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Lauren McCoy

Heather Schilling/Stacey Stetzel

March 19, 2012

ISL: Results of Pre and Post Vocabulary Tests for Language Arts

I went about my Impact on Student Learning project in a unique way, and used a different

approach to teaching vocabulary. I was pleased with the outcome, and my instincts (and research)

proved to be of great benefit to my students. I asked my students to pair up and pick a word from the

dictionary and have it okayed by me. Once they did this, they had to find and create a creative way to

present their word to the class so that the word and its meaning would stick with the class’ memory.

They could do a poster, a skit, make a PowerPoint or Prezi, record their own video clip, bring in an

example, etc. (I attached the directions to the assignment). I then gathered all the words and put

together a vocab word study list for the students and gave it to them after they took the pre test over

the words they got to pick. Later in the week, each pair of students presented their word to the class. On

Friday, they took the post test.

While I thought of this assignment off the top of my head, I found that I had incorporated

several teaching strategies and methods. First off, the way I wrote the pre and post test were the same

way my cooperating teacher wrote her pre and post vocabulary tests. I gave them matching questions

for the definitions and then in the post test I added application of the definitions; meaning the students

had to fill in the blank by using context clues to figure out what word went in which blank. My

cooperating teacher said she used AbraVocabra for her Master’s and found that this was the best and

more effective method for teaching her students vocabulary. After I administered the pre test a student

asked me if I was going to grade and count off if the spelling of the word was wrong. I hesitated before

saying no. I would usually have spelling count, (hello, this is Language Arts class), but then I reminded

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myself that I was testing the students’ knowledge of vocabulary, not spelling. The true results of the pre

and post test would be affected if I were to count off for spelling errors, so I decided to strictly stick with

the meaning of the words, rather than the spelling. AbraVocabra mentions this as a best practice by

stating:

The problem is that learning to spell and learning the meaning of the word are

two different processes. You can learn to spell something without knowing its

meaning, just as you can learn a word’s meaning without having an idea how to spell it.

That doesn’t mean that knowing both isn’t a good idea. It just means that one is neither

dependent on nor necessary for the other. (5)

AbraVocabra also suggests using and teaching common words when teaching vocabulary, which is

exactly what I did. I had each pair of students show me their word to make sure it was a word they could

use and might see or use when writing, hearing, or speaking. Some of the words I allowed some leeway

with (such as jute), but for the most part, I had students pick a word that they would most likely see and

use. I introduced my students to weird and unusual words for fun (like writing a Word of the Day on the

board), but when actually teaching and testing over vocabulary, I think it is important to use words that

students are actually going to use.

For the presentation part of my vocabulary unit, I encouraged my students to go above and

beyond and really use their imagination and creativity to get the meaning of their word across and make

it memorable. When presenting their idea, they could not simply get up in front of the class and recite

the information I asked them to write down. They had to use graphics, or something visual. This best

practice is mentioned in Comprehension and Collaboration, by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey

Daniels. Harvey and Daniels (2007) state, “Illustrations and photographs play a prominent role in

inquiry-based learning ( p. 81). This was one of the requirements for the vocabulary project: students

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needed to have visuals, illustrations, or other creative ways to teach the class their word. Harvey

mentions that using and teaching with objects and artifacts are beneficial to learning. The textbook

states, “ Bringing intriguing objects and artifacts into the room adds to our kids’ engagement, teaches

them to think, and builds content knowledge….Objects naturally invite high level thinking and provide

an authentic context in which to cultivate it” ( Harvey, 2007, p. 83). I suggested to the students they

bring in an artifact to help explain their word’s meaning. A couple students took my word, and came to

class with awesome ideas. One student’s word was ‘jute.’ He brought in celery and tore the stringy stuff

from the stalk and said that was the ‘jute.” Another student brought in mini snickers bars for the word

‘snicker,’ so the class could actually see and eat the object, making the meaning of the word easier to

understand.

