With my regular level classes, I spend more time on vocabulary terms, but with my AP classes, I used to spend little time and expect the students to learn the words for themselves with a little vocabulary.com and such. After attending a workshop on teaching reading, one of the time said there sparked me thinking and I've decided to try something a little different.
This is still an AP class and I do not feel the need to review the definitions of the each word on the list like I would my English II class, but if what I am trying for AP works, I can see myself adapting some of this for the other classes. Warning - this does take time to prep (though it could be adapted into a lesson where the students do the legwork instead).
The Plan
I want my students to understand the words better - inside and out. I am going to use my established lists - each of which consists of ten new words plus a selection of words from previous lists plus a few literary terms just to keep those in constant rotation in their minds. What I am going to do will focus only on the new words and potentially a literary term if it just works extra well. The first Tuesday of each two week vocabulary list lesson, I will single out about 5-6 words to focus on. I will focus on wither word parts, connotation, etymology, or Visuwords.
Word Parts
This speaks for itself. Some words break into word parts quite easily while others do not. Early in my teaching career we had a program put on us by the district to teach words only in context of word parts. I dislike one-size-fits-all programs, but I was a young teacher and I did my part. It worked well sometimes and not so well others - especially when the word meaning changed over time.
Learn That Word has a good list of prefixes and roots and a good list for suffixes, but sometimes it helps to know exactly where those word parts kick in. Wordsmith is a good site to go to to see not only a definition, but some word parts and background as well.
As good as they are, I found myself using plain old Google even more. When you Google the word "definition" and whatever word you are looking up, say, "innate" for example, and you click the SHOW MORE option, this is what you get:
The origin does a fine job quickly showing you the different word parts and gave me a quick chance to see if I wanted to pursue that word for the word part segments.
Connotation
I was really hoping to find a connotation dictionary, but those don't really exist, or at least not in the way I was hoping for. The idea here is to showcase one or two words and show that while their definition is _____, when it is used, it typically means _____. These words are great for discerning tone (just think of the difference between "kill" and "slaughter"). One word from our list is "loquacious" and while it means using a lot of words or talkative, the understood meaning is using too many words. Or think of the difference between "pithy" and "terse" - they both mean using few words, but being pithy is a good thing (short and too the point) while being terse usually means the speaker is angry.
Etymology
Some words have fun backgrounds that have changed the meaning of the word over time. There is a good dictionary for that called The Online Etymology Dictionary. I'll do one to three words from the list. This takes time to find the words that are going to be interesting enough for me to talk about. The easy way is to just type the words in the above dictionary until you find a good one.
I like the idea of egregious being used ironically so much it lost its original meaning. Also, the word "supercilious" spins off from a Latin word for eyebrows, so "supercilious" literally means "haughty eyebrows" which is so fitting for a word that means "looking down on others as inferior to your status". Don't tell me that kids won't remember "haughty eyebrows"! While looking for these words I found several that I am looking forward to talking about, such as "pristine" and "simpleton".
Visuwords
I'll use Visuwords for one or two words in the list. It is a fun site to play with. When you type in a word, it bubbles out to other words related. The words and bubbles have elasticity, which is fun to move around a little, but they also help you to see the definition and also sometimes the connotation. Like "haughty" (sans eyebrows this time):
Here you can see both "disdainful" and "proud" to help students see the word's more complex meaning.
Parting Comments
As for the remaining words on the list, the students are on their own. I am thinking we will see a better comprehension of what the words mean which will hopefully translate into better retention of the words. I also think the students seeing the variety of ways we look at a word's meaning will add value to the words we are learning.
If you have a unique way of introducing your words to your students, share it in the comments! Or just say "Hi!" in the comments! I might just say "Howdy" back to you.