On Your Way with Dr. Christina Williams

OYW How To Provide Multiple Exposures to the Words You've Featured/ Intentionally Noticed Mini Episode #5

When I was teaching second grade, one of my students said, “Dr. Williams, last year we sang this song, and I want our class to sign it too.” Boy, am I glad I listened to him! That song was such a powerful tool to end our days together. It’s sung to the tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down” and it goes: What did you learn in school today? School today. School today. What did you learn in school today? Tell us, _Easton_. (You name a person in the group.)    My promise to my students was that every single day they came into our classroom they would learn something they didn’t already know. Singing that song at the end of the day reminded kids of what, exactly, they did learn. It could be that cred means believe. It could be that o-o can say /ew/ or /oo/. It could be that Our neighbors to the north of the United States are Canadians or students could even say something like, “Nick is a great reading partner.” Anything goes here! When we sang that song, I had real hope that when my students got home and were asked, “What’d you learn in school today?” instead of mumbling “Nuthin’,” my students would have a great response ready.  I also sent home a newsletter at least once a month. In that newsletter, I shared what our focuses were for each subject area, and I often challenged parents to ask their children to perform a task so they could see what their kids been learning. Sometimes I said, “Ask your child to sing the short vowel song I taught them.” Sometimes it was, “Ask your child to draw a compass rose with the cardinal directions.” Sometimes it was “Ask your child to teach you the nines trick for multiplication.” This review is quite powerful, because everyone’s impressed! Kids are inspired to learn and grow when it’s acknowledged. OYW with Dr. Christina Williams [https://www.bookbums.com/podcast]

OYW Morphology, Vocabulary Mini Episode #4

Morphology is the study of forms of words. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning within words. That dinky little s at the end of the word dogs is a morpheme because it demonstrates that there is more than one dog. It does not simply represent the sound /s/. That s holds meaning. Words can, literally, morph into other forms with the addition (or deletion) of letters and letter combinations that hold meaning. In the word sing, that i-n-g is just--part of the word. Sing is a free morpheme because it holds meaning standing on its own. On Your Way with Dr. Christina Williams [https://www.bookbums.com/podcast]

OYW-Comparing Words, Dynamic Dictionary- Mini Episode #3

Comparing words can be an effective way to focus attention on subtle differences in word meanings. Even words we use often can be nuanced in ways we don’t fully recognize until we compare and/or contrast them with other words having similar meanings. In this podcast, we’re going to explore a variety of ways to compare word meanings in such a way that (hopefully) inspires us to closely consider our word choices as we express our thoughts with others in speech and in print. I’ll begin by sharing how you can use semantic gradients with kids. In educational settings, we often call this an exploration of “shades of meaning.” We’ll be considering word meanings and word relationships while placing them on a gradient. We’ll begin with our initial thoughts about word meanings, but a dictionary or dictionary app will be called upon to firm up our thinking. This work is very well suited for examining adjectives, or describing words, which are quite useful in everyday linguistic tasks. We’ll discover what we know while also nudging our kids toward using more sophisticated words and to strive to more accurately convey what they are trying to say. On Your Way Podcast, Dr. Christina Williams [https://bookbums.com/podcast/]

OYW Encourage Students to Use Sophisticated Vocabulary - Mini Episode #2

Yes! Today we’re going to talk about employing a Dynamic Dictionary in your teaching space. If you are writing with kids, a dynamic dictionary may be just what you’ve been looking for to move your students from using “safe, easy-to-spell, dime-a-dozen words” to using more sophisticated vocabulary words that better convey what your writers are trying to say. In part one of this mini-series, we discussed how to meaningfully incorporate teacher selected vocabulary words into our daily instruction. With the Dynamic Dictionary, we are also encouraging students to contribute their own words into our classroom vocabulary instruction.On Your Way Podcast Dr. Christina Williams [https://bookbums.com/podcast/]

OYW Read Alouds, Vocabulary Mini-episode #1

This episode takes Dynamic Dictionary one step further.  Listen to this to solidify your understanding of the Dynamic Dictionary Podcast.