even more important to build up a strong foundation at home. So, how exactly can we foster a rich vocabulary for children at a young age? Surprisingly, age is on their side when it comes to acquiring vocabulary skills.

A little-known fact about language is that it cannot only be heard before birth, but some studies indicate that infants even begin to equate meaning to words in the womb, as well. Even more impressive is the rapid rate by which school-aged children learn new words after age six—an average of 20 new words per day! This information proves that it is never too early to work on improving vocabulary.

Studies suggest that direct instruction of vocabulary does little to build an understanding. Word games, however, are a fun and easy way to practice building vocabulary at a young age. Scrabble, Boggle, crossword puzzles, etc., will provide children with skills to build a robust vocabulary. Even using an activity such as Mad Libs can help children practice vocabulary use in a “play-like” format. Utilizing word games is a great way to build motivation and comprehension without making it seem like instruction.

Incorporating synonyms is another valuable manner of building vocabulary. When your child is expressing emotions, prompt him or her to use other words beyond “mad,” “sad,” and “happy.” Expressions, animals, actions, colors—the categories are limitless for introducing synonyms. The point here is to provide as much exposure as possible. Even when speaking around your children, introduce new or unfamiliar words so that they can hear them being used in everyday speech. When doing this, be sure to provide adequate context so that the new terms are rooted in speech or language that they already know. Otherwise, the new terms will be literally lost in translation.

It is also important to note that it is not necessary to correct children’s speech on a regular basis. The interesting part of “kid-speak” is the subconscious thought process behind youngsters’ common grammatical errors. For instance, it may be adorable when we hear children say things like, “I goed to the store with Mom today.” No, “goed” is not grammatically correct, but it does exhibit the attempt to use the past tense verb of “to go.” Instead of blatantly correcting their error, subtly replace their “goed” with “went.” This slight shift in language use will demonstrate the correct grammatical usage without frustrating them with constant corrections. Once they have mastered the grammatical usage, synonym work becomes even more helpful. Did you “go” to the store with mom? Or did you mosey to, rush to, visit, meander through, peruse about, etc.

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The Value in Letting them Fall or Fail

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It goes without saying that a strong support system at home can mean all of the difference when it comes to student academic success. Yes, parents play the most influential role when it comes to motivation and achievement. However, one flipside to the supportive and involved parent is when caring becomes coddling. Circumstances vary from family to family, and even from child to child within the same family—what helps one learner could hinder another. However, at a certain point, it becomes obvious, especially to educators, that some students have simply never been given the opportunity to struggle.

Given the opportunity to struggle? Why, you may ask, would any parent or teacher want students to experience such an opportunity? The reasoning is quite simple: children whose parents fix their every problem, mend their every snag, intercept their every challenge, become reliant instead of resilient. When speaking of mountains, hurdles, or obstacles, it is of course a natural response for parents to want to absorb or shoulder those struggles—to ensure that their child sails smoothly through their education. However, as Franklin D. Roosevelt so eloquently stated, “Smooth seas never made a skilled sailor.”

Roosevelt’s quote rings astoundingly true in an educational sense—a child who never encounters difficulties, challenges, or “rough waters” while learning will be ill-equipped when it comes to real world difficulties. Failure is not something that parents anxiously await; however, there is much to be said about the resilience of a young learner when he or she knows that failure is a necessary part of the learning process. Without the difficulties, a student will simply expect “smooth sailing.” Much like the inexperienced sailor, these learners will likely capsize at the first sign of rough waters ahead. Instead, parents must be willing to, however reluctantly, stand aside and allow their children to navigate the obstacles on their own. This is no easy feat—it is against all natural inclinations to watch their own children struggle. But, in these moments, it is important that parents find comfort in the fact that these “failures” or challenging times are securing a child’s ability to recognize self-advocacy, independence, self-reliance, responsibility, self-confidence, and motivation. The gains are truly infinite when children learn to stand on their own two feet.

Now, of course, there will always be occasions when a student may need help to keep his head above water. As a parent, you will recognize these instances in your child’s education better than anyone else. When this happens, step in as the experienced captain or simply provide a little bit more of a guiding light. But remember, as they say, experience is the best teacher, and the worst experiences often end up teaching us the greatest lessons.    

