VoCaB, VoCaB, VoCaB!

Funded Sep 15, 2018

Thank you so much for your kind donation. It has had a huge impact on my classroom this year. Each time we read a selection from the textbook, students used the thesauruses to find synonyms and antonyms for the academic vocabulary. This is a really important step to vocabulary development because students are able to understand the words more clearly when they see that they are similar in meaning to words they already know. Using these thesauruses helped to improve their vocabulary, which in turn, helped to improve both their reading comprehension and their writing.

In previous years, students used the dictionary/thesaurus apps on their phones, but this year there were so many students who didn't have a phone, that I realized I had to get physical books. We studied vocabulary for one textbook selection without the physical books and there was an imbalance in the classroom. The students with phones seemed to be more privileged and were able to work ahead of the others. They were more successful due to their perceived privilege, and I think this made some students feel bad. Your donation helped to alleviate the social awkwardness that came from that situation, and I am so grateful for that. Now, all students use the books instead of their phones and it is a much more enjoyable experience for everybody.

These books were also hugely helpful because many of my students--even though they are in high school--don't know how to use reference materials. Having these books in class gave me the opportunity to teach students what a thesaurus is and how to use it. Since we use them so often, students have become really comfortable with them and the vocabulary learning process goes much faster which allows for us to focus on other elements of English Language Arts.

Because of your donation, a major element of my class and student learning improved this year, and I am so thankful for that.”

With gratitude,

Mr. Poe