In this article, Rebecca Driscoll explains how she helped her students discover that words hold the key to profound ideas, and how teaching robust and contextually relevant words created a culture of enthusiastic learners and nurtured a passion for learning
It was Autumn term, a class of fresh Year 7s sat before me - eager to please and learn now that they were in Secondary school. Our text was War Horse by Michael Morpurgo - a book they were very much enjoying and invested in. However, despite enjoying the story - ideas were often surface level; they were unable to articulate high level ideas beyond the story.
Vocabulary became our key to unlocking ideas in literature.
As a skills based subject, my mixed ability year 7s sometimes struggled to find success in English. Vocabulary offered a tangible measure of success; having a bank of concrete words to draw off to discuss ideas offered quick rewards and a positive and ambitious culture of learning within our classroom.
Words as keys to learning
Nihilism, disillusionment and patriotism were golden words taught when discussing trench warfare and WWI. Each word offered a new dimension to explore when empathising with the characters in the story and understanding the nature of war.
We used Beck’s vocabulary instruction to explore new words fully. Following the principles of: robustness, frequency and context, students explored the synonyms and antonyms of words, I ensured new vocabulary was frequently referred to within my scheme of work and class discussions and students ‘owned’ the word in their own everyday contexts.
One Year 7 demonstrated word ownership perfectly when he sat slumped at his desk, piled high with homework folders and a scribbled on planner, “Miss, I can’t do English today - I just feel ever so nihilistic about everything today!”
Not only did these new words offer a greater understanding of the text, but they also offered a greater understanding of the society around them - leading them to question and challenge ideas within other subjects. Within their History lessons, many Year 7s were able to link to ideas of classism from their English Chaucer module - to understand the hierarchy of medieval society and to challenge societal attitudes at the time.
Explicit vocabulary instruction had created a culture of students hungry for vocabulary - for tangible success in English and to be able to articulate their ideas thoroughly.
KS3 and beyond…
Establishing a culture of ‘word ownership’ in KS3 has paved the way for ambitious students at KS4 who are hungry to explore a text in full. Students at every level could aim to challenge themselves through incorporating golden words within their GCSE essays.
So many of the words explicitly taught at KS3 established soft launches for concepts explored at GCSE, giving students a foundation of knowledge to draw off when exploring new texts. For example, the gothic golden word ‘transgression’ explored thoroughly in Y8 through the concept of our curiosity to explore anything that is forbidden to us, led to a greater depth of understanding when exploring ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ at GCSE; they could link to this gothic concept to understand why Jekyll may transgress societal norms in creating Hyde.
Concluding thoughts…
Through an explicit vocabulary focus, every student was able to find a level of success in English - whether it was through better articulating ideas, incorporating higher level ideas into essays, or achieving a greater level of empathy with characters explored in our texts. It has helped me establish a culture of rigorous high expectations and positive learning - encouraging students to question, grow and develop in the English classroom and beyond!
References
1. Beck, I ‘Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary instruction’’ (2002)
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