Morphology Unit 6: Negative Prefixes & Base Dic(t)

mis-, mal-, anti-, contra-, dis-, non-, un-, in/im/il- and dic(t)

I find it a bit disturbing that the English language has over eight prefixes with a negative connotation and less than a handful that denote positivity. What does that say about our culture? Anywho, all of the listed prefixes can be defined as "wrong, against, not." Some of these are more prevalent than others but all worth teaching. Note that the other meaning of in- (into) will be taught in a later unit. I included the Latin base dic(t) to complement contra-. Pre- and -or were taught in previous unit so the students will be able to knowledgably analyze numerous words.

As mentioned in my last Interactive Unit Guide, I think teaching suffixes according to their derivations, rather than their abstract definitions,

 is more meaningful for students.  When planning this curriculum, I asked myself, "What do I actually do in real life? What is realistic for students to do?" I realized that when I came across a word with -ion, for example, I rarely thought, "Oh, this is the state of...". No. I thought, "Okay, this is some kind of thing." That at least gets me in the ballpark, and I think with students, that's my goal. Let's get them in the ballpark when trying to define an unfamiliar word, because honestly, that's what's realistic. If they can at least say, "Yup, I'm pretty sure it's a thing [or action or descriptive]," then they can get the gist of the sentence.

Below is the Interactive Unit Plan where you can find tons of helpful links. Go here to find every activity zipped into one file!

Negative Prefixes and Base Dic(t) Mastery Goal: 

Define and identify

morphemes mis-, mal-, anti-, contra-, dis-, non-, un-, in/im/il- and dic(t)

Day	Blog Posts	Objectives
tool	None	Provide the instructor with a bank of words for instruction.
1	How To: Morpheme Card Review	Review morphemes to build automaticity.
2-3	How To: Brainstorm & Flashcards	Use inquiry to develop shared definitions of targeted morphemes.
4-5	How To: Vocabulary Capture Sheets	Identify, define, and analyze terms with targeted morphemes using morphemic segmentation.
5	How to: Play Online Games	Enhance comprehension of key vocabulary with targeted morphemes through word generation, morphological comparison, and contextual application.
6-8	How To: Use Pictures & Emojis for Vocabulary How To: Work With Derivational Suffixes How To: Use Lists, Opposites, Matching, and Sentences to Teach Vocabulary	Review morphemes to build automaticity. Apply context clues and morphological knowledge to complete cloze sentences. Enhance comprehension of key vocabulary with targeted morphemes through word generation, morphological comparison, and contextual application.
9	How To: Word Wars	Define vocabulary terms in a competitive format.
10-11	How To: Sort & Sum the Story	Apply morphemic segmentation to identify, define, and analyze words with targeted morphemes as they appear in a passage.
12	How To: How Many Do You Know?	Generate concise definitions (1–2 words) for vocabulary terms containing targeted morphemes
13	How To: Jeopardy Quiz Review	Review content in preparation for the quiz.
14	How To: Morphology Quizzes	Assess understanding of the unit objective.
Daily	How To: Phonemic Awareness	Develop phonemic awareness.
Any	How To: Bananagrams	Apply morphological knowledge to build words.