Perhaps my most helpful resource for putting together my vocabulary unit was the activity book

called Stretching Students’ Vocabulary, by Karen Bromley. While researching best practice methods, this

book showed me many strategies I was using and implementing in my vocab unit that I was not even

aware of. I realized my cooperating teacher did not use hardly any best methods and I didn’t like how

my cooperating teacher taught vocabulary. She simply had students take a pre and post test, review the

words with them, and have the students do a writing prompt using as many vocabulary words as they

could. Many students didn’t even use the words correctly, and since the writing prompts were never

collected, they did not even know if they were using the words in the correct context. I wanted my

students to be excited about learning and discovering new words on their own, and I hoped the words

to be meaningful to them. So, I had my students do something different and interactive, which really

seemed to help their learning. Once the students had their words okayed by me, they were given free

range to make their own project for the word. I had them write down not just the word’s definition, but

also the prefixes and/or suffixes, root words, and they also had to write a sentence using their words

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correctly. I also made them find synonyms or antonyms if their word had any. Most of my students

chose to make a poster board or a visual. Bromley (2002) states this as an effective best practice,

“Drawing their own pictures also helps them make personal connections with new words” (p. 37). I also

had my students work on pairs, since I knew that students often learn better while working with their

peers. This is also something Bromley mentions as an effective teaching technique. She claims, “Social

interaction contributes significantly to students’ ability to make meaning of words and text, because,

when students interact, they extend and deepen their thinking” (Bromley, 2002, p. 37). I saw my

students thinking together to find ways to represent and teach their word, and could actually see their

understanding of the word develop. When presenting their words, I observed students making personal

connections to the words through the pictures, skits, or tangible models that other students used. It was

neat to actually see knowledge blossoming right in front of me.

I carried out the pre and post test and the vocabulary presentation to a class of 30 students, (all

Caucasian except one African-American female student). This was my ‘high’ class, but only four of the

students in this class are truly identified and classified as ‘gifted.’ Before I gave the instructions for the

presentation part of the unit, I told the class they were going to be tested on vocab, so the objective for

this ‘unit’ was pretty straight-forward and clear. I verbally gave them instructions on what they were to

do, and also gave them a typed handout of everything I wanted them to do. I went over the

requirements daily with them until presentation day came. I made sure students knew exactly what to

expect. Everything about the unit went splendidly, and the whole week’s project work time,

presentation time, and post test went smoothly. I think the best part of the lesson was seeing how

excited and involved the students were with this assignment. They would randomly ask me in the

middle of a lesson of I was going to give them more time to work on their vocab presentations. I could

tell they didn’t want to just have ‘free work time,’ but the actually wanted to do well on this project. I

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was pleasantly surprised by this. A lot of the students even told me they loved this idea, and they wished

they could do it every time they were given a new list of words to learn. They also said they really

enjoyed it, and that it was fun. A few days after I gave the post test, a student came up to me before

class and thanked me for teaching him the word ‘jute.” I asked why, and he said that he used it in a

game of Words with Friends, and scored 98 points. He was so excited to tell me this, and I was even

more excited that he found a way to incorporate this word into everyday life. I was impressed he could

find a use for such an uncommon word.

I was extremely proud of how well the ‘unit’ went, and how well the students responded to this

new idea and way of learning vocabulary. I (inadvertently) used many scaffolding techniques such as

allowing students to use resources (dictionaries), giving them a compelling task to work on, supplying a

guide (handout) for instruction and reference, and offered guidance along the way. I made sure to

always walk around the room and check the progress of my students’ work to make sure they were

doing it correctly and staying on task. I gave a lot of support and examples towards the beginning of the

project, then eventually gave more freedom to the students. Although I taught this to my high class,

they have had some trouble staying focused and engaged sometimes, and like to talk and get off-track.

