Week 12- McLean (Response)

In response to the description of what a lesson plan should include, in terms of vocabulary, I would have to agree.  A lesson should help students learn vocabulary in a meaningful way by focusing mostly on tier 2 words.  For instance, having students memorize a word and its meaning is not very effective on its own.  However, if you have a lesson where you are reading a book, one important vocabulary word that you might want students to learn or focus on would relate to the book or the topic of the lesson.  This might be words like characters or setting, or excited or jealous.  These different types of words could be taught through a lesson to make it more authentic and create a scaffolded meaning behind each word.  This goes beyond relying on a dictionary definition of words.  Instead, students could even create their own dictionary by writing words and their own definition of what the word means based on the lesson that it relates to.  This would allow students to create a sense of meaning behind each vocabulary word learned authentically, as well as allow children to comprehend the word fully by restating the meaning of the word by using their own words.  As stated earlier, it is essential to include vocabulary development as an authentic activity to create meaning that is relatable for students.