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By Doug
Buehl,
Madison East High School teacher
Member, Wisconsin State Reading Association
February 2005
Obstreperous? What does it mean to be obstreperous? I can tell you what it’s not!
It’s not cooperative and well- behaved. It’s not quiet, attentive, and orderly. It’s not settling down and listening carefully. It’s not following directions and responding to requests. It’s not being manageable and in control.
Sometimes it is easier to understand something by describing what it isn’t rather than what it is.
Obstreperous can be defined as clamorous, unruly, boisterous, or difficult to restrain. But by outlining contrasting behaviors that are the opposite of obstreperous – self-disciplined, calm, tranquil, obedient – we begin to flesh out a more complete concept of this term.
When learning new vocabulary, students often attempt to latch onto a single convenient synonym. A more comprehensive approach is to consider a range of appropriate synonyms that tap into a variety of characteristics and attributes. Student then can compare these with contrasting antonyms that represent the flip side of the concept. In this way, students become conditioned to developing more sophisticated understandings of new vocabulary.
The December “Reading Room” column recommended engaging students in learning new words as “extended families,” so that students would begin to perceive subtle differences between similar terms. In addition, extended word families comprise words that span from one extreme to the other, encompassing words that represent opposite meanings or ideas. Extended word families can then be plotted on a continuum, arranging these words along a line from those that most exemplify a concept to those that least exemplify it.
Activities that provide students with practice in defining new vocabulary through synonyms and antonyms help students refine their understandings of extended word families.
The strategy
The “vocab war” (Kunkel, 2000) is a fast-paced, dynamic
classroom activity that builds student understandings of new vocabulary
through exploration of synonyms and antonyms. The vocab war is organized
as a classroom contest between competing cooperative groups:
Step 1: A round of vocab war takes up roughly a 50-minute class period and is centered on five key new words. When you have decided upon five target words important for your curriculum, choose three synonyms and three antonyms for each target word that will help students develop a deeper and more expansive understanding of each term.
For example, to use our opening example of “obstreperous,” three synonyms might be unruly, disorderly, and boisterous. Three antonyms might be obedient, composed, and docile. Try to select synonyms and antonyms that tap into a variety of the characteristics and attributes of your target words.
When you have completed your preparation for a round of vocab war, you should have identified 35 words: the five target words, plus the six matching synonyms and antonyms for each target word.
Step 2: Create a matrix on the board that displays the five target words across the top. Each target word has two columns below it, one labeled “S” for synonyms and the other “A” for antonyms.
On the other side of the board, list the 30 synonyms and antonyms in random order. The object of the contest is for teams to sort the 30 words into groups of three synonyms and three antonyms for each of the five target words.
Step 3: Divide the class into cooperative groups of three to four students each. The groups are given the first half of the class period (or about 25 minutes) to use their dictionaries to prepare for the contest.
First, the groups tackle the five target words and write down working definitions of each of these terms. Then the groups delegate responsibility for the list of 30 synonyms and antonyms, with each member tackling one segment of the list to determine where they might place each word on the matrix, as a synonym or antonym under one of the five target words. Some of these words may be fairly obvious in their placement, but others will require judgment and discussion among members of the group as students rely upon each other to hone their understandings of these words.
Step 4: The game takes place during the second half of the class period. Groups are encouraged to keep using their dictionaries throughout the game, but they also need to track which words are being placed on the matrix and monitor whether they agree with the placements done by other groups.
The game unfolds as follows: The group that begins sends one of its members to the matrix on the board. This student has 60 seconds to select one of the 30 words and write it in either the synonym or antonym column under one of five target words. The student may communicate with group members during this process. The teacher does not tell the group whether the word is correctly placed, but merely records a point on a scoring sheet if it has been written in the appropriate spot.
The second group then follows the same process, and the game proceeds with eventually every member of every group taking a turn at placing a word on the matrix, until all words are accounted for. Groups also have the option of challenging placement of a word by another group. During a turn, the competing group representative may ask permission to erase a word that has been placed in the matrix. If the student can correctly pronounce the word and it is indeed wrongly placed in the matrix, the team earns an additional point. However, if the word is mispronounced, or actually is correctly placed, the challenging team forfeits its chance to also add an additional word on the matrix during this turn.
Source Cited: Kunkel, A. (2000). “Vocab War.” In Baines, L. & Kunkel, A. Ed. Going Bohemian: Activities That Engage Adolescents in the Art of Writing Well. Newark, DE: IRA.
Posted February 1, 2005