However, I did not have to encourage them to stay on task at all when we worked on this ‘unit.’ Just the

simple fact that I allowed the students room for their own ideas, creativity, and leeway was what kept

the students motivated and on-task. They were so excited to work on something fun and they did what

was asked of them. Student participation was even and balanced throughout the entire week. Every

student gave as much effort as the last. Even the group work seemed to be evenly distributed

throughout each pair of students. Since this ‘unit’ was planned and carried out in a different manner

than a regular unit would have been, I am unable to give answers to patters I may have had that relate

to my questioning.

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While I could not have asked for a better, more manageable group of students to work with and

teach, one of my biggest downfalls as a teacher was asking students to use critical thinking. I did not

hardly ask any questions (this was a little hard to do for this ‘unit’), but I should have found ways to

incorporate deeper levels of thinking. I could have asked for commonalities between the vocab words

and other words they know (root words, pre and suffixes), or I could have asked if they have ever heard

any of the vocabulary words before. However, despite my lack of question and critical thinking skills, all

of the students definitely met the learning objective. According to the data below, it is clear that student

growth and learning took place. Learning and growth were measured accurately in order to best reflect

the true outcomes of the unit. Evidence that supports this is a pre and post test, and a bar graph that

shows individual student growth from the pre test scores. My students were able to define 15 words,

and also be able to use them correctly in context in a sentence. They also were able to come up with

creative, inventive ways of presenting information that helps others learn better. Students collaborate

well with one another when working in pairs, which strengthened their social and interpersonal skills, in

addition to their academic and cognitive skills.

The data provided below tells me that most of the students knew about half or a little more

than half of the vocabulary words before taking the post test. The post test shows every single student

earned 100% on their post test, except for three students. However, those who did not get a perfect

score all got 24 out of 25 questions correct, which means all students surpassed the mastery level (80%).

The pre test scores were relatively high for a pretest, so perhaps I should I have had the students choose

more difficult words to present to the class in order to up the expectations, especially since this class is a

high performing class. I will use this data to plan my future vocabulary lessons, and also form a better

idea of what kind of testing format is best for my students, since these formats that I used proved to be

effective. Since my outcomes of the post test are so outstanding, I will probably continue this vocab

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project in other classes, but I will make sure to not over use this technique or ‘unit.’ Positive results in

scores means that this unit and the techniques and methods I chose to incorporate into the unit were of

great benefit to the students learning, and met their needs.

In my credo, I stated that I was an educator that supported the idea of Progressivism. I still hold

this belief today, and my proof of this philosophy is evident in my vocabulary unit, and other lesson

plans I have created. I like to give my students choice and make them feel as though their ideas are

important too. A teacher should not be a dictator, but should make the class and material enjoyable and

allow student freedom. In the vocabulary lesson, I allowed students to choose their own word to learn

and present to the class, and I also gave them the freedom to choose the method they would use to

present their word’s meaning to the class (so long as it was appropriate and got the point across clearly

to the class).

Another philosophy of mine that has remained steady and consistent from the beginning of my

first year is that of Existentialism. Learning has always been a passion for me, and I have always believed

the more one educates themselves, the more aware and understanding they are of themselves, their

world, and others. The zeal of learning can better a person indefinitely, and it is something that helps

one keep making discoveries. Learning is not only about reading and writing, but also defining what it

really means to live and exist. I think this is what is the most fun about my discipline. Through reading

and literature, I can teach students the importance of life and all the lessons (and challenges) life brings

with it. I can choose topics and themes that relate directly to real life so students see the importance of

themselves and others. In many of my lessons, I often require student to work in groups or in pairs (like

I did for the vocab unit). This is just one way I try to incorporate my belief in Existentialism in my

classroom. I think that we have a lot to learn from others and the way we interact with others helps us

see importance in life. Also, the lessons I taught during my student teaching experience were

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constructed around the theme of slavery. Towards the end of the quarter, I taught my students about

