Parents

Why does my child need to study so many word lists?

Answer:

Vocabulary knowledge is the strongest predictor of reading comprehension and verbal intelligence. Students who do not have large vocabularies or effective word-learning strategies often struggle to achieve comprehension. Their bad experiences with reading often set in motion a cycle of frustration and failure that continues throughout their schooling. Because these students don’t have sufficient word knowledge to understand what they read, they typically avoid reading. Consequently, because they don’t read very much, they don’t have the opportunity to see and learn very many new words. This sets in motion the “Matthew Effect” (“The rich get richer and the poor get poorer”). In terms of vocabulary development, good readers read more, become better readers, and learn more words; poor readers read less, become poorer readers, and learn fewer words. Thus, one reason vocabulary learning is emphasized is

Given that students’ success in school and beyond depends in great measure upon their ability to read with comprehension, providing instruction that equips students with the skills and strategies necessary for lifelong vocabulary development is a priority.

“Words are important because they are the building blocks of language, and language allows us to express our thoughts and understand those of others—to become full-fledged members of the human community” --Paul Bloom, How Children Learn the Meaning of Words

Why does my child need to learn so many "SAT words" in ninth-grade?

Mendocino High School is a college preparatory school. As such, we believe that each student should have the foundation to allow him or her to

The SAT (formerly known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test) attempts to measure a wide range of literacy skills that are needed for academic success in college--years worth of information that is very difficult to cram into the brain within a few weeks.. The optimal strategy is to spend the sufficient time needed to learn the information well in advance. In addition to avoiding the negative side effects of cramming (e.g., sleep deprivation, test anxienty, mental fatigue), a gradual approach allows students to commit content and skills to long-term memory.

Finally, as a rural community, the North Coast does not offer the quantity of test prep resources (Kaplan, Princeton Review, etc.) found in urban centers.

Therefore, I've tried to incorporate SAT test prep into the curriculum.

Why doesn't my child have any homework?

Students are expected to study every night for their weekly quizzes. When essays or presentations are assigned, students are expected to work on these projects each day until the due date. The Caps-Doesn't-Give-Homework statement is a myth.

How can I use the word list?

What are some strategies I can use to help my child learn new words?

There are several research-based stategies for vocabulary acquisition that are employed in class and can also be employed at home.

key word method

vocabulary squares

Why is there so little out of class reading?

Most class reading, particularly in Literature and Composition 1/2, is conducted within class for the following reasons:

First, in-class reading is typically supplemented with resources and activities that are unavailable at home, such as audio books and readers theater. These supplements are used to develop reading fluency, the ability to read quickly, accurately, and expressively. Reading fluency is key to reading comprehension. The more fluent a reader, the less he or she must concentrate on decoding and can focus attention on comprehension, what the text actually means. Conversely

and instruction in comprehension skills (Willingham, 2006). Silent independent reading (e.g., reading assigned as homework) alone has not been shown to increase reading fluency.

Although many students at our school can read fluently at grade level, some do not. Activities that include listening while reading allow struggling readers to bridge the "decoding gap" and read texts above their independent reading level.

Readers theater is an activity in which students read a script adapted from literature and picture the action from hearing the script being read aloud. Among its benefits, readers theater develops fluency through repeated readings of a text during rehearsal and performance; engages reluctant readers; integrates reading, speaking, and listening skills in an authentic context; encourages students to use their imagination through either planned or spontaneous dramatic action; and provides active learning opportunities suitable for students with different levels of ability.

Second, listening to oral modeled readings is a proven way to acquire new vocabulary.

Stimulate vocabulary development by allowing opportunities for students to hear and see words multiple times, to use them actively in their own speech, and to encounter them in compelling contexts, such as Recorded Books.

Third, in-class readings are often used to model and practice active reading traits. During a reading selection, students are sometimes paused and asked use context clues to determine meaning, to ask questions of the text to clarify meaning, to use context clues and background knowledge to form inferences, and so forth.

Forth, reader response theory guides a significant portion of literary analysis in this class.

Last, in-class reading helps ensure that reading assignments are actually completed.

My child hasn't read more than four novels in your class. Why is that?

This depends on how "reading" is defined.

However, reading within secondary and post-secondary English courses typically includes literary analysis, the careful examination or evaluation of a literary work.

subset of

literary elements and terms.

requires research of secondary sources.

Reading a handful of texts in-depth is more rewarding than reading a dozen texts superficially. Quality versus quantity.

"What counts, I found, is not what you cover but what you uncover. Covering subjects in a class can be a boring exercise, and students feel it. Uncovering the laws of physics and making them see through the equations, on the other hand, demonstrates the process of discovery, with all its newness and excitement, and students love being part of it." --Walter Lewin, For the Love of Physics

What is Google Documents?

Overview from Google's website

Why are student essays only submitted using Google Documents?

(1) Writing is a recursive process and Google Documents tends to promote an understanding of this process.

(2) Academic writing is an extremely cognitively demanding activity (see below). As with similar cognitively demanding activities (e.g., playing chess), the presence of a mentor faciliates learning. Google Documents, through its chat and comments features allows frequent studnet-instructor interaction.

(3) Environmental sustainability is a central tenet of our school. That is, ... As a paperless system, Google Documents allows.. In addition, it is a cost-savings measure for the school and community.

(4) Accountability. Google Documents provides a time and date stamp for each document modification. That is, it can track when a student worked on an assignment, what a student did to the assignment, and how long a student worked on the assignment.

(5) Google Documents has an auto-save function that periodically backs up student work. Power outages, hard drive failure, and essay-chomping dogs cannot wipe the slate clean.

What is the best way I can reach you?

Email.

Can you offer after school help?

Yes. If your child is struggling with writing, he or she can make arrangements for after-school assistance. If your child is a reluctant writer, then we can schedule mandatory visits.

My child can't visit you after school (due to work, music lessons, etc.). What is a better time?

Advisory or lunch upon appointment.

Cultural Literacy": "Skill in reading is like skill in chess in many respects. Good reading, like good chess, requires the rapid deployment of schemata that have already been acquired and do not have to be worked out on the spot. Good readers, like good chess players, quickly recognize typical patterns, and, since they can ignore many smallscale features of the text, they have space in short-term memory to take in an overall structure of meaning. They are able to do all of this because, like expert chess players, they have ready access to a large number of relevant schemata. By contrast, unskilled readers lack this large store of relevant schemata and must therefore work out many small-scale meaning relationships while they are reading. These demanding tasks quickly overload their short-term memories, making their performance slow, arduous, and ineffective." --E.D. Hirsch, Cultural Literacy

to contribute to their communities in meaningful and positive ways.

Willingham, D.T. (2006). The effectiveness of brief instruction in reading

comprehension strategies. American educator, Winter, 39-45