Sunday, December 11, 2011

Two Brief Podcasts on Vocabulary Instruction

Something new this time! This is a special treat, just in time for the holidays!

It is my pleasure to share a few thoughtful yet brief podcasts on vocabulary, from The Voice of Literacy (dot) org. I have listened to each podcast below and have read manuscripts written by each expert. Drs. Neuman and McCutchen discuss their specific line of research, with practical applications for pedagogy.

Each interview at The Voice of Literacy (and there are many more) runs for about 10 -15 minutes. 

Turn up the volume and enjoy!
 
Door # 1) Dr. Betsy Baker interviews Dr. Susan Neuman, on the topic of helping young children learn words and organize newly learned words into conceptual categories. This should help children learn, remember, and retrieve the words. Some elements of the podcast relate to developing word consciousness, prioritizing vocabulary instruction as a vital literacy element, and elevating the daily vocabulary used by teachers in the classroom. Go directly to the Voice of Literacy website for the podcast; just click the link below.



Door #2)  Dr. Betsy Baker interviews Dr. Deb McCutchen on the topic of developing morphological awareness, both in the home and at school. Dr. McCutchen suggests several ways that parents and teachers might promote morphological awareness. For example, help learners notice similarity in form and meaning across morphologically related words, as in joy, joyous, joyously, enjoy, enjoyable, and, for a little fun with cognates, Joyeux Noël. The long-term goal is that students will independently infer the meaning of unknown words. Go directly to the Voice of Literacy website for the podcast; just click the link below.



PS.  Since you asked  ;- )

Here's a sneak peek at my new children's book, coming soon from Rowe Publishing and Design. Jamie's Journey has been six years in the making--the idea came to me before I started graduate school. What fun to watch illustrator Cory Godbey bring the book to life. Woot!









References:

Baker, E. A. & McCutchen, D. (2011, October 3). Using morphological analysis to infer word meanings. Voice of Literacy. Podcast retrieved from http://voiceofliteracy.org. 


Baker, E. A. & Neuman, S. (2011, September 5). Using categories to teach vocabulary to preschoolers. Voice of Literacy. Podcast retrieved from http://voiceofliteracy.org.