Vocabulary instruction should encourage students to make associations and
accommodations to their experiences and provide them with varied opportunities to practice, apply, and discuss their word knowledge in meaningful contexts (Rupley, Nichols, Mraz, & Blair, 2012).
Agenda 1. Introduction a. What does learning vocabulary mean? b. Vocabulary Parade 2. Survey results 3. Centers: a. Vocabulary Parade b. Sensory comparison c. Paint/Synonyms d. Root Words Creations e. Word Wall/Homophone pears 4. Discussion: a. When does learning vocabulary start? b. How is vocabulary learned? 5. Break (5-10 minutes) 6. Group Activity/Adolescent activity 7. Discussion/Debrief (TPS) 8. Video of 2 instruction strategies 9. Wrap-up Vocabulary Instruction in Local Schools York Elementary School ! Currently using Wright Group LEAD21 program ! Select list of spelling words (25 per week), nightly homework, workbook activities, weekly spelling tests ! Select Tier III vocabulary for science, math, and social studies lessons Vocabulary Instruction in Local Schools Bryant Elementary School ! Currently using Superkids reading program ! Vocabulary instruction is done during Book Club and Super Magazine ! Instruction is aligned to common core ! Skill and Drill o Learn the words o Read the story o Review the words
What does expanding and learning vocabulary mean? Learning and expanding vocabulary means finding, knowing, and using interesting words.
As teachers we want to help our students become word smiths,- kids who are curious about words; their sounds, their uses, and their meanings.
When our classrooms become laboratories for words- places where students can experiment with words and word usage, can try on new words and see how they fit- students begin to naturally seek out and adopt new words into their lives and personal vocabularies. (Smith, 2008, p.22) Vocabulary Parade Dont just teach vocabulary celebrate it!!!!
We have all dressed up as a vocabulary word!!! Can you guess what our word is?
You will learn more about what a Vocabulary Parade is when you visit Stacys center!
Which Words to Teach Tier 3 - Low frequency words that often pertain to a specific content area. Examples: ectoplasm, cabriolet, molecule Tier 2- High frequency words of a mature language user. Examples: fascinate, unfortunate, mentioned Tier 1- Very simple and basic words. These words are mostly learned without instruction. Examples: summer, family, hungry
**We should focus on teaching our students Tier 2 words because they enhance student comprehension of selected texts. Survey Results ! What does expanding vocabulary mean to you? o Introducing students to new words and meaning (not just memorization) o Learning useful words that can be used for speaking and writing. o Learning new vocab. ! How were you taught vocabulary in school? o Vocab lists & memorization. o Looking at the glossary in text books. o Pre-test on monday, retest on Friday. (memorized the meanings) ! What strategies have you used/seen while teaching vocabulary instruction? o Acting words out. o Reading aloud higher level text to expose students to new vocab in context. ! What would you like to learn about vocabulary instruction? o Ways to teach vocab that engages students and excites them. o How should teachers choose vocab? o How to know what words to teach.
Find Your Group! When does vocabulary learning start? From the start babies are acquiring auditory vocabulary! As they learn to speak and grow they develop an oral vocabulary.
During early childhood, children learn vocabulary at the rate of approximately 2,000 to 4,000 words per year (Brabham & Villaume, 2002; Nagy, Anderson, & Herman, 1987), or an average rate of seven words per day (Anderson & Nagy, 1991; Beck & McKeown, 1991).
Children 4-5 years old have an average oral vocabulary of over 5,000 words By the time children enter kindergarten they an average of 13,000 words in their vocabulary Kids can on average can add 10-15 words a week to their oral vocabularies Learning vocabulary never stops! How is vocabulary learned? Vocabulary growth occurs when we immerse students in words in a variety of ways and get them personally and actively involved in constructing word meanings (Bintz, 2011).
Informally Formally ! Independent reading ! Listening to reading ! Discussions ! Teacher using sophisticated language ! Preteaching vocabulary before read-aloud ! Teaching strategies to attack words ! Text talk (after reading) ! Word Walks (before, during, and after reading)
Strategies for Learning Vocabulary
! Read! Read! Read! ! Use context of the entire sentence or text to hypothesize meaning ! Take the word apart and notice its components (roots, suffixes, prefixes) ! Connect words to words already known ! Recognize relationships between words (synonyms, antonyms, etc.) ! Notice words have multiple meanings ! Look at pictures, illustrations and diagrams ! Use reference materials (dictionary, thesaurus, glossary) as tools
Break! Adolescent Activity! What about adolescents? https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/build-student-vocabulary
- Important to create a word rich environment that supports exploration and experimentation with vocabulary and one that holds advanced language as the expectation.
- Give students words they can use in discussion about texts, not just content words from texts.
- Spend less time, more often teaching vocabulary. Robert Brown High School, Rochester City School ! 10th-11th grade ELA ! Vocabulary in the Classroom - Word of the Day - Texts read in class - SAT Prep website, collegeboard.org - Tier 2 words - Identify word, part of speech, definition, sentence - After 10 words identified, games to practice definitions - Quizzes include a word bank and Cloze procedure to use words in context
Continue Centers! Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension ! Ones vocabulary level is highly predictive of ones level of reading comprehension ! Effective vocabulary instruction has a positive impact on reading comprehension ! Good vocabulary instruction can help to narrow the gap between children of higher and lower SES groups ! But comprehension goes beyond vocabulary o it is about much more than just words ! Meaning is communicated by the way words are presented according to the rules of grammar (syntax)
Lets Take a Look at Instruction Teaching Channel- College Talk https://www.teachingchannel.org/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=expanding +vocabulary&commit=Search
Youtube- How to do Spelling in your Classroom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BgmoWgJDnM
Debrief - What was the most interesting strategy and/or piece of information you learned? Why? - What areas of expanding vocabulary (strategies, effective instruction, assessment measures, etc.) are you still unclear or wondering about?
- How do you see yourself bringing your new knowledge of vocabulary instruction into your classroom?