Strategy Implementation: Introductory Instruction

I feel that new meanings for known words is not exactly what it sounds like. We are not giving new meanings to words, but rather expressing the same meaning using a new approach. I don’t like the idea of words taking on new meaning arbitrarily. If it happens organically over time, that is one thing—but for people to take words and announce that they are changing the meaning of the word is not something I like to do. In the classroom I try to get the students to think of new ways to express the meaning of certain words or to define certain words. We will acknowledge the known meaning, as Block, Gambrell and Pressley (2002) say to do, but when it comes to giving new meaning, I tell the students that we are putting the meaning into different words that make sense for us. So it is really an exercise in finding creative ways to express an idea by using a new approach. I think this is basically the essence of the exercise.

Afterwards, we discuss the similarities and differences between how a word is traditionally defined and how our definition sees it. We look at the words and ideas that we came up with and examine what they suggest and why they might work or not work. It is a good and fun exercise because it teaches the students to think more precisely and to be cautious about the way they use words when communicating.

The students enjoy the exercise as they view it as a kind of brain teaser. They are forced to think outside the box and to really consider what a word means. They find that when it is incumbent upon them to define the word and explain it, they must think about what they really know. Can they explain what a word means? And if they can’t, can they actually say that they know what a word means? These are the questions I ask of them in order to get them to think more deeply about the subject.

References

Block, C. C., Gambrell, L. B., & Pressley, M. (2002). Improving comprehension instruction: Rethinking research, theory, and classroom practice. Jossey-Bass: Newark.