The Significance of Struggling

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In honor of International Mountain Day on December 11th, designated by the United Nations General Assembly, it is time to take a look at mountains in the metaphorical sense. The holiday itself is meant to look closely at sustaining the food and water supplied by mountain regions. However, classrooms are chock-full of mountains as well—challenges presented in an effort to garner grit, perseverance, and problem-solving. As much as our students may prefer to resist or bypass struggles, it becomes our obligation as educators to provide the very obstacles that students would rather avoid. The point is not to frustrate or deter a sense of success—quite the opposite, rather. Skills are best acquired when learners are presented with increased difficulty and complexity. The struggles—or mountains, if you will—teach our students innumerable life lessons about how to be successful learners.

Lesson 1: Struggles teach young people about the real world.
One difficult aspect of education is the microcosm effect—as much as we educators present real-world problems, realistic scenarios, and connections to our students’ lives as much as possible, what we do in the classroom is merely practice. Thus, we must be sure to provide practice that is rigorous, unfamiliar, and exceptionally difficult at times. By creating opportunities for students to encounter advanced material, we also prepare them for life lessons in the real world. College and adulthood can prove to be a rude awakening for many students. Beyond the difficulty with transitioning, it can often be the first time in young people’s lives that they have to rely solely on themselves. Providing students with the opportunity to practice perseverance before heading into the real world of adulthood allows them time to live and learn—to make mistakes before the serious consequences come into effect. The greatest lesson to be learned from falling down is how to pick yourself back up.

Lesson 2: Struggles allow students to see what they’re really made of.
Avoiding difficult tasks and challenges is a sure way to evade failure and mistakes. However, by circumventing the struggles, students also forfeit the opportunity to push themselves to a greater potential. The adage, “nothing worth having is easy” applies here. Battling through an unusually difficult task teaches students to muster up their own greatness—that no matter how tricky something might be, pure grit and the desire to achieve can overcome even the most formidable opponents or challenges.

Lesson 3: Struggles prompt creative thinking.
Consider this: students in our classrooms today are challenged with tasks involving problem-solving and critical thinking skills. If the “problems” that we place in front of students are elementary or mundane, how can we expect to cultivate the creative thinkers of the future? Much like the beliefs behind Socratic methods and principles, we must present students with opportunities to investigate, question, and analyze real-world problems for which even we, as educators, do not have all of the answers. By creating authentically difficult challenges, we are prompting students to think outside of the box—try something that no one else has considered. It may fail, but with that failure comes a slew of lessons and strategies to employ for the next attempt.

Conflict Resolution in the Classroom

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The highly social aspect of the classroom makes it fertile ground for conflict. Due to many variables—from age group and personalities to abilities and backgrounds—classrooms are almost certain to see some sort of conflict on a regular basis. While conflict is typically regarded with a negative connotation, some disagreements or clashes in the classroom are actually welcome. These squabbles indicate that students are expressive, communicative, and opinionated—not necessarily bad traits when learning is involved. If, however, conflicts escalate to tense arguments or heated quarrels, teachers must address the issue before the conflict grows. The goal then becomes swift and thorough mediation between students or groups of students.

Strategies to mediate conflicts can be just as varied as the personalities involved. There are, however, several effective methods to try.

Keep calm and move on
This method is best used when the classroom tiff seems inconsequential. Separate the students involved, allow them minimal time to dwell on the subject, and keep the train moving, so-to-speak. Attention to small arguments like this can only feed the beast. Instead, minimize the damage by quashing it and moving right along.

Consider it a teachable moment
When a conflict becomes larger, it may be time to pump the breaks and have a conversation with the students involved. Allow students some time to cool down before pulling them aside for a conversation, but be swift about the mediating. Letting things boil over when arguments become larger will only exacerbate emotions. Ask each party to explain his/her perspective. Ask about emotions and reactions, i.e., How did you feel? Why do you think you felt that way? How did you react? How could you have reacted differently? Then, ask each party to articulate what the other person said. This sort of instigated perspective-taking allows students to begin to see outside of themselves. Looking at a disagreement from the other’s perspective teaches students to value another person’s feelings and interpretations. This is no simple feat—adolescents do not readily develop empathy in one fell swoop.

