As a teacher, you bring a part of yourself to the classroom. For me, I bring my Natually New Orleans Cajun upbringing, which of course includes my cultivated cooking skills. So you can say my lessons are full with flavor and spice!
For this post I am combining my culinary skills with classroom instruction. This lesson will be for reading instruction within the classrooms. Enjoy!
Creating an appetizing word study for student readers is a like making a good gumbo. All you need is a recipe for success.
For any gumbo to taste its’ best you have to make the roux just right. To do that you need a recipe that has all the right ingredients. That’s the way it is for organizing a sufficient word study. It’s the recipe that makes the learning downright tasty.
To start off a gumbo you need a good roux as the foundation to build the levels of taste upon. In organizing a good word study for phonics, spelling and vocabulary there are 10 principles that set it apart from all the rest. Look at them here in recipe form:
Cajun Word Study Gumbo
- Look for what students “use” but “confuse”
- A step backward is a step forward.
- Use words students can read.
- Compare words that “do” with words that “don’t”
- Sort by sound and sight.
- Begin with obvious contrasts.
- Don’t hide expectations.
- Avoid rules.
- Work for automaticity.
- Return to meaningful texts.
Recipe made by: Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton & Johnston, “Words their Way”, p. 87-90
These principles provide the spices, that combined with different activities, make for a recipe success. Each principle, like each ingredient, is added at just the right time to ensure the best results.
The roux may provide the base to the gumbo, but the seafood or the chicken and Andouille sausage provides the added spice that brings all the recipe elements together and makes for a good tasting gumbo. Once the principles are in place, then it is time to choose the specific activities to add the needed spice.
Some of the activities I feel that meet the “wow” spice factor for word study are Rhyming Bingo, It’s in the Bag – Phoneme Blending Game, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Sort, Cut Up Sentences, and my favorite that rounds out the taste bud extravaganza- Stand Up and Be Counted!
Once the roux is done and the spices added, it’s time to let all the ingredients fuse together in a long simmer. It’s the same way for teaching word study with students. The base is set, the activities added and now it’s time for learning.
The learning comes as the principles and activities are fused together with the students’ interactions. Their literacy development, like a cooking gumbo, only gets better with constant monitoring for the right balance of flavor. As the gumbo simmers, the cook checks on it regularly to see if anything needs to be added. Just like the teacher monitors his/her students understanding of what is being presented.
Assessment is always being made along with adjustments. Each student is taking away with them some tasty bite of information that will enhance their word development and make them into a better reader. Just like the cook preparing the gumbo, the final outcome is what makes the difference.
A recipe can look good on paper, just like the organization of word studies and activities, but in the end it’s how it tastes that makes it a good recipe. Take it from this Cajun Cookin’ Teacher from New Orleans, once you’ve got the recipe down the rest is all lagniappe! Bon Appetite!
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