Falling in Love with Vocabulary

1
Falling in Love with Vocabulary

• Presented by
• Shannon Walker
• Kimberly Allen

2
Fun with Words - SnigletsMatch the word with the
definition or picture

• Dudnobs
• (dud nobz)
• Adequate
• (a du kwit)
• Emeneminize
• (em n em en ize)
• Dreamonium
• (dree mon ee um)

• v. Consuming ones MMs by color groups.
• n. The metallic coating on a lottery ticket that
  separates you from a million bucks a year for
  life.
• n. The fake drawers beneath the sink that
  everyone tries to pull open.

Taken From Hall, Rich ( 1987). Angry Young
Sniglets. New York Macmillan Publishing
Company.
3
Fun with Words - SnigletsMatch the word with the
definition or picture

• Gloob
• (gloob)
• Rort
• (rort)
• Nasalstalgia
• (nay zul stahl juh)
• Petroulette
• (peh tri dent)

• n. Special smells that bring you back to
  another place and time.
• n. Old sticks of gum at the bottom of a womans
  purse.
• n. The item in the copier left behind by the
  previous user which you sometimes also copy
  (thinking sooner or later the information could
  come in handy).

4
Complete the Analogy

• Learning a new word is like
• because

5
Laura Robb

• Learning a new word is like dating
• You are introduced
• Take several months to get to know each other
• Reach a point where you know each other

6
Objectives

• State the importance of vocabulary instruction
• Identify tiers of words to teach
• Identify instructional practices that increase
  students vocabulary learning

7
Love at First Sight
8
Agree or Disagree

• Most reading problems that we identify as
  comprehension problems usually relate to
  vocabulary deficiencies.

• If the meanings of just a few key words in a
  passage are unknown, then there is little to no
  comprehension.

• Words are the most useful learning tools we can
  offer students.

9

• The important role of vocabulary in reading
  comprehension has long been recognized. Ones
  vocabulary level is highly predictive of ones
  level of reading comprehension. Words are how we
  label our concepts and ideas. This prior
  knowledge is key to understanding what we read,
  so vocabulary is a good predictor of how well the
  reader will comprehend a text. (Fountas
  Pinnell, 2006)

10

• There is strong evidence that the earlier word
  meanings are learned, the more easily available
  they are to assist in comprehension and to use in
  speech and writing. It is sensible to provide
  children with opportunities to gain facility with
  some difficult words at a young age. Giving
  children experience with such words in oral
  activities allows them a head start when they
  meet the words later reading on their own.
  Moreover, knowing some of the difficult words in
  a text may allow them to learn more of the
  unfamiliar words in that text. (Beck
  McKeown, 2005)

11
The Importance of Teaching Vocabulary

• Strong correlation between vocabulary knowledge
  and reading comprehension.
• Becker (1977) linked the vocabulary size to the
  academic achievement of disadvantaged students.
• Definite gap between students with poor
  vocabularies and students with rich vocabularies.

12
Choosing Words to Love

1. Review the text to identify the story line(s) or
   main ideas.
2. Compile a list of words related to the story
   line(s) or main ideas. These are key-concept
   words.
3. Determine which key concept words are adequately
   defined in the text. These words need no direct
   teaching.

Cooper, David J. (1997). Literacy Helping
children construct meaning. New York Houghton
Mifflin.
13
Choosing Words to Love

• Identify the words students can determine through
  the use of prefixes, suffixes, or base words.
  These words need no direct teaching.
• Think about the words in relation to students
  needs. Words likely to cause difficulty may
  require direct teaching.

Cooper, David J. (1997). Literacy Helping
children construct meaning. New York Houghton
Mifflin.
14
Tiers of Words

• Tier One
• The most basic words
• Example clock, baby, walk
• These words rarely need to be taught in a school
  setting.

Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., Kucan, L. (2002).
Bringing words to life Robust vocabulary
instruction. New York The Guilford Press.
15
Tiers of Words

• Tier Three
• Content specific words
• An in-depth understanding of these words would
  not be useful
• Best learned for specific purposes
• Example Discussing spelunking during a story on
  caves.

Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., Kucan, L. (2002).
Bringing words to life Robust vocabulary
instruction. New York The Guilford Press.
16
Tiers of Words

• Tier Two
• Words of high frequency in a variety of contexts
• They comprise a large part of a students
  vocabulary
• Examples fragile, bitter, looming, disastrous

Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., Kucan, L. (2002).
Bringing words to life Robust vocabulary
instruction. New York The Guilford Press.
17
How to avoid a bad choice

1. Make sure you are able to explain the term in
   your own words (student friendly definition).
2. Always remember that words are useful and
   interesting. Students must find use for a word
   in everyday situations.

18
Picking Tier 2 Words

• Read the following passage. Which word(s) would
  you choose to teach? Why?
• Turn and Talk

19

• Running down the path, he found a panda whose
  leg had been injured by a fallen tree.
  Carefully, Nikolai carried her into Leos house
  and made a splint for her leg with a stick of
  bamboo. The storm raged on, banging at the doors
  and windows. The panda woke up. Where am I?
  she said. And where is my child? The boy ran
  out of the cottage and down the path. The roar
  of the storm was deafening. Pushing against the
  howling wind and drenching rain, he ran farther
  into the forest.
• excerpt from Muth, Jon J. (2002). The Three
  Questions. New York, NY Scholastic

20
Things to keep in mind, when searching for the
Words of your Dreams

• How useful is the word in general?
• Does the word relate to other words and ideas
  students have been learning?
• Does the word make the text become more
  meaningful?

Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., Kucan, L. (2002).
Bringing words to life Robust vocabulary
instruction. New York The Guilford Press.
21
The Dating GameLearning New Words
22
Indirect vs. Direct Vocabulary Instruction

• Indirect Instruction
• Participating in daily oral language activities
• Listening to adults read to them
• Reading independently

23
Direct InstructionIntroducing New Words

• Whats the problem?
• Students lack knowledge of key words they will
  encounter in a story.
• Teachers introduce words, one by one, but the
  students do not retain the information.
• Students do not grasp the meanings of the words
  and can not completely comprehend the story
  despite the teachers attempts.

24
Introducing New Vocabulary

• Introducing a word is the first step, not the
  only step.
• Only offering information will not lead to a
  deep understanding of a word.
• Students need many experiences over time in order
  to learn a word and use it across different
  contexts.

25
Introducing New Words

• Word Up
• Semantic Impression
• Expert Word Cards
• Word Associations
• Have You Ever?
• Applause, Applause!
• Idea Completions

26
Word Up

• Use with the youngest and most at-risk readers.
• Select important story words, write each word on
  an index card, pronounce and quickly define the
  words for the students.
• Hand out a story word to each student.
• As the story is read aloud, students hold up the
  story word as they hear it.

27
Semantic Impression

• Select important story words and compile them
  into a chronological ordered list and briefly
  introduce them to the students.
• Students use the words (other forms of the word
  are acceptable) in order to write their own
  narrative story that makes sense.
• The teacher reads aloud the story.

28
Expert Word Cards

• When using longer text or content reading with
  intermediate grades, each student is assigned a
  word.
• Each student must find the word in context and
  copy the sentence onto the front of a card.
• Then he must look up the word in a dictionary and
  decide which definition fits the context of the
  sentence.
• He will write the definition in his own words on
  the back of the card.

29
Expert Word Cards

• Student composes an original sentence using the
  word in a meaningful way.
• Student illustrates the front of the card to
  represent the definition.
• Students share the words with each other.

30
Word Associations

• After introducing new words and definitions,
  students are asked to associate the new words
  with other words or phrases.
• For example - After introducing accomplice and
  novice, ask
• Which word goes with crook?
• Which word goes with kindergartner?
• Students must defend their answers.

31
Have You Ever?

• Helps students make associations from own
  experiences to new words.
• Describe a time when you might urge someone.
• For what reasons would you commend someone?

