Week 2 Term 3 - Word Family

Whether we like it or not, we all belong to a family. Our families may look and feel different compared to others but the fact remains, we are connected to a family. This idea of 'togetherness' and 'connection' in family does not only apply to us but in language and literacy. Word families is a concept that for the most part, especially as you grow older, one can recognize and understand. This is a concept that I believe is taught in primary schools but as learners transition into college, the concept becomes less of something that is taught and more of something that learners are expected to know. Twinkl.co.nz defines it as "A word family is a group of words that may share a common root word with different prefixes and suffixes in morphology. They're used for teaching spelling. Word families are groups of words that fit into a certain set of letter patterns with the same root words. This means that these groups of words have a common feature, pattern or meaning. They're often linked together through meaning, grammar or morphology (roots, prefixes and suffixes)." Examples of word families include: 

These words all belong to the same word family:

• writer;
• written;
• writing;
• writes;
• rewrite.

What do they have in common?

These words all come from the root word 'write'. This means they're part of the 'write' word family

Learners are expected to learn between 15-20 words a day, I did not know this, but I have read that young people should be able to retain new words daily. I can remember struggling with words as a young learner in primary school and this was (I now know) directly linked to my poor reading skills. A blogger by the name of Ron Gullekson writes "I’ve seen estimates that say it takes seven meaningful exposures to really learn a word, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s closer to 20 or 30 exposures. And these exposures can’t all come in the same day. A word is really “acquired” when you’ve seen it again and again over a period of time–weeks and months." Dr Jannie has introduced the word family concept to my Year 9 class, 9KLe and over the course of Week 1 Term 3, the students have begun unpacking the focus word 'to survive'. So far the students have discussed what they know of the word 'survive' and have found a visual concept that links to the idea of 'to survive'. That was just the first step! The second step (which I will get into soon) connects to what Gullekson said in that it exposes the students to word and encourages the students to actively and independently find the words that are related to form the word family group. Here is my breakdown of how step two has gone so far with Dr Jannie and 9KLe (please forgive my observation notes - I was trying to multitask and co-teach/write at the same time!) 

Part 1: Introduction of Step 2: Define the word 'survive' (independently and as a group) 

• They have to (in pairs) explain what the word survive means (clearly, precisely, briefly)
• They cannot look up the word
• They cannot use the word to define the word
• They cannot write an example of the word
• Students write down their explanation of the word on a piece of paper.
• Dr Jannie ask the students to share their explanations

Part 2: Student feedback - What does the word survive mean?

• "To continue to live or exist"
• "To carry on living and/or persevere through tough times"
• "Fighting to stay alive and having challenges and facing them"
• "Stay alive, to be able to look after yourself"
• "To stay alive"
• "Overcoming a situation that may have been dangerous"
• "Living longer to see a future"

Part 3: Find the dictionary definition. 

• Students then have to look up the definition from either the dictionary or electronic dictionary.
• Students are to choose which one they want to do
• Students are to write the definition next to their explanation
• Students read out the physical dictionary definition and electronic dictionary definition
• We have looked at your explanation, dictionary definition - we now know the core meaning of the word survive.
• Now we can look at the word family
• We are looking for words that link to the same meaning ‘to survive’ - belong to the word family

Part 4: Introduction to Word Family

• Looking at word family members presentation (click on the link to access the PowerPoint)
• Dr Jannie explains the word family members
• Students now think of other words that link to ‘to survive’ - in pairs. What other words belong to the family - surviving, survivor, survivable, unsurvivable
• The students cannot look up the word
• Students feedback on words that belong to the word group for ‘to survive’ - ‘what’s another member of the ‘to survive’ family?’ Can you explain what ‘survival’ ‘survivalist’ ‘survivalism’ ‘survivable’ means
• When you know and can explain a core word and think of its members you grow your word count. Students complete the slide show where they compile the information that they have been working on for the first 2 steps. Name my Word Work presentation (click on the link to access the PowerPoint)

MY THOUGHTS

I really enjoyed this part of the journey. The students were able to engage and connect with the word group concept. They were able to really think of words that are related to the springboard word 'survive' and use their prior knowledge and creativity to think of words that are associated it. To see the students feel confident in what they were doing and how they understood word groups was a highlight for me. This also showed me that going back to the basics and giving time and space in your classroom to explore these 'basics' is important. Understanding word groups is one of the fundamental elements in literacy and I have enjoyed learning from Dr Jannie just as much as my students have.