Understanding Vocabulary in Context: Instructional Focus Lesson Day 1
Smart people use what they have—what’s available to help solve a problem or a situation. You can all be smart people if you learn a few tricks. One of those tricks will help you figure out the meaning of words without having to use a dictionary. Sounds good, huh? The instructional focus for the next seven days will be understanding vocabulary in context.
Using language is necessary to communicate. Think about your world without words. How would you communicate difficult or complicated ideas? Words are valuable tools. To be or act (!) smart, you need to be able to understand words as soon as you come in contact with them. People don’t like to look or feel stupid because they don’t understand a word. Supersize your vocabulary. Think about context clues as a spotlight that comes before or after a word you don’t know and sheds light on its meaning.
See how easy this is. You’ve just figured out what “crone” means by using context clues. “Crone” means “an old, nagging woman.”
Let’s look at a few examples. On scratch paper, use the context clue strategy to figure out the unknown words.
To use context clues to help decipher the meaning of “rail” in this sentence, you should (either in your mind or on paper) circle the words, “cowboy,” “range,” and “fence.” Based upon what you already know about these words, you should be able to answer the following question. P.S. You know “range” means “wide, open country where animals graze” because of the words “cowboys” and “fence rail.”
Answer the following question.
1. To the cowboy, what does “rail” mean?
a. railroad tracks
b. bars stacked across posts
c. the decorative bars by front doors
d. the cowboy was complaining
The correct answer is “b.”
Look at this example.
2. Because Savannah and her mother always fought bitterly, her mother barely noticed when Savannah railed at her.
Spotlighting the context clues, you’d circle “always fought” and “bitterly” to help figure out what “railed” means here. Look at the following question and identify the correct answer.
3. What is Savannah doing to her mother when she “rails” at her?
a. fencing her in
b. telling her to take a train trip
c. yelling and screaming at her
d. railroading her
The correct answer is “c.”
Remember, out of the four possible answers, two are really wrong or silly, one you might think is correct, and one is the best of all the possible answers.
Use nearby words or phrases, context clues, you already know to:
1. figure out the meaning of words you don’t know,
2. understand how words you don’t know are used to support the main idea so you know what’s going on,
3. and look before and after the word you don’t know.
Supersize your vocabulary. You know how!
Now, let’s try using context clues to answer four questions about the kind of reading prompt you’ll have to wade through on your ITBS Reading Comprehension Test. Keep in mind that knowing the context tricks to use won’t make any difference in your test scores if you don’t really read the passage.
NAME______________________________
In bright moonlight, the men hoisted the heavy chests up onto the decks of the ships. They broke open the hasp on each chest with axes. They dumped the tea into Boston Harbor. Hardly a word was said. It took hours to do this work. Nothing but the tea was damaged.
When all the tea had been dumped, the men used brooms to sweep the decks. Not a leaf of tea was stolen. They were so careful that a padlock broken by mistake was replaced. Nobody would ever be able to say the Boston Tea Party was the work of a crazy mob.
It was past midnight when Paul Revere got home. He was exhausted. The work had been hard. Yet he was asked to saddle his horse and ride instantly.
1. The word “hoisted” means
a. lifted.
b. dropped.
c. built.
d. stole.
2. In this context, “chests” means
a. parts of the body.
b. treasuries.
c. shipping crates.
d. furniture with drawers.
3. Which sentence describes why Paul Revere was exhausted?
a. Not a leaf was stolen.
b. They broke the hasp of each chest open with axes.
c. The work had been hard.
d. It was past midnight when Paul Revere got home.
4. What word in the second paragraph has similar meaning to the word “hasp”?
a. stolen
b. padlock
c. dumped
d. brooms
We’re going to talk about understanding vocabulary in context for the next 6 days. On the 5th day, you’ll take an assessment like the one we just worked through. This assessment will show both you and me whether you understand how to use the spotlight strategy to figure out vocabulary words you don’t know. You will need to get three of the four answers correct to prove you can use context clues.
We’ll be coming back to understanding vocabulary in context for two days before you take the real ITBS Reading Comprehension Test. For the next six days, if you hear or read a word you don’t know, practice spotlighting what you do know before and after the unknown word. Don’t forget to also spotlight sentences before and after the unknown word if you can’t find words you know before or after to spotlight.