Vocabulary+Self-Collection

**Summary and Rationale**

The //Vocabulary Self-Collection// strategy (Lenski et. al, 2011: 70) is a literacy approach to building students' vocabulary both in general and in the content areas. In this activity, students take responsibility for both identifying and defining key vocabulary words that are most relevant to the course content. This strategy is intended to promote long-term retention of new words as students //identify// vocabulary, //define// vocabulary multiple times, and //present// the vocabulary in groups and to the whole class.

__Directions__:
 * 1) **Identify:** Students first read the text and, in small groups, identify key vocabulary that they believe should be pursued further by the class.
 * 2) **Define****:** The groups should identify and record the definition of the vocabulary terms within the book.
 * 3) **Present:** One member from each group presents the word or words to the class. The class decides if it would like to supplement the existing definition with additional clarification words or phrases.
 * 4) **Review:** After developing the class list of new vocabulary terms, students must remove any words that are duplicates or not closely connected to the important ideas of the unit/lesson.

**Example**

In the text //Born in Blood and Fire//, by John C. Chasteen, students in an IB History of the Americas course must read chapters at home and take notes. Within their notes, students must identify one vocabulary term per subsection and include the title of the subsection and page number.

//Example//
 * __royal fifth__ (//Colonial Economics//, page 61)
 * __hegemony__ (//A Power Called Hegemony//, page 65)

Next, students will be broken up into groups to share the vocabulary words they identified previously in the text. As a group, they will decide on one or a few words they believe connect to the central themes of the chapter to investigate further. While still in groups, students should develop a definition from the text in the book, which they may be able to find in the glossary section. Groups must also briefly explain why the word is relevant to the central theme of the chapter.

//Example//
 * __royal fifth__ (//Colonial Economics//, page 61)
 * "a 20 percent tax that the Spanish Crown placed on mining" (page 337)
 * The "royal fifth," or the tax on mining revenues, was the source for Spanish colonial revenue in the Americas. The tax system provided the backbone for all colonial activities, the maintenance of which directed the organization of colonial politics.
 * __hegemony__ (//A Power Called Hegemony//, page 65)
 * "a basic principle of social control, in which a ruling class dominates others ideologically, with a minimum of physical force, by making its dominance seem natural and inevitable. Hegemony usually involves some degree of negotiation" (page 333)
 * Hegemony is the means by which the colonizers were able to maintain social, political, and economic control of the Americas. Though domination by violent means was a key factor in this control, the concept of hegemony explains how the use of religion, patriarchy, and patronage reinforced structures that, over time, became ingrained in the social fabric of colonial society and began to be tacitly accepted by those who were oppressed.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As groups present, one by one, the teacher will record the students' definitions in front of the class. Together, students and the instructor will decide where definitions need clarification and which words to eliminate. The final list will be recorded by students in vocabulary journals or notebooks.