How to Pick Vocabulary Words?
The way you choose vocabulary words is extremely important and you should be careful. Growing up I was given a LONG list of words and were told to write the word, a definition, and use it in a sentence. So I will tell you the proper way to choose words.
Read the text! Never not read it first.
Determine the Topic. All the words you choose should fall under the topic. You should not pick words at random, because we want the words to be relevant to the student.
Pick words from the text thinking about YOUR STUDENTS
Look at your words and see if students could figure out the word based on word parts or context clues. Move these words to the CAUTION WORDS. Ask yourself: Why spend time pre-teaching words if they can do it on their own?
Words left over are your words. IT IS OKAY if you only have a few words. At the end students should be able to make a prediction of what the text will be about based on your words.
*REMEMBER-Quality over Quantity
