This year our English department got two sets of books that I'm very excited about: "Vocabulary for the High School Student" and "Vocabulary for the College-Bound Student" (Levine). The idea is that the freshmen and sophomore teachers work their way through the one for high schoolers, and the junior and senior teachers each take parts of the college-bound one. Ideally by the end of high school most students will have dug through all the words in this extensive unit. They are divided in such a way that students are not learning words by rote memorization, but instead learning processes to decipher words - processes like context clues, Greek and Latin roots, and related words. The exercises in the book require students to draw on more than just one spelling of one word; they use antonyms, synonyms, and extended thinking. While we've discovered we could teach an entire year-long class over the book, the material is excellent once we've figured out a way of incorporating it.
DAY ONE
This past month I began the chapter on Greek roots with all my English classes that will continue through April. In order to add a 'hook' to starting the chapter on Greek roots, I began the first class asking for volunteers. A student would raise her hand, and I'd turn to the smart board and write her name using the Greek alphabet. I'd ask for another volunteer, and then write that student's name on the board in Greek. They started to catch on and get really excited: "Do mine! Do Sarah! Do Ethan!" I then passed out copies of the Greek alphabet for them to paste in their notebooks. We talked about how there is no J or F or Y, and they marveled over the different letters. I took one semester of Biblical Greek at my parochial high school, which is now coming in handy as I recall using the Greek alphabet. My students are very impressed at my miniscule amount of knowledge. I then assigned the first word and exercise.
DAY ONE
This past month I began the chapter on Greek roots with all my English classes that will continue through April. In order to add a 'hook' to starting the chapter on Greek roots, I began the first class asking for volunteers. A student would raise her hand, and I'd turn to the smart board and write her name using the Greek alphabet. I'd ask for another volunteer, and then write that student's name on the board in Greek. They started to catch on and get really excited: "Do mine! Do Sarah! Do Ethan!" I then passed out copies of the Greek alphabet for them to paste in their notebooks. We talked about how there is no J or F or Y, and they marveled over the different letters. I took one semester of Biblical Greek at my parochial high school, which is now coming in handy as I recall using the Greek alphabet. My students are very impressed at my miniscule amount of knowledge. I then assigned the first word and exercise.
The first root they did was "phobia." The vocab list included obvious ones like claustrophobia or agoraphobia, and explained how using the ending -phobe means a person with that aversion, e.g.Russophobe is someone who is against Russians or Russia. We pulled up a giant phobia list and they laughed at how words exist to describe fear of cats, children, or "Walloons." I explained how it doesn't just mean "fear" but can also mean "dislike or aversion to." Someone who might be described as homophobic isn't typically terrified of gay people like one might be terrified of the dark, just averse to the lifestyle. Someone who has photophobia may have just gotten his eyes dilated and is adverse to light.
DAY TWO
Tuesday's was "phil" - love of. Philogyny = love of women. -Gyn-, like gynecologist is a lady doctor. They connected that pedophile literally means "lover of children." Ped = child, like how a pediatric doctor works with children. They were a little grossed out that pedophile and pediatrician were related in Greek. A philanthropist is a lover of humanity; "anthro" is 'man' or 'mankind.' Anthropology is the study of mankind. So what is someone who both gives generously and studies mankind? A philanthropologist. When I said this, I thought I was making it up, but a student googled it and apparently it is a real word.
DAY THREE
Wednesday was "mis" - hatred of. Misogyny = hatred of women. Misandry = hatred of men. I then asked them what androgynous meant. They worked out the meaning based on what they already knew - someone who had both male and female features. Misogamy = hatred of marriage, like polygamy or monogamy. Misoneism = hatred of new things. Neo = new. I asked what a fear of new things was. First someone guessed "misoneophobia." I told them that would be the fear of the hatred of new things. They corrected themselves to "neophobia." One student described our process like we were "creating a secret code."
DAY FOUR
Today was "Dys-" - ill, bad, difficult - and "Eu-" - good, well. Dystopia. Euphonious. In the space of four days, they have learned the skills to identify dozens of words and make connections. I am thrilled with this unit so far and will definitely teach it again.
DAY TWO
Tuesday's was "phil" - love of. Philogyny = love of women. -Gyn-, like gynecologist is a lady doctor. They connected that pedophile literally means "lover of children." Ped = child, like how a pediatric doctor works with children. They were a little grossed out that pedophile and pediatrician were related in Greek. A philanthropist is a lover of humanity; "anthro" is 'man' or 'mankind.' Anthropology is the study of mankind. So what is someone who both gives generously and studies mankind? A philanthropologist. When I said this, I thought I was making it up, but a student googled it and apparently it is a real word.
DAY THREE
Wednesday was "mis" - hatred of. Misogyny = hatred of women. Misandry = hatred of men. I then asked them what androgynous meant. They worked out the meaning based on what they already knew - someone who had both male and female features. Misogamy = hatred of marriage, like polygamy or monogamy. Misoneism = hatred of new things. Neo = new. I asked what a fear of new things was. First someone guessed "misoneophobia." I told them that would be the fear of the hatred of new things. They corrected themselves to "neophobia." One student described our process like we were "creating a secret code."
DAY FOUR
Today was "Dys-" - ill, bad, difficult - and "Eu-" - good, well. Dystopia. Euphonious. In the space of four days, they have learned the skills to identify dozens of words and make connections. I am thrilled with this unit so far and will definitely teach it again.