Put Tier II Words into Student-Friendly Language

Wow! What an amazing resource! After exploring on there for a bit, it is now proudly bookmarked on my computer (which is an honor because I don't bookmark many things). This is such a convenient way to quickly look up words for lessons and define them in a way that kids will immediately understand. I love the examples they give and the way they insert the children themselves into the definition "If you're forlorn...". This will automatically allow kids to make a connection to the word! Especially because sometimes the regular dictionary definition is more complicated than the word itself!

The Collins dictionary is helpful because it can give students different ways to understand and use words. With this resource, you can get the correct pronunciation, learn different definitions and how it can be used, how often it is used, and synonyms of the word. This can help students define and understand/use tier 2 words, and make more connections to what they already know as well.

The Collins dictionary give students multiple ways to interact and understand the word. You have the ability to assess it's frequency, hear how it is pronounced, given multiple definitions with examples in more plain or basic language and synonyms. All of these help students make connections form current knowledge to new knowledge and understanding.

Student-friendly language in defining Tier 2 words seems to be a good way for students to not only learn the words more easily but to take ownership of the learning through making connections. I was not aware of the Collins Cobulit Site and I believe it could be a great resource for students (and teachers!) to create more accessible definitions of the essential Tier 2 vocabulary. 

Allowing students to make connections and associations (or disassociations) in language with which they are comfortable is a way to help them take ownership of vocabulary learning. This will lead to better comprehension when reading and ultimately better written work, as well. 









https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zNdP89Bw5MQwkksx4ZgQXpy-qGZc_UpYcTI8eYg_dXQ/edit?usp=sharing

Students that are able to hear the word pronounced different ways, get examples with the word used in real life examples, and various definitions that are understandable as well as having several synonyms help build the student's vocabulary, comfort level and confidence with each word they look up.

Wow! I've never seen this online dictionary before. A handful of years ago, I stopped asking students to provide the dictionary definition of their vocabulary words on their Frayer model word maps. Instead, I provided the definition, and asked them to put it in their own words. I didn't want students spending the majority of their time looking up the definition. This isn't where the learning happens. But honestly, some students even had trouble putting it in their own words, so maybe a website like Collins Cobuild dictionary could help those students really simplify the definitions. 

The definitions found in the Collins dictionary will be extremely helpful in providing not only a definition that is student-friendly, but it actually gives you a sentence that will help explain the meaning of the word.  Sometimes it is difficult to think of an explicit example on the spot, so this will be a great resource.  Defining words in a conversational way will lead to more students making connections on their own.  For example, students may not understand the word "curious" but when they are presented a sentence definition- "If you are curious about something, you are interested in it and want to know more about it."- then they are more likely to say "I wanted to know more about ______."  I usually will then turn it around and say "That means you were curious about _______." 

In order for students to deeply process and develop meaning for words, they need to make relevant connections with the vocabulary. The Collins dictionary does this by putting the vocabulary into simpler language, offering synonyms, and even helping the student to understand how to pronounce the word.  

I found it interesting that pre-assessing students' knowledge of a term or connecting it to their own experiences is not the best practice. I think that having more clearly written definitions can be helpful, although for some of the terms like impressive, the word impress is in the definition which I believe would not be as helpful to students. 

Forlorn - (Adj.) If someone is forlorn, they are unhappy.

Curious - (Adj.) If you are curious about something, you are interested in it and you want to know more about it.

Impressive - (Adj.) If something impressive impresses you, for example, that is in great size or degree, or is done with a lot of skill.

This resource would definitely help students understand the meaning of the words in a clear fashion. This will help students understand their vocabulary and to help them build their skills in regards to the definitions. This will help also with the subject content and context.