Creating and Defining New Vocabulary: Using Feed to Make Meaning

Creating and Defining New Vocabulary: Using Feed to Make Meaning

Student Name: Lauren Baker, Max Feldman and Jonathan Klingeman

Grade Level: 10

Academic Standard(s)-PA Chapter 4
1.1 (Learning to Read Independently), 1.3 (Reading, Analyzing, and Interpreting Literature), 1.4 (Types of Writing), 1.6 (Speaking and Listening), 1.7 (Characteristics and Function of the English Language)
Rationale
In their reading of the novel Feed, students will encounter new vocabulary words created by the author, M.T. Anderson. Through the context of the book, they will be able to determine the meaning of these words, although definitions may vary from student to student. The students will be given an opportunity to share their definitions and defend their reasoning, with the understanding that there are no clear or set “proper definitions” to these invented words. Students will then use these words in a written and spoken skit or dialogue, and will later be assigned to create a story or scene using entirely new words that they create, with meaning made clear through context and usage.
Essential/Topical/Guiding Question(s)
How can we decipher the meaning of new words? How does context influence meaning? How do new words and slang evolve? How can meaning be created through the use of invented words?
Objectives (Bloom’s Taxonomy)
To determine the meaning of new words through context and logic.
To share ideas and discuss where meaning comes from.
To write a skit using new words from the novel Feed.
To create new words for use in a story or scene; to make meanings clear through usage and context.
Assessment Options and Performance Criteria
Students will be assessed on their participation in discussion and completion of an in-class handout for defining vocabulary. They will also be assessed on their completion of a skit or dialogue, working in pairs or small groups, and on voluntary performance of this piece. Students will later be evaluated on their homework, creating a story or scene using entirely new words created by the students.
Timeline
1 Day
Differentiation: Content, Process (Learning Opportunities), Product (Assessment Options)

1. Students will have covered part of the novel Feed prior to class.
2. Students will complete a handout on defining new vocabulary, and share ideas with the class.
3. Students will produce and share skits or dialogues using new vocabulary.
4. Students will perform these skits on a voluntary basis.
5. Students will produce short stories or scenes, using their own invented words, and create meaning through usage and context.

Closure
Homework assignment: to create a story or scene using new (invented) words, making their meanings clear through context and usage.
Essential Materials
Feed, by M.T. Anderson.
Handout on definitions for class.
Reflective Assessment
1. To what extent were students productively engaged?
This lesson was taught to two 11th grade academic and one 12th grade applied class. All three sections were actively engaged in discussing the definitions and completing the handout. They were less engaged in sharing their definitions upon completion, as most students had come up with very similar meanings and there was not much disagreement or conflict. However, they did defend their rationale upon questioning, using examples from the text to back up their definitions.
2. Did the students learn what I intended? How do I know?
The students were able to determine believable and appropriate meanings for the new words. They were also creative in the skits they wrote, modeling their speech after Feed, while incorporating present day issues. I believe they took away an understanding of how new words can be understood, and how they could make the meaning of their own new words clear.
3. Did I modify my instruction? If yes, how?
Because the students that we taught had not read the novel, but only the first chapter, I gave the second and third groups more background on the novel and connected it to familiar ideas from 1984 so that they would be more interested and engaged in the activity.
4. What would I do differently next time?
I would hope for a bigger group of students with more varying definitions, so that a variety of meanings and rationales would be encountered. I would also consider incorporating and examining modern slang and its meanings into the lesson, which might improve student discussion.

8-26-04