Reading, Vocabulary, and Writing—They Are Interconnected
When Jack Horton, one of my sixth-grade students, joined my Writing Critique I course at the beginning of February, it was apparent to the other students in the class and me through his speech and word choice in the first draft of his prewriting that he has a robust vocabulary.
I have worked with a lot of students, and usually, when they have an impressive vocabulary like that, it is because they are reading regularly, and it turns out that that is true of Jack.
At the end of a recent Wednesday Writing Critique I class, I asked Jack to share his reading habits with his classmates. He told them that about a year ago, his mom thought he wasn’t reading enough, so she sought the help of his elementary school librarian, who in turn recommended that he read Wandmaker by Ed Masessa. Jack said he liked the magic “aspect” of the book. (He impressed me with his vocabulary with his response!) And now he reads regularly.
Before reading Wandmaker, when Jack was reading, he was reading primarily informational text, particularly science books ( biology, chemistry, and physics books, etc.) because he likes science a lot. Now, he reads a combination of nonfiction and fiction books. When he finishes reading a book, his mom will text her “librarian friend,” the librarian at his elementary school who she keeps in touch with, to share Jack’s current interests. The librarian will, in turn, text a couple of book titles for Jack to consider (an excellent idea).
When Jack gets a new book, his parents give him a deadline for reading it (another brilliant idea). Jack will then calculate approximately how long he needs to read the book each day to meet the deadline. Usually, he will spend about 30 minutes every weekday reading a book, and then once he finishes reading it, he will write a general summary of the book and submit it to his parents per their request.
Although Jack wasn’t fond of his parents’ reading plan for him when they first implemented it, he told me that looking back on it a year later; he thinks that it was a good idea because it has not only helped him build his vocabulary but also helped him write nonfiction papers.
Jack has just begun his writing journey, but I am excited to see how his reading and desire to integrate new words into his writing will influence it.
~ Christina Caputo
Founder & Owner of ★ W O R D S
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” —Stephen King