game to teach vocabulary

Essential Questions:Why is vocabulary instruction so important?. Word knowledge is much more than word identification or even definitional knowledge– “It takes more than definitional

Keys to Student Achievement:

Best Practices in Teaching

This session is based in the Vocabulary “Best Practices” module designed by Metro RESA.

How confident do you feel about your vocabulary instruction?

On a scale of 1 – 9, how confident are

you about your vocabulary instruction?

Place a post-it on the scale on the wall–

1 is the lowest & 9 is the highest.

Adapted from Dale, Rasband, Ross, Gardner, & Cunningham, 2004

Essential Questions:

Why is vocabulary instruction so

important?

What are exemplary

strategies for vocabulary

instruction?

A little boy was in a relative’s wedding

As he was walking down the aisle, he

would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar So it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR, all the way down the aisle

As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard The little boy was getting more and more distressed from all the laughing, and he was also near tears When asked what he was

doing, the child sniffed and said, “I was

being the Ring Bear!”

Word knowledge is much more than word

identification or even definitional

knowledge–

“It takes more than definitional knowledge to know a word, and we have

to know words in order to identify them

in multiple reading and listening contexts

and use them in our speaking and

writing.” (Allen, 1999)

There is an estimated

4,700 word difference in

vocabulary knowledge

between high- and low-

SES ( Nagy and Herman ,1984)

Research on the importance of

vocabulary instruction:

For English language

learners the “achievement

“at risk.” ( RAND Reading Study

Group, 2002, NRP, 2000 )

Word Knowledge is Multifaceted

Know it well, can explain it, use it

Know something about it, can relate it to a situation

Have seen or heard of the word

Do not know the word

Reading Aloud

• Students retain more vocabulary

when the teacher explains critical vocabulary terms in context

during the reading

• Reading a book several times

leads to more word learning than reading several books once each.

Reading Aloud

"The single most important

activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud

to children."

(Becoming a Nation of Readers, 1985)

Collaborative Pairs

reading aloud to students?

• How do read-alouds support

vocabulary development?

Reading Volume of 5th-grade Students of

Different Levels of Achievement

Achievement

Percentile

Minutes of Reading Per

Day

Words Per Year

Independent Reading:

Accounts for one-third or more of

vocabulary growth.

• How do you show your

students that independent

reading is great & joyful?

• How do you make

Comprehensive Vocabulary

Instruction

• Rich language learning

environment ( including Read- Alouds)

• Wide and Varied

Independent Reading

Direct Vocabulary

Instruction

Vocabulary Instruction

Direct teaching of vocabulary can help improve comprehension when we follow

these guidelines (Cooper, 1993):

• A few critical words are taught.

• The words are taught in a meaningful

context (including nonlinguistic

You Try It!

• Using the text provided, collaborate

with group members and decide on the most important words to teach.

• Provide a rationale for your selection.

• Share!

“Which words should I teach?”

• Which words are most important to

understanding the text?

• How much prior knowledge will students

have about the word/concept?

• Is the concept significant and therefore

requires previewing?

• Which words can be figured out from the

context?

• How can I make repeated exposures to

the word/concept enjoyable and

meaningful?

What are exemplary strategies for vocabulary instruction?

Background Knowledge

“The relationship between vocabulary

knowledge and background knowledge is explicit in research ”

(Nagy & Herman, 1984; Marzano, 2004; Hart & Risley, 1995)

Powerful Zebras

HO

Word Sorts

• Provide students with a set of

vocabulary word cards (related to a

specific concept or topic).

• Work in groups to sort the words into

categories.

• Encourage students to find more than

one category for the vocabulary words.

• Students then discuss with teacher &

peers their rationale for categorizing

Schwartz & Raphael, 1985

To move regularly from one region to another

people working

for seasonal jobs birds Nomads

traveling relocating moving around

What are some examples?

What is it like? What is it?

Definition Characteristics

Non-Examples Examples

Frayer Model (Frayer, Frederick, & Klausmeier, 1969)

Definition Characteristics

Non-Examples Examples

Frayer Model (Frayer, Frederick, & Klausmeier, 1969)

Prime

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17,

• 2 is the only even prime number

• 0 and 1 are not prime

•Every whole number

can be written as a product of primes

A whole number with

exactly two divisors

(factors)

Words Context Predicted

Definition

Confirm Nutrition

Ballyhoo

cereal box

billboard

Important ingredient in

food

? To advertise in loud

manner

Line K .L Straight

A line is a set of points determined

by any 2 points.

Line Segment

CRISS (2004) pg 146

Reading with Word Explanation

• Read the book/text once with minimal

explanation.

• After an initial reading, we can interrupt

up to 8-10 times to explain words while rereading (possibly less, depending on

length)

• With very young children, don’t interrupt

more than once per page.

• Keep explanations simple~ explain only

what is needed to understand the content

being read in everyday language.

Four Square Response

Vocabulary Strategies for ELL

• Preview texts for unfamiliar or difficult

words and the use of idiomatic language

To reduce students’ frustration, such

words and expressions can be taught

prior to the lesson.

• Use extensive modeling and visual

representations– e.g., pantomime, graphic organizers, pictures, hands-on materials.

• Emphasize meaning rather than

pronunciation

CORE, 2000

4-2-1 Summarizer

Rogers, et.al (1999) Motivation and Learning .

Using only a piece of paper and pen, draw and get your partner to say these words.

Los Angeles New York

Miami Chicago

• Do you see them

using words in

writing and speaking?

How do you keep words you teach directly fresh in their minds and

internalized?

•Vocabulary word review tub

•Center with former words

•Keep ongoing list of words with guided reading groups

•Use words in classroom talk

•Word wall

Finding definitions and writing those words in sentences have had little apparent impact on their word knowledge and

language use.

Janet Allen, 1999

Assessing Integration

& Meaningful Use

Sample “test” questions:

• One of our target words for this week was

preposterous What kind of in-school behavior would

the principal think was preposterous?

• Describe a time when you felt liberated What was the

reason for that feeling?

• The concept we have been studying this week is

stereotyping? Give an example of what you think is

stereotypical behavior Why do you think the

behavior was stereotypical?

• 63 percent of the students’ sentences were

judged to be “odd” (Miller & Gildea, 1985)

• 60 percent of students’ responses were

unacceptable (McKeown, 1991; 1993)

Nonlinguistic representations

Frayer

dictionaries

background knowledge

assessment

Adapted from Guilford County Schools, 2002

Essential Questions:

Why is vocabulary instruction

so important?

What are exemplary strategies

for vocabulary instruction?

Web Resources for Vocabulary Practice

• Vocabulary.com

• Vocabulary Builders

• Super Kids Word Scrambler

• Online Vocabulary Games

• Quia (Insert your words)

• Best Practices Research: Metro RESA

• Clipart: Jeff Shelly and Google Images