Research Paper
Research Paper
Mrs. Hamm
EDR 390
graders. These two topics are very different from one another so it will be very
interesting to figure out how to connect these two. Context clues were always fun
for me as a child because it was like a mystery and something that I had to look for
the answers. I intend to make it fun for my host classroom because it does not seem
like they get to have much fun in their class. Conclusions were difficult for me as a
child though so I want to find a way to make it easy for the students to understand
by figuring out their learning styles. Overall, in my unit, I hope the kids have fun
There are many different strategies in teaching context clues. The Ames’
system was developed to figure out what is the best way to approach context clues.
First and foremost, as teachers, we need to understand what context clues are or
what they are classified as. Context clues are a part of word learning or vocabulary
development (Parault Dowds, Haverback, and Parkinson, 2016, p. 2). In this article,
Jenkins and Dixon breaks down the sources of children’s vocabulary growth into
two sources: explicit references and labeled examples (Parault Dowds, Haverback,
and Parkinson, 2016, p. 2). Explicit references are when someone or the dictionary
explicitly gives the definition of a word. Labeled examples are when there is an
unknown object with a label of what it is. However, later on Jenkins and Dixon
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discovered another source of word learning, which is verbal context. This is the
most common way to teach kids about context clues throughout the day. It could be
assessed throughout the day by saying some words that students may not know and
ask them how they could figure out what the unknown word is when they are in line
or lining up.
Now knowing how context clues are used in the school and conversationally,
it is important now to know how to teach it. There are two methods talked about in
Dowds, Haverback, and Parkinson’s article. The first method was finding books in
the public library and finding words that would be words to use context clues for.
This was easy because public libraries are easy to get to and parents could easily
add them to their home library (Parault Dowds, Haverback, and Parkinson, 2016, p.
7). Teachers should read the book beforehand to figure out which words are ones
that kids may not understand. There is a chart in the same article from before on
page 8 that has a few examples of books and words in those books that would need
to be figure out by students. The second method is similar to the first but the books
are randomized (Parault Dowds, Haverback, and Parkinson, 2016, p. 13). Since the
books are randomized, teachers will be able to see what students find to be the
unknown words. Teachers could use this as an assessment by seeing how all
and conclusions, I thought that this would be perfect. Greenwood and Flanigan write
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about how teachers need to teach context clues very carefully because writers wrote
a particular word for a reason and students need to understand that (Greenwood
and Flanigan, 2007, p. 249). The authors suggest teaching context clues at various
levels, meaning the use of happy all the way up to elated. This gives the student a
base word that they can move up to the unknown word. When it comes to
connecting the two, the authors understand that it can be hard but there is a way. By
giving the students a story with some blanks in it they can fill in the blanks by using
context clues to see what word best fits (Greenwood and Flanigan, 2007, p.252). At
the end, it becomes a story. For my lesson, I would have the students then try to
draw a conclusion from the story that they were given. It is an easy way for them to
see that all components of literature connect to each other in some way.
and the students assist them (Huang and Yang, 2015, p.384). Teachers can use this
in all subjects but in reading it is critical. Drawing conclusions can be very difficult
but if a student watches the teacher and participates with her then they can get a
better understanding. Teachers would model how they would draw conclusions in
front of the whole class. Then, the teacher would ask the students to try and do one
with her. Finally, the students are able to do one on their own. Another method
mentioned was the Internet Reciprocal Teaching (IRT), which encourages students
to develop better reading skills for online comprehension (Huang and Yang, 2015, p.
384). My host classroom is always on the internet, so I would like to find something
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online that they could do with a partner, on their own, or with a small group that
could help them develop how to draw conclusions (which would be a later lesson).
Since methods were found on each topic, I also wanted to find some
strategies to help with some classroom management. Due to some students having
and cognitive-academic performances in children aged 5-7 years” was helpful and
showed how to approach them during a lesson. There was one method talked about,
Dellatolas, 2008, p.129-134). Throughout the study, students were observed and
they used language arts to see how they would react. Afterwards they asked for the
teacher’s feedback. They did the most important thing though and that is to identify
what problem each student has, so you can approach it in the best manner. Building
relationships is the next step and I am luck enough to have already done that and I
that the students are not dreading. My host teacher seems to yell at her students a
lot and I think it makes them hate learning even more. I want them to understand
progress,” he talks about how the focus in today’s learning environment is about
students’ acquiring information, when it is not just about that. Students need to
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learn how to work with each other, communicate, address problems, and come up
with solutions (Pellegrino, 2014, p. 66). This is important because when I read this it
hit me, students should not be lectured at but engaged. Engaging students means
that they will better understand what is being taught because of their involvement.
There will be struggles along the way but it is important to know that the way to get
a positive assessment out of a lesson is to get the students engaged during the
lesson.
Throughout all of my research I have figured out how I will teach my unit on
context clues and drawing conclusions. For context clues, I will teach throughout the
day and try to involve it in other subjects. For conclusions, I want to model how to
draw conclusions, guide them through one that they assist me with, and then give
that has blanks that they have to fill out that they will use context clues for. Once it is
finished, there will then be a story out of the finished product. At the bottom will be
some space for them to draw a conclusion from the story. Overall, my unit should
be very fluid and positive. My host teacher has a much different teaching style than I
do, so it should be interesting to see how the students will react to my teaching
style.
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Works Cited
Giannopulu, I., Escolano, S., Cusin, F., Citeau, H., & Dellatolas, G. (2008). Teachers’
127-147.
Teacher,(3), 249.
Huang, C., & Yang, S. C. (2015). Effects of Online Reciprocal Teaching on Reading
Parault Dowds, S.J., Haverback, H. R.,, & Parkinson, M. M. (2016). Classifying the
22.