During the course of reading Janet Allen’s book, Inside Words: Tools for Teaching Academic Vocabulary Grades 4-12, I came across the Vocab-o-Gram and thought of how this could fit in to what our students are doing in their classrooms.This is a great Pre, During, and Post reading activity.Vocab-o-Gram is a graphic organizer that gives students the opportunity to make predictions about a story using words from the story using the elements of story structure (setting, characters, conflict, plot, resolution).The students are provided a list of vocabulary words from the story to be read and they use these words to make their predictions.
The teacher selects the vocabulary words from the story and then the student works in groups to create their Vocab-o-Gram.Typical elements of story structure are used but other elements such as mood or tone, could be used as well.
Directions:
1.Discuss the vocabulary words from the story.
2.Place the vocabulary words in the category on the graphic organizer where you think the author will use the words: setting, characters, conflict, plot, resolution.
3.Make predictions about the story using the vocabulary words to answer each of the questions in each of the story structure categories.
4.Students should list questions they have prior to reading the story.The vocabulary words, discussion, and elements of story structure will prompt students’ questions.
5.Words which are too familiar, or words which don’t make sense in terms of students’ questions and predictions, can be listed in the Mystery Words space on the graphic organizer.
6.After reading, students revisit their Vocab-o-Grams to answer the questions they wrote, define or describe context for mystery words, and revise predictions to reflect information from the story.
7.Vocab-o-Grams can then be used to scaffold writing about the story.
In the following example, high school students use the Vocab-o-Gram prior to reading Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands (McCarthy 2002).Students use the words to predict the elements of the story, predict and question plot, and describe the connections between and among words in the word bank.Sample student responses include:
We think the author will use the words citrus, paradise, grove, and processing plant to describe the setting.Since the book takes place in Florida, the author might say, “The story takes place in a state which seems like paradise to Northerners.There are citrus groves near the processing plants, which make orange juice.”
We think there will be Crackers, Northerners, and Klansmen in the book.The Northerners might be seen as arrogant by Florida Crackers.And, the Klansmen are bigoted.
We think the conflict will be between Klansmen and the Northerners.If there is a cross burning, it probably means the Klan will attack black people.Maybe the Northerners will stand up for the black people.
We aren’t sure what will happen but we think dynamite will be used to do something bad and there will be a warrant for someone’s arrest.
We think the story will end with someone’s secret coming out.
Our questions are:
Is this a true story?
Where in Florida does it take place?
Who is prejudiced?Is it the Northerners or the Crackers or just the Klansmen?
Words we don’t know or can’t use to make predictions: diamond-backs, snake-charmed, debatable, stranger, dialect, and dominance.
Students’ initial responses, predictions, and questions provide an ideal starting point for writing: story response or summary, character analysis, and essays about the author’s craft or purpose.
Carol Jago and her colleagues at Santa Monica High School wrote, adopted, and continue to revise the five-point rubric for response to literature.They borrowed the language of the California Standards as well as other published rubrics to create their own.Yearly, they revisit the rubric with a new set of papers and take a professional development day to score the papers holistically.In addition, they discuss the instructional implications of what they are finding.Teachers whose students were successful are asked what they did to get their results and others share their strategies for helping students. It is a day well spent for the results are teachers collaborating, discussing instruction, and the rubric helps maintain consistency in their grading.
Response to Literature Rubric
Carol Jago from Papers, Papers, Papers
5
IDEAS AND EXPLANATIONS (at least three) are insightful, thorough, convincing, varied in strategy, and strongly supported by compelling evidence.
ORGANIZATION uses appropriate transitions between and within paragraphs for consistently clear, smooth, and logical relationships among ideas.
STYLE is a “pleasure to read” –graceful, uncluttered, rich, and vivid.
GRAMMAR AND MECHANICS errors are rare or absent.
4
IDEAS AND EXPLANATIONS (at least two) are reasonable, substantial, and supported by well-chosen evidence.
ORGANIZATION is logical and appropriate for content, but not as smooth as 5.
STYLE is clear, shows sentence variety, and uses interesting and precise vocabulary.
GRAMMAR AND MECHANICS errors are occasional.
3
IDEAS AND EXPLANATIONS are mostly on topic and understandable but evidence may be limited and explanations are often too simple, obvious, brief, vague, or illogical.May contain some plot summary or evidence to inference.
ORGANIZATION maintains one idea per paragraph, but is simplistic or idea relationships are sometimes unclear.
