Andrew Milewski

Teaching Vocabulary Lesson

We followed the procedures in constructing our lesson. I originally picked more vocabulary;
however, words that my teammates had sufficient knowledge of were not included. I ended up
forming a lesson plan for legerdemain and myrmidon.
1. Legerdemain means skillful use of one's hands when performing conjuring tricks.
2. Myrmidon means 1. a member of a legendary Thessalian people who accompanied their
king Achilles in the Trojan War or 2. a loyal follower; especially a subordinate who
executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously
As I began preparing my lesson I created simple visual representations that would help convey
the meaning of the word. For legerdemain I drew a card and for myrmidon a Greek solider. I
tried to connect the vocabulary to previous knowledge, and to facilitate this I broke down the
words.
As I began teaching the lesson, I broke down the word legerdemain into ledgered and main.
Cline, a French speaker, knew that main meant hand. I then asked the people what
ledgered sounded like. They picked up on the similarity to legendary. I asked the students who
was legendary with their hands in regard to cards (the visual cue). They said magicians. They
picked up on that legerdemain meant skilled at tricks of the hand.
When I began to teach myrmidon my goal was to teach the second meaning of a blind follower.
Thus I asked if they knew the story of the Iliad and who the protagonist was. They said it was
Odysseus, so I pointed to my heel so they would remember Achilles. I explained the myrmidons
were the soldiers who followed Achilles to their doom. I then asked them to take a guess at the
modern meaning. Sadie was able to articulate blind follower
I believe my lesson was successful. I was able to connect to prior knowledge and elicit the
response from my students rather than telling them. Even using simple images, I was able to
convey much more complex ideas. In the conclusion of my lesson, I asked the students to use the
words in the sentence. This was my formative assessment. When they were able to use the words
successfully in the sentence, I knew I had accomplished my goals