Human Trafficking and the realities of Modern Day Slavery. This really opened their eyes to the reality

of the world, and how we all right now can do something to help or improve someone else’s existence

and life. This is truly what I think learning and teaching is all about. To go along with this, I also stated in

my Credo that I want not only to teach students the curriculum material and academic standards, but

also life-long lessons they can carry with them forever. My effort in trying to teach this is evident in my

Slavery quarter theme as well. All in all, I think my philosophies of teaching have stayed the same,

which, I think is a positive thing. I am consistent in my ways and thinking, and I have developed into the

type of teacher that is admirable, respectable, and professional. A good teacher nurtures, cares for and

encourages all of their students. Great, effective teachers find creative, fun ways to teach, and display

learning as something of importance.

Although it have learned much from my years at studying at Manchester College, it is hard to

state things and concepts I have learned from, since I think I learned and grew a little more each and

every day. It was not just one lesson, one philosophy, one class, or even one year that really made a

significant impact on me; rather it was the totality of my undergrad career. It is hard to pinpoint exactly

what concepts have made the most impact on my learning, but the things that I have really started to

pay attention to and focus on doing myself are varying my teaching strategies and activities,

incorporating best method strategies, and cooperating and interacting professionally with everyone. I

have learned much from student teaching, but I am always being asked by myself and others, “How am I

using student data to drive instruction?” “How do I really know if my students understood the

material?” “What best methods or teaching techniques did you use?” “What did you do to

accommodate for exceptional learners?” By thinking in a more focused manner, I have become a better

teacher. Professionalism is also a thing of importance. I have learned how to interact, communicate, and

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make connections with other teachers and administrators, and I feel as though I know the etiquette of

this profession quiet well, and I am more prepared on how to handle situations with other teachers,

parents, or even students. Knowing how to talk and deal with others will always be an essential skill to

have in this career. Needless to say, student teaching has encompassed and reinforced so much of the

knowledge I have obtained from my courses at Manchester.

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References

Bromley, Karen D'Angelo. (2002). Stretching students' vocabulary. New York: Scholastic professional.

Harvey, Stephanie, and Harvey Daniels. (2009). Comprehension & collaboration: inquiry circles in action.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Rider, Amy. (2003). AbraVocabra: The amazingly sensible approach to teaching vocabulary. Fort Collins,

CO: Cottonwood Press, Inc.

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Vocabulary Activity for Miss McCoy

Your assignment: You will create a fun, quick project on an interesting way to remember the meaning and definition of a vocab word of YOUR choosing! After planning with a partner on how you want to present your word, you will present it to the class. The presentation should not be longer than 2 or 3 minutes!!

Steps:

1. Find a partner 2. Get a dictionary 3. Pick out a word that is interesting/intriguing to you that you want to

learn its meaning, or a word you already know that would be a fun word to teach that you already have good ideas for.

4. Plan your activity and come up with an idea on how you want to present your word in a CREATIVE way! It can be anything!

5. Later next week, you will all present on the same day 6. You will have a pretest and posttest over all the words that were

presented in class, so give your best effort and pay attention to the presenters!

Getting started: On a piece of paper write:

1. Your word 2. It’s definition(s) 3. The root word (if your word has one) 4. Any prefixes or suffixes (if your word has them) 5. Synonyms and/or Antonyms for your word 6. A CREATIVE idea on how you will teach the word 7. How to use it in a sentence CORRECTLY. 8. CHECK WITH MISS MCCOY SO SHE CAN APPROVE YOUR WORD

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED!!! 9. See me if you need ideas for a creative fun way to teach your word. 10. Hand your paper in to MISS MCCOY when you have completed it!

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Pretest Scores Post Test Scores

1-2/15 3-24/25

1-5/15 27- 25/25

1-7/15

2- 8/15

11- 9/15

5- 10/15

4-11/15

2-12/15

3-13/15

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

PRETEST POST TEST

AVERAGE