STYLE is functional but sentence variety and vocabulary are limited or style is lively but wordy.
GRAMMAR AND MECHANICS errors are frequent.
2
IDEAS AND EXPLANATIONS are too simple, very repetitious, hard to follow, mostly irrelevant, inaccurate, and/or contain mostly plot summary.
ORGANIZATION shows some minor skill but has major flaws –e.g., no controlling idea; poor paragraphing; redundant sections.
STYLE has major flaws –e.g., simplistic, wordy, repetitious, monotonous, often unclear.
GRAMMAR AND MECHANICS errors exist in almost every sentence and may interfere with meaning.
1
IDEAS AND EXPLANATIONS are absent, irrelevant, unsupported by evidence, or incomprehensible.
ORGANIZATION lacks paragraphing and is illogical and confusing or essay is too short to have any organization.
STYLE has such severe flaws that sentences are hard to understand or essay is too short to judge.
GRAMMAR AND MECHANICS errors are pervasive and obstruct meaning or essay is too short too judge grammar/mechanics.
Revision in pairs or small groups is a powerful strategy in the classroom to improve student writing.However, students most often are unsure of their roles in these conferences much less what they’re supposed to say or do during these times.Modeling and opportunities to experience a few successful conferences will help them fully understand the process.
One suggested process comes from Les Parsons in his book, Revising and Editing.It begins with the reading aloud of the piece in pairs or small groups.The author, partner, or group member can do the reading but the author must be present for the reading.
After the reading, the author will start the discussion with a question or a concern about the writing.As the discussion occurs, the author takes notes on what suggestions or points are being made.The author then considers the suggestions written in the notes but has the choice of what suggestions, if any, will be incorporated into the next draft of the piece.
The process is simple enough yet students have great difficulty with its implementation.The authors are not comfortable taking control of the conference/discussion and their revision partners are reluctant to offer constructive criticism.Both parties need to be taught and shown models of how to direct and shape their conference so that it meets their needs and improves their writing.Students have to also understand that both the responder and the author have certain responsibilities in the revision process.
Guidelines for Peer-revision Conferences
The Responder
The Writer
What, specifically, has the writer asked you to think about?
What have you asked the responder to do?
How did you first respond to the material?What happened in your mind as you read?What aspects intrigued or attracted you?
What impact did the material have on the responder?How does this reaction compare with the impact you expected?
What, if anything, confused you as you read?What ideas or events were unclear?What, if anything, was left out or seemed out of place?
What will you have to take out, put in, change, or rearrange?
How did you respond to the opening and closing, the language, the development of ideas, or to the pace?What people or events did you want to know more about?
How can the responder help you further?What more do you want to know?
Rob Thais, a colleague of Carol Jago, created what he called “The Sweet Sixteen” in an effort to be more explicit about the features of effective writing.These are guidelines that Carol uses in her classroom to provide her students with a framework for self-assessment.She has included a copy in her book, Papers, Papers, Papers for classroom use.
The Sweet Sixteen
Ideas:
1.Unity: You have one clear thesis that responds to the assigned task, and all the ideas in your essay help to support that thesis.
2.Insight:Your ideas are thoughtful and stimulating, yet reasonable and true to the material.
3.Argument:You prove your ideas clearly, logically, and completely.You fully prepare the reader to understand each sentence and its purpose in your paper.
4.Evidence:The quality and quantity of evidence strongly supports your ideas and shows thorough knowledge of the material.
Organization:
5.Introduction:Your first paragraph engages the reader and introduces a clear thesis or purpose.
6.Paragraphing:Each body paragraph sticks to one idea, and each idea is discussed in only one body paragraph.
7.Flow:Your main ideas are presented in a logical and effective order, made clear via topic sentences, paragraph conclusions, and transitions.
8.Conclusions:You conclude with a graceful reminder of your thesis.
Style:
9.Conciseness: You express ideas simply and clearly without wasted words or unnecessary repetition.
10.Vocabulary:Your choice of words is interesting and precise but not pretentious.
11.Sentence Structure:Your sentences are strong, graceful, and suitably varied in length and structure.
12.Vividness:You enliven your writing with concrete language, fresh and specific details, and metaphor without cliché.
Grammar:
13.Sentence Sense:Your writing is free of run-on sentences and fragments.
14.Grammar and Usage:You follow the rules of Standard English.
15.Mechanics:Your spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are accurate.
16.Format:You follow the conventions of documentation.