32
Applause, Applause

• Students are asked to clap to show how much they
  would like to be described by the new words (not
  at all, a little bit, a lot).
• Example words - frank, honest, vain, stern, loyal
• Students need to defend their applause.

33
Keeping the Romance AliveLearning More about
Words
34

• Teachers can make vocabulary meaningful and
  memorable for students by anchoring new words in
  multiple contexts.
• Juel Deffes, 2004

35
Framework for Vocabulary Instruction

• Step 1 - Provide student-friendly definition
• Step 2 - Provide picture or nonlinguistic
  representation of the word
• Step 3 - Allow students to make their own
  explanation or description of word.
• Step 4 - Allow students to make their own
  illustration
• Step 5 - Provide rich, frequent extended
  instruction
• Step 6 - Assess students word knowledge

36
Getting to Know Each Other

• What does it mean to know a word?
• Knowing a word is a matter of varying degrees.
  It is not all or nothing.
• Need multiple exposures to words in a variety of
  contexts - oral and written.

37
Getting to Know Each Other

• Graphic Organizers to use in the classroom
• Frayer Model
• Semantic Maps
• Semantic Feature Analysis
• Linear Relationships
• Illustrating Words

38
(No Transcript)
39
Semantic Maps
Topic
40
Semantic Feature Analysis
Has 4 legs Has 2 legs Lives in water Lives on land
Pelican ? ? ?
Rhino ? ?
Hippo ? ?
41
Linear Relationships
Devastated ? sorrowful ? sad ? melancholy
? pensive ?okay ? cheerful ? happy ? delighted
? ecstatic ? rapturous ? on cloud nine
42
Nonlinguistic Representations
adorned
Santa Bonita Maria School District http//www.smb
sd.org/page.cfm?p35
43
Jan Richardsons Vocabulary Strategies

• 1. Reread or read on and look for clues.
• 2. Check the picture or visualize.
• 3. Use a known part.
• 4. Make a connection to a known word.
• 5. Use the glossary.

44
Knowing a Word

• Rich vocabulary keeps getting richer.
• If I use the words a lot, I can remember them.
  - Sixth Grade Student

45
(No Transcript)
46
(No Transcript)
47
(No Transcript)
48
Contextual Vocabulary Acquisition

• Model word curiosity
• Read Alouds Word Collectors
• Reading/Writing Conferences
• Morning Messages
• Model it, dont force it
• Conversations
• Directions

49
Online Resources

• http//insidestoryflashcards.com/printable_flashca
  rds/index.php
• http//www.visuwords.com
• http//www.spellingcity.com/
• http//freerice.com/

50
3 - 2 - 1 Review

• 3 reasons vocabulary instruction is critical to
  student success.
• 2 things you will share with your faculty.
• 1 strategy you will use in your classroom.

51
References
Baumann, J. F., Ware, D. Edwards, E. C.
(2007). Bumping into spicy, tasty words that
catch your tongue A formative experiment on
vocabulary instruction. The Reading Teacher,
61(2), 108-122. Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G.,
Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life
Robust vocabulary instruction. New York The
Guilford Press. Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G.,
Kucan, L. (2002). Taking delight in words Using
oral language to build young childrens
vocabularies. http//www.readingrockets.or
g/article/3473?themeprint Cooper, David J.
(1997). Literacy Helping children construct
meaning. New York Houghton Mifflin. Diller,
Debbie (2007). Making the most of small groups
Differentiation for all. Porland, MN
Stenhouse Publishers. Fountas, I. C., Pinnell,
G. S. (2006). Teaching for comprehending and
fluency Thinking, talking, and writing about
reading K-8. Portsmouth, NH Heinemann. Richards
on, Jan (2009). The next steps in guided
reading Focused assessments and targeted
lessons for helping every student become a better
reader. New York Scholastic. Robb, Laura
(1999). Easy mini-lessons for building
vocabulary Practical strategies that boost
word knowledge and reading comprehension. New
York Scholastic.