Put things into perspective
Without minimizing the feelings and circumstances that led to the argument, try to provide a non-condescending adult perspective. Ask students to genuinely think before responding to the following question: Will this matter in the long run? In the most sincere way possible, you are simply providing students with an opportunity to reconsider the value of an argument. This is not to downplay their feelings. Instead, it prompts students to consider whether the argument is meaningful or trivial.

Elicit help from the expert
Obviously, especially when dealing with adolescents, some conflicts are far too complex. When the argument is ongoing, repetitive, or significantly impactful, refer students to the guidance counselor. The counselor is the “guru” of conflict resolution and will be able to mediate when disagreements prove to be serious issues for the learning environment.

National Special Education Day: Instruction for Twice-Exceptional Students

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The second day of December marks an important day in education. National Special Education Day may be widely unknown to most people outside of the classroom; however, its significance is notable. This special day, which officially began in 2005, marks the anniversary of the signing of our nation’s first special education law passed in 1975. IDEA, or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, ensures that students with disabilities are entitled to Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that suits their specific needs.

But what does this mean for twice-exceptional (2E) students? This type of unique learner, once referred to as GTLD (gifted/talented and learning disabled), requires specifically differentiated instruction beyond the typical special education accommodations. So what does this type of instruction look like in the classroom? Take a look below to see how best practices can ensure the success of twice-exceptional students.

Twice-exceptional, previously referred to as GTLD, means that a student has been identified as gifted and also meets the criteria for an IEP or 504 plan. These students could have Asperger’s, vision or hearing impairment, ADHD, or an emotional or learning disability. While we know that every learner is unique, twice-exceptional students have an even more complex need for differentiation. These students often experience difficulties in processing speed, working memory, written expression, executive functioning, attention and self-regulation, and social skills. While these struggles could obviously interfere with learning, the flipside of 2E students is their unique strengths. Students are often articulate, advanced readers with advanced verbal skills. Their gifted verbal abilities mean that these students would greatly benefit from tasks and assessments where their mastery is measured orally. Instead of a research paper, essay, etc., provide these students with the opportunity to present their findings verbally, organize a speech, or participate in a debate. A simple spoken exam or assessment could prove much more beneficial than a written response or multiple choice test.

Because twice-exceptional students acquire knowledge and concepts quickly, they may appear bored or aloof in class. They are known for rapidly acquiring conceptual knowledge and have a natural ability to think critically. Because of this, review activities, rote memorization, and tasks involving simple recall are not preferred. These sorts of tasks have the potential to cause twice-exceptional students to “check out.” Anything that seems repetitive, elementary, or mundane will likely be received as irritatingly simple, causing 2E students to zone out or avoid the task all together.

2E students are typically inquisitive and thrive when exploring, questioning, or investigating. These students often have strengths in problem-solving. So, provide them with hands-on learning opportunities—tasks that allow them to deconstruct, build, or question the functionality of something, and play to their strengths and interests.

Twice-exceptional students tend to think that others see them as lazy, unmotivated, or stupid—this could not be farther from the truth. These students simply have different learning needs. For instance, 2E learners often find easy tasks to be difficult and difficult tasks to be easy. They may be able to build a perfectly proportional model bridge; however, if asked to explain how they arrived at the dimensions mathematically, they may struggle greatly. In these instances, the students simply “knew” how to complete the task or skill—but they will not be able to provide a detailed explanation of how they did it, or why. Because of this ability to simply “do,” 2E students thrive when given choices and differentiated opportunities to display their talents. This sort of strength-based learning means that they should be given opportunities for acceleration and enrichment, creative independent study, and study groups with other GT students.

How to Keep Up After an Absence: High School Part 3 of 3

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Tis the season…for absences. With any absence from school, there will certainly be some amount of make-up work. The unfortunate truth is that prolonged absence from school can be detrimental for high school students—especially those students who are taking advanced placement classes. The height of flu season, combined with the holiday season, tends to create a notable increase in student absences from school. Whether families are traveling over the holidays, vacationing, or fighting off illness, this time of year means that, for one reason or another, high schoolers are missing more school.

