Wow! Precisely! Sensational! These words encompass how I feel after reading the article and discussing the material. The material we discussed today about vocabulary instruction is some good stuff! I have never thought about learning and teaching vocabulary in such unique and enthralling ways. Today, Dr. Frye was certainly able to see these feelings in the expression on my face and the glimmer of amazement in my eyes. I was simply fascinated at all the connections I was able to make. When it comes to literacy, everything is related! Vocabulary instruction will most certainly affect rate, comprehension, and accuracy, and the opposite is true as well. Reading is inextricably related to writing, and this could not be more true for the reverse. The character sketcher was also intriguing. Never before had I been able to see how identifying character traits can prompt a better understanding of the character’s motives and the story structure. Yes, I previously knew that having a solid foundation in the vocabulary being used would help with comprehension, but I had never experienced vocabulary taking this role in my learning experience. I also loved the fact that the vocabulary instruction was student centered. Students were allowed to choose and focus on vocabulary words that they were interested in. Being able to personally relate to a word or finding a connection to it because of its interesting nature will help students build a better understanding of that word. It will also cause them to become more interested in vocabulary and hopefully take the initiative to do word studies such as this on their own. I especially enjoyed the interaction between students during the character sketcher activities. I could imagine a great discussion taking place in my own classroom I am interning in when opening up the floor such as this. Having students take the initiative to read a passage and ask their peers for responses is an indirect way to build leadership skills in the classroom. Even if their ideas are different, they can be discussed and proved valid or invalid. Most importantly, everyone has a chance to thoughtfully express his or her opinion in a safe, non-judgmental environment.
I also liked the new features and ways of looking at texts to discover implicit meaning. Like Dr. Frye said, reading, processing, and understanding vocabulary is something we do almost effortlessly at this stage in our educational careers. However, we need to remember that we are going to be teaching children who need more experience with exploring texts. Therefore, we have to take notice of text feature and text structures. I have never thought of it like this, but the way something is written does create a sense of how that character feels or acts. For example, if something is written in italics, bold, or includes certain types of punctutation marks at the end, the reader can take a great deal of information away from these subtle clues. I also learned that giving students activities such as a character sketcher before they read will actually help them learn at a much more effective and efficient rate. If they are able to preview the material and questions before they read, then they will be able to keep this information stored as they read. Doing this helps students set their purpose and focus their attention on the reading. When they find something that may fit, they can refer back to the questions and make the connections.
I also learned how to “kill two birds with one stone” concerning vocabulary instruction. Not only can I make vocabulary instruction fun, by incorporating games, points for prizes, challenges, and many other interactive teaching methods; but I can do this while teaching material which may be present on the End-of-Grade Test. I do not simply have to lecture on EOG material, but I can incorporate this material into the vocabulary instruction, making it applicable and much more memorable for students. However, the learning experience cannot stop after the lesson is over. It cannot be remembered for a test and then forgotten soon thereafter. It has to be revisited, and students have to “marinate” themselves in this vocabulary. Students need multiple exposures to vocabulary words by seeing them time and time again, using them in their writing, and practicing incorporating them into their everyday conversations.
Vocabulary can take you on an adventure. It was so neat to study how words such as politics or politician (noun), politicize (verb), political (adjective), and politically (adverb) are all related. Words such as this can connect students to cross-curricular studies such as social studies and science. It can help students create more in-depth, meaningful explanations and connections with these words, thus improving their rate, accuracy, and comprehension of texts.
P.S. – On a side note, I was wondering if there was a synonym for vocabulary. I found “lexicon” to be my favorite! 
