Think back to your school days when the teacher would begin the day on Monday by calling your attention to a list of words on the board. She would tell you to look the words up in the dictionary and write a sentence for each one. Then, on Friday, you would be given a vocabulary test. If you were adept at memorizing definitions and you were motivated by good grades, you did well on the test. Two weeks later, however, a delayed post-test would have provided evidence that you couldn’t remember the definitions. Furthermore, if memorization wasn’t your strength, you didn’t do well on Friday’s test and had almost no chance of retaining the meanings of the words. In both instances, the reason a student would have difficulty understanding and retaining the meanings of the words is that they were presented in isolation, without any context, and there was no mechanism for remembering the meanings. The student thinks, “But I had to use the words in a sentence. Shouldn’t that be an indication that I knew what they meant?” Not necessarily, since an acceptable sentence can be structurally correct and still provide no context that would lead the teacher to believe that the student understood the word’s meaning. An example is the following sentence: We waited for the itinerant man to begin his talk. What this sentence tells the teacher is the student knows the part of speech of “itinerant” but that is all. There is no context to indicate that he knows the meaning of the word. Contrast that sentence with the following: We couldn’t wait for the itinerant man to talk about his travels around the world. It’s clear that the student who wrote this sentence understands the meaning of “peripatetic” because of the context he provided for the word.

Some of the most interesting brain research shows that the brain engages in a “pruning” process when it considers incoming information. If there is nothing to which the new information can be linked (background knowledge) and there is no strategy for making a connection to previous information, the brain discards it. This discovery about the brain has implications for teaching vocabulary in isolation as opposed to providing context and a strategy for linking the new information to old information so that a student can remember the meanings.

If your child has problems comprehending what he reads, you will want to determine if a lack of vocabulary knowledge is the reason. Knowing the meanings of words is critical to comprehension; if students do not know key vocabulary in a text, they will have difficulty understanding new information. Readers improve their comprehension when they improve their vocabulary. Vocabulary improvement takes place when students learn to use strategies that help them to determine the meanings of words they don’t know by elaborating on definitions (providing more context for the word) and by relating the definitions to their personal experience (linking new information to background knowledge). As students learn to use these strategies, they become good readers and independent learners.

This lesson plan provides step-by-step instructions on how to effectively utilize three strategies to help your student understand and retain new vocabulary: Personal Clues, Vocabulary Bank, and Vocabulary Overview Guide. Each strategy, when used individually, is designed to enhance vocabulary knowledge and, in doing so, improve comprehension. The strategies also build on each other, creating a powerful vocabulary package.

Learn

The basis for the three strategies is Personal Clues, which is a vocabulary strategy that helps students understand and retain new vocabulary by linking word meanings to their own background knowledge. It is a powerful strategy because it helps students learn and remember new vocabulary words in the text they are reading, thereby increasing their comprehension of the material.

The student selects unfamiliar words from his reading that he has to know in order to comprehend the text. He defines each word, using the context given in the text. If the context isn’t helpful in terms of providing clues to the meaning of the word, he should use another source, e.g., the dictionary, and select a definition for the word that makes sense in the text.

Once the student understands a definition, he can then link the meaning to a personal experience or clue that helps him remember it. A student’s clue for extraordinary, for example, might be “Superman” or “Michael Jordon.” It is important that the student understands the nature of a personal clue: While the clue must be meaningfully linked to the definition, it is an individual choice, a word or phrase that would have meaning only for him. As he encounters difficult words in his reading, he will remember the meanings of the words and comprehension will not be interrupted.

Click on the following link to access a Personal Clues template. Then ask your child to select a piece of text that he has to read for a school assignment or would like to read for enjoyment. Before you begin working on the strategy, click on the second and third links to access a text, “Spiders,” and a completed Personal Clue strategy for that text. You can use the completed strategy as a model for helping your child complete the strategy on his own. Also, if your child can’t think of a piece of text to use for this activity, you can allow him to use the spider text.

• Personal Clues Template

• Spider Text

• Personal Clues – Expert Response

Now, help your child use the Personal Clues strategy by following these steps.

• Have your child skim the text and select an unfamiliar word that is important for him to know in order to comprehend the text. He should write the word on the first line (Word) on the Personal Clues template.

• Show him how to determine the meaning of the word from the context. If there are clues to its meaning, ask him what the clues say about the word. After working with the text, if the child still doesn’t know the definition of the word, have him contact another source for help, e.g., the dictionary or Wikipedia, or you can provide the definition. Once he has the definition, he should insert it into the text to see if it makes sense. He should then write down the definition on the third line (Definition) on the Personal Clues template.