So what can be done to ease the stress of returning to school after a long absence? For high schoolers, it is time for the student to take the reins. Not surprisingly, elementary and middle schoolers still rely on parent involvement when it comes to managing make-up work. High school is when the tides truly turn—now, the student should be primarily responsible for planning for and managing work in preparation of a long absence.

Be proactive

Not every extended absence is planned—the stomach flu is not going to afford a family the opportunity to plan ahead for a multi-day absence. However, vacations, family visits, or religious observances are things that can and should be planned for. High school students should be sure to email the school a week or two prior to the absence. As a parent, you can certainly remind your high schooler to contact his or her teachers, but it is important that students be accountable at this point in their education.

Take work home

Encourage your high schooler to ask for work prior to the absence. Especially if your child is taking advanced or honors courses, he or she will need every opportunity to get ahead if missing multiple days of instruction. Staying afloat will also reduce stress or anxiety for students, as they can better manage the workload ahead of time. Encourage your high schooler to complete the work in small bits during any downtime while absent. It may be necessary to carve out specific work times during the absence to help manage time, as well. Also, be sure that your high schooler has written all assignments, due dates, and assessments prior to the absence.

Utilize technology

If possible, bring a tablet or laptop along for the trip or holiday. Encourage your high schooler to stay in contact with peers from class if multiple days will be missed. This will also allow your child to check online assignments posted to Edline or Google classroom. If your high schooler is currently reading a novel in class or for a research project, seek an audio version before the absence. Many audiobooks can be found for free on youtube. A set of headphones and a tablet are all that’s needed to keep your teen from lagging behind in his or her schoolwork.

Prioritize the workload

High school often provides students with plenty of homework outside of school. Sometimes, as we all know, the workload can be downright overwhelming. Provide reassurance by reminding your high schooler to be realistic about completing the work. If assignments have piled up to an unrealistic amount, choose the most important assignments or readings—then be sure that your teen speaks with his or her teachers.

How to Keep Up After an Absence: Middle School Part 2 of 3

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Tis the season…for absences. The height of flu season, combined with the holiday season, tends to create a notable increase in student absences from school. Whether families are traveling over the holidays, vacationing, or fighting off illness, this time of year means that, for one reason or another, students are missing more school. So what can be done to ease the stress of returning to school after a long absence? For middle school students, parents should act as a “silent partner.”

Not surprisingly, elementary-age children need a little adult monitoring and management when it comes to extended absences from school. However, middle school is all about self-advocacy and accountability. This means that parents definitely should play more of a hands-off role than they previously have. Of course, parent involvement should never disappear fully. So, how can parents encourage responsibility while still ensuring student success during an absence? Let’s take a look.

Be proactive

Of course, some occasions simply do not allow for planning—the stomach flu is not going to afford a family the opportunity to plan ahead for a multi-day absence. However, vacations, family visits, or religious observances are things that can and should be planned for. Emailing the school a week or two prior can make all the difference when it comes to prolonged absences. The difference in middle school is that your child no longer has one main teacher—there are likely six or seven teachers who will need to know about a prolonged absence. Make it easy on yourself by emailing the guidance counselor. Then, he or she will make sure to inform all of your child’s teachers about the future absence. Also, encourage your child to remind his or her teachers of the upcoming vacation or holiday.

Take work home

Ask the school if your child should take future school work home prior to the absence. This will allow for a head start on the missed assignments, which will also reduce stress or anxiety for your child. Encourage your middle schooler to complete the work in small bits during any downtime while absent. Also, be sure that your middle schooler has written or logged all assignments prior to the absence. This will ensure that your child is well aware of the work that will need to be completed.

Utilize technology

If your child is currently reading a novel in class or for a research project, seek an audio version before the absence. Ask your middle schooler to check the school’s library or media center to obtain audio copies of the school texts. If not, many audiobooks can be found for free on youtube. A set of headphones and a tablet are all that are needed to keep your child from lagging behind in his or her schoolwork. Audiobooks act as a way to occupy children while travelling, as well. Consider balancing out their school text by bringing a second audio book just for pleasure.

