Look for This in Your Classrooms
Sit in at least six classrooms for approximately five minutes each. Choose different grade levels and times of day. For each visit, draw a simple t-chart on an index card. On the left side write the adjectives you hear students use when defining or describing concepts or characters. On the right, write the noun (concept or character) being described.
Example:
The box below shows the adjectives and their corresponding nouns. Which adjectives sound more academic to you?
When you are done collecting classroom data, complete the following analyses.
What percentage of adjectives you recorded would be considered broad, generic or non-academic? These are adjectives that could be used to describe any specific noun, for example, big, a lot, many, red.
What percentage of adjectives would be considered specific to the concept being described and sound academic? For example, muddy, cantankerous, insatiable, waterlogged.
Do your teachers ask for and require that students use these specific types of academic adjectives throughout the instructional day?
Click below for information to help you analyze and interpret what you discovered from your classroom visits and to see how you can help your teachers to implement two critical behaviors to get students to use adjectives for academic purposes.