Mod 10 Video Discussion

I find that I do "mini lessons" when I'm conferring with students 1:1 or on the fly.  Teaching 4th grade is a little different because students have received instruction in grammar, phonics, and word study for years when they are in 4th grade.  I understand that many students who are ELL/ESOL may not have received the same years of education or any formal education at all, but the reality is that my grammar, phonics, and word study lessons are brief and are aimed at 4th grade benchmarks.  I do my best to fill in gaps as I observe them and teach them the blends/vowel teams/etc. as best as I can so they have that knowledge. 

Another thing that I do that could be considered a two for one approach is I make sure that unknown words/vocabulary words/words are previewed and discussed as follows:

• pronounced
• discuss the parts
• what the parts tell us about the word

For example, if we were reading about prehistoric times in the Americas, One work I would preview would be prehistoric. I would pronounce it, look at the parts, and talk about what pre- means, hist- means, and -ic means to come up with the entire word meaning for prehistoric.