Prioritize the workload

A notable distinction in middle school is the sudden increase in homework and projects. This can mean A LOT of missed work during a prolonged absence. As a parent, you know what your child is capable of handling in terms of workload. Encourage your middle schooler to be realistic about completing the work. If work has piled up to an unrealistic amount, choose the most important assignments or readings—then have a conversation with your child’s teachers. If your child is comfortable handling the conversation, have your middle schooler explain any missing work to his teachers. Encourage children to be honest about the amount of downtime they had, and how they truly attempted the assignments.

Have your child keep a journal

If teachers are unable to provide make-up work with short notice, have your middle schooler complete a daily journal of his or her trip. This not only provides your child with a little bit of academic work each day—it also acts as a keepsake from a family vacation or holiday. The journal does not have to be written—consider allowing your child to keep a video journal or a typed diary during the trip.

Teaching Gratitude

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Educators are often held to the lessons, objectives, and standards of our set curricula. With all that needs to be “covered,” there is likely not a ton of wiggle room. Of course we are passionate about our content areas; however, there also are often larger truths that we would like to touch upon during instruction. With such little time devoted to non-curricular instruction, it is always a nice surprise when time permits a small window to discuss things outside of the content area that are no less important.

This time of year is a beautiful one, full of family gatherings, holiday festivities, and building memories with close friends. We often become so wrapped up in the holiday spirit and merriments that we fail to look around and realize how truly fortunate we are. That said, it is a favorite activity of mine to focus some instructional time on gratitude. As a middle school teacher, I find it especially beneficial to take a bit of time to discuss this concept with my adolescent students. It is typical, and quite biological, actually, for teens to live primarily from their own perspective—taking little time to think of others before thinking of themselves. With Thanksgiving and the winter holidays in the forefront, this is the perfect time of year to give thanks.

So how do I prefer to do this in the classroom? It may sound predictable and run-of-the-mill, but my activity focusing on anonymous thank you notes proved to be very inspiring this year. Students were given as many blank gratitude notes as they wanted—nothing fancy, just a turkey saying “thank you” and a space for a brief message. The only instruction? Thank someone sincerely and anonymously for something that they did to bring positivity to you. The point is to be completely candid, while remaining anonymous. This way, the focus is on the receiver, the person for whom each student has felt grateful for in one way or another.

I assumed that many students would send thank you notes to their best friends, and many did. However, what surprised me the most were the thank you notes that went a little deeper than I had anticipated. Things that had occurred in the beginning of the year, when some students were virtual strangers, were remembered fondly. Some thank you notes indicated that one student’s kind gesture sparked a true friendship, while other notes came from students who run in completely different peer groups.

Even more surprising and heartwarming were the thank you notes that several teachers received from students. Simple, anonymous thank you notes from my thoughtful middle schoolers showed me that gratitude was something that we can all exhibit and learn more about every day. Some notes thanked a teacher simply for making learning fun; other notes thanked teachers for sharing their lunch with a student who didn’t have anything to eat. The larger take away message here was that we may not know how a small, kind gesture can turn someone’s day around. Even the slightest act of kindness proved to be memorable for many kids.

Yes, we are tasked with teaching our lessons, concepts, and topics, but the social environment that schools provide allows students and teachers to learn important life lessons as well—including gratitude.

How to Keep Up After an Absence: Elementary Part 1 of 3

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The winter weather, combined with the holiday season, tends to create a notable increase in student absences from school. Whether families are traveling over the holidays, vacationing, or even getting hit with bouts of the flu, this time of year means that, for one reason or another, students are missing more school. So what can be done to ease the stress of returning to school after a long absence? For elementary-age students, parents play a key role.

Not surprisingly, elementary-age students need a little adult monitoring and management when it comes to extended absences from school. Often times, it is the parent or guardian who decides when a child needs to be out of school to begin with—children do not schedule their own vacations, nor do they make the final call when they are ill. Therefore, the best advice for elementary school children is directed towards parents.