• Tell your child to think of a word or a phrase that he associates with the vocabulary word and that will help him remember the word. (NOTE: Clues can be in the native language of nonnative learners or they can be drawings.) Have him write his personal clue on the second line (Clue) beneath the vocabulary word.

• Have him repeat this procedure for all of the unfamiliar words he’s identified as being important for comprehending the text he is reading. When he has completed the Personal Clues strategy, give him the opportunity to study all of the words by covering the clue and the definition (lines two and three). If he cannot recall the definition by looking at the word, have him uncover the personal clue. Most of the time the clue will help him remember the meaning of the word. If he still cannot recall the meaning, have him uncover the definition.

If your child has trouble coming up with personal clues that will help him remember the words, model the process for him. Begin by saying, “If I want to think of something that will truly help me to remember the meaning of this vocabulary words, I ask myself what I immediately associate the word with, what first comes to mind when I hear the word…” You can use the personal clues for the spider text as an example for modeling the process.

Practice

When your child has accumulated many words and continues to learn new ones, you can help him make a Vocabulary Bank to “hold” his words . He will need a set of 3XS notecards and a box-like container to hold the cards. A recipe card holder works well, but any kind of box will do. Insert two dividers into the box of cards, one with the heading, “Words I am Learning,” and the other with the heading, “Words I Know.” Alternatively, words can be kept on a ring. After your child has worked with the meaning of a word using the Personal Clues strategy, he can use the following steps to study the word so that he will not forget it:

• Write the word and the clue on the front of a card and the definition on the back of the card.

• Place the card in the Words I am Learning” section of the box.

• Study the vocabulary word by seeing if you can recite the definition for the word by looking at the word and the clue on the front of the card. If the definition eludes you, turn the card over to see the definition.

• At the point that you can produce the definition for a word by looking at only the word itself (covering the clue) five times, you can transfer the notecard to the “Words I Know” section.

Your child will enjoy watching the “Words I Know” section increase in size. As this section of the box increases in size, so does your child’s vocabulary. Click on the link below to access an example of a Vocabulary Bank card.

• Vocabulary Bank card

Use

The Personal Clues strategy helps your child learn and retain the meanings of new words they encounter in the text they are reading. The Vocabulary Bank helps your child study the words and store them in a meaningful way. The next strategy, called the Vocabulary Overview Guide, helps your child form connections among words to increase his understanding and retention of vocabulary. It is based on the Personal Clues strategy. Still, it takes it one step further by helping students categorize the words they are learning, thereby creating an understanding of the relationships among the words. A solid understanding of the relationships among words in a text leads to improved vocabulary retention and comprehension.

Click on the link below to access a Vocabulary Overview Guide template. Then, using the piece of text that your child used for the Personal Clues strategy, help him complete the Vocabulary Overview Guide by following these steps. If the Vocabulary Overview Guide is his first vocabulary strategy in this lesson plan – and he has not completed the Personal Clues strategy – he should select a text that he has to read for school or one that he would like to read. A third option is to use a text called “Spiders” that you can access by clicking on the second link below. You can click on the third link to access a completed Vocabulary Overview Guide for “Spiders,” which you can use as a model for helping your child complete the strategy on his own. (NOTE: If your child has completed the Personal Clues strategy, you can skip the first part. If he has not completed Personal Clues, start with Step 1.)

Defining the Vocabulary Words

1. Have your child look over the material he is reading and underline (or write down) vocabulary words that are unfamiliar to him.

2. He should try to figure out the meanings of the words by using the context of the sentences around the word. He can use the dictionary to either confirm the meaning derived through context or define the word if there is no revealing context. Or, you can provide the definition.

3. Have him write the definitions for the words in the text or on paper so that they will be available when he reads the text. He should then read the text with the defined vocabulary to make sure that he comprehends.

Completing the Vocabulary Overview

1. Help your child complete the Vocabulary Overview Guide by writing down the title of the text he is using (Title).

2. He should then write down the categories he needs by asking himself which topics the vocabulary describes or discusses (Category).

3. Have him write down the word (Word) and the definition underneath the vocabulary word (Definition).

4. Finally, he should write down a clue (Personal Clue) that will help him connect the meaning to something he knows or has experienced.

5. Have him repeat steps six and seven for each of the words he underlined or wrote while surveying the text.

6. You can help him study the words by covering the clue and definition for each word and asking him what the word means. If he can’t remember, uncover the personal clue. Most of the time, the clue will trigger the meaning of the word. If that doesn’t work, allow him to uncover the definition.