Strategy Implementation and Post: Repetition, Assessment, and Differences across Grade Levels

One size does not fit all when it comes to teaching. I attempted to show this by implementing some of the strategies from chapter 7. What I attempted to do was use repetition to drive home the main point of words again and again. I would repeat words that the students were learning all class and all week, to the point where the students would make sounds of annoyance to hear me use the words again. (It was all done in good fun, however. Some of the students would even catch themselves using the words we were trying to learn—and they would exclaim loudly and cover their mouths with their hands when they did it, acting upset that they were now using the words as much as I was).

But then that was the point. As Block, Gambrell and Pressley (2002) have shown, repetition pays when it comes to learning. The students are like sponges and absorb everything that is thrown at them, especially when it is repeated enough times. So I found that by using repetition, the students would absorb the vocabulary that we were focusing on for that week and even I would begin to feel that I was improving my vocabulary. By making a conscious effort to use words again and again until they become second hand, we can really make a difference in a student’s life. After all, they learn by seeing in many ways, and when they see and hear their teacher using the vocabulary that they are supposed to learn, it reinforces the ideas, words and concepts that the students are meant to be focusing on. I feel that by incorporating this method into my classroom lesson, I can really most positively impact the students and their vocabulary lessons.

References

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