Vocabulary is the tool with which individuals build their means of communication, whether it's through a book, letter, talking to a friend, or analyzing or commenting on a picture on social media. It's the way in which humans externalize their internal thoughts and feelings about the world. Therefore, it is vital in an English classroom that students are not only provided with words, but also the skills to help develop and enrich vocabulary. Since my instructional unit is about ambiguous language as seen in Macbeth, my vocabulary lesson revolved around Shakespearean language, since when students are first introduced to such a playwright, they are often overwhelmed and confused by the words. Instead of trying to provide students with definitions for all of Shakespeare's vernacular, I made the lesson more conceptual, with the overall goal not simply being denotation memorization, but having students become familiar with identifying the language, and hearing it in contrast to contemporary words. This way students feel less overwhelmed and scared of the language, allowing them to be more open to and comfortable with learning definitions and contexts. 

With the lesson, one of the areas I hoped to improve upon based on feedback from a a previous lesson, was to be more direct and clear with my instruction. After watching the video of myself teaching, and reading feedback from my peers, I feel as though I did improve in that category. When introducing a task, I was more straightforward, and less wishy-washy about expectations, which is something that I have struggled with in the past. One thing that I have learned about teaching vocabulary in an English classroom, is that there are many resources with which one can learn the definition of a word, so it is more important for students to be presented with the necessary skills to determine appropriate definitions based on context, but also see how words interact with one another. In literature, words are never isolated. They are strung together to form sentences, then paragraphs, then pages, then whole pieces. Therefore, each word is like a brick in the side of a building, creating context. However, in each building, every word has a different purpose and supports a different side. Therefore, it does not do a word justice to simply provide a single dictionary definition. Successful vocabulary instruction provides students with opportunities to explore definitions, contextual scenarios, physically engage with the words, and finally create with the words, which I tried to incorporate into my lesson. This relates to This seemed to be done successfully based on the assessment outcome. My goal was for students to be able to identify Shakespearean language and see how it coincides with contemporary vernacular, which they were all able to complete successfully and thoughtfully, but without much confusion or stress. 

This relates to the Saint Michael's College Education Department mission statement pillar since one of the performance criteria includes graduates gaining the necessary skills to become creative and integrative teachers who are"adept at both discipline-based and interdisciplinary teaching methods, using emerging technologies, social interaction, and imagination to support students’ achievement of rigorous academic standards”. Vocabulary itself is innately dynamic and artistic. Therefore, its instruction should be just as creative and compelling. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jg5JSIBvMyDsvA3iy7RIUgOK-2QVsGVfvjdpHV7t150