Be proactive

Of course, some occasions simply do not allow for planning—the stomach flu is not going to afford a family the opportunity to plan ahead for a multi-day absence. However, vacations, family visits, or religious observances are things that can and should be planned for. Emailing the school a week or two prior can make all the difference when it comes to prolonged absences.

Take work home

Ask the teacher(s) if your child should take work outside of school prior to the absence. This will allow for a head start on the missed assignments, which will also reduce stress or anxiety for your child. Encourage your child to complete the work in small bits during any downtime while absent.

Utilize technology

If your child is currently reading a novel in class or for a research project, seek an audio version before the absence. In fact, many audio books can be found for free on youtube. A set of headphones and a tablet are all that’s needed to keep your child from lagging behind in his or her schoolwork. Audiobooks act as a way to occupy children while travelling, as well. Consider balancing out their school text by bringing a second audio book just for pleasure.

Prioritize the workload

Hopefully, elementary-age students are not seeing loads of work at this point in their education. However, statistics show that many children are completing 1-3 hours of work each night. This could mean staggering amounts of make-up work if absent for a week. As a parent, you know what your child can and should be doing in terms of homework. Be realistic about the completion and try not to have your child overdo it. If work has piled up to an unrealistic amount, choose the most important assignments or readings—then have a conversation with your child’s teacher. Make-up work should not be seen as a punishment for prolonged absence.

Have your child keep a journal

If teachers are unable to provide make-up work with short notice, have your child complete a daily journal of his or her trip. This not only provides your child with a little bit of academic work each day—it also acts as a keepsake from a family vacation or holiday. The journal does not have to be written—consider allowing your child to keep a video journal or a typed diary during the trip.

Behavioral Techniques for Children with Learning Disabilities

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When it comes to education, there are few things that make or break a lesson like behavior management. Instruction is only as good as a student’s ability to receive it. If behaviors are out of control, the learning environment will be undoubtedly compromised. With classrooms of 30 or more students, effective behavior strategies can range far and wide—just like the many personalities in the classroom. While it may often come down to trial and error, some specific behavior techniques are known to be more effective for students with learning disabilities.

One important aspect of behavior management for students with learning disabilities is to create a classroom environment that is structured, but not rigid. Structure provides students with distinct expectations, both academic and behavioral. To set a standard or expectation from the beginning is a proactive way of staving off unsavory behaviors before they even emerge. However, as we all know, behaviors are typically an effect of some specific emotion. When emotions or reactions take over, especially for students with learning disabilities, it is beneficial that educators have a repertoire of behavioral techniques to try.

For students with ADHD…

Consider what is and is not within the child’s control before issuing a punishment or redirection. A child with ADHD is often impulsive and unaware of his or her own outbursts or comments. There is a difference between a child who is disruptive and a child with attention issues who is not intentionally troublesome. Therefore, the behavior techniques for an interruption must fit the circumstances. Instead of harping on the outburst immediately, as in the case of a disruptive student, give the student a silent cue to remind him or her of appropriate behavior in the class setting. Often times, simply making eye contact with a child will remind him or her to think and raise a hand before speaking out.

Another helpful behavior technique for students with attention issues is to use proximity. When a student is placed closer to the adult in the classroom, he or she will be more inclined to listen, track the speaker, and remain focused. Proximity also helps to remind students that they are in plain view of the teacher at all times. This technique assists when executive functioning is compromised and a student’s focus strays easily.

If a student with ADHD seems unusually fidgety or distracted, allow him or her to take a brain break. This one to three-minute movement break allows students to expel pent up energy or anxiety. The small time gap of movement also helps students to refocus and check back in if attention has been lacking.

For students with non-verbal learning disabilities…

Create a simple, structured outline for the day’s lesson. This will help a student who struggles to transition from task to task, or becomes easily frustrated if he or she feels “left behind.”

An outline or small sticky note indicating the day’s lesson will also prevent a student’s need to ask repetitive or unnecessary questions. These behaviors are typical for student with a non-verbal learning disability (NVLD)—including the inability to read facial expressions or interpret body language.

A student with a NVLD may also appear clumsy, careless, or uncoordinated. Preferential seating, either close to the teacher’s desk, pencil sharpener, door, etc., helps keep this type of learner from unnecessary roaming.