Discovering Meanings of Unfamiliar Words

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Digging Deep

• Discovering Meanings of Unfamiliar Words
• Althea W. Peak
• 2nd Grade
• SWP Summer 2013

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How do you teach students meanings of unfamiliar
words?

• Turn and Talk
• Children dont have full vocabularies that they
  need, so word study and strategies are imperative
• Cover up unfamiliar words and let kids use photos
  and illustrations to figure out the meaning
• Even in content studies, vocabulary can be taught
  through visuals and through experiences (ie.
  Science)

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My Roadblock

• I found that during and after reading texts
  many of my students did not understand what they
  read. Many of the students in my school do not
  have the background knowledge they need to be
  equipped for the understanding of vocabulary they
  will encounter in books they read independently
  for pleasure or for information. When giving
  assessments like the Dominie, I found that the
  most commonly missed questions were questions
  that asked students about word meaning within the
  context. So, I asked the question, How do I
  strengthen how I teach students the meanings of
  unfamiliar words?

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Should strategies to figure out meanings of
vocabulary be taught?

• The CCSS require the teaching of phonological
  awareness, phonics, fluency, and other
  foundational literacy skills in Grades K5. This
  makes sense since research has demonstrated the
  value of explicitly and systematically teaching
  these skills. In order to meet the requirements
  of the Standards, teachers will need to continue
  to provide high quality explicit and systematic
  instruction in these foundational skills if
  students are to succeed in learning to read.
• www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RF/2

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Common Core Standards

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.4 Determine or clarify the
  meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and
  phrases based on grade 2 reading and content,
  choosing flexibly from an array of strategies
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.4e  Use glossaries and
  beginning dictionaries, both print and digital,
  to determine or clarify the meaning of words and
  phrases.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.5b Distinguish shades of
  meaning among closely related verbs (e.g.,toss,
  throw, hurl) and closely related adjectives
  (e.g., thin, slender, skinny, scrawny).
•   CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.6 Use words and phrases
  acquired through conversations, reading and being
  read to, and responding to texts, including using
  adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g.,When
  other kids are happy that makes me happy).

.
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What strategies do you use to figure out the
meaning of an unfamiliar word?

• The lungs main air pipes, the bronchi,
  branch many times until they form hair-thin
  tubes, terminal bronchioles. Those end in
  grape-like bunches of air bubbles, called
  alveoli.
• Nonfiction Craft Lessons Teaching Information
  Writing K-8
• by Joann Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher

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Strategies for figuring out meanings of
unfamiliar words

• Re-read
• Use schema look for familiar terms or words
• Pay attention to the words
• Take time
• Think
• Look for punctuation helpers
• Use context clues
• Pay close attention to the pictures

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Why Systematic or Direct Instruction of
Vocabulary?

• Research has concluded that systematic vocabulary
  instruction is one of the most important
  instructional interventions that teachers can
  use, particularly with low-achieving students.
• Students who received direct instruction of
  vocabulary words critical to learning new content
  had an increase of 33 percentile points in
  summative assessments. Direct instruction
  enhances achievement.
• Students that were taught vocabulary through
  direct instruction also had a 12 increase in
  comprehension of new material. Their ability to
  comprehend new vocabulary increased as a result
  of direct instruction.
• 
  Classroom Instruction
  that Works
• By Robert Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock

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Systematic and Explicit Teaching

• Vocabulary instruction is the strongest action
  a teacher can take to ensure that students have
  the background knowledge they need to understand
  the content they will encounter in school.
• 
  (Marzano, Pickering, 2005)

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• "Direct instruction on words that are critical to
  new content produces the most powerful
  learning." Robert Marzano
• . http//www.youtube.com/watch?vOetbzrP2QUU

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What are some Techniques you use to teach
meanings of unfamiliar words?
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Teaching unfamiliar vocabulary using mentor texts.

• Mini- lesson Choose a Read Aloud that has rich
  vocabulary. Read aloud the first few pages by
  using the think aloud method. Think aloud about
  the meanings of words from the page(s). When
  talking out loud ask questions, refer to your
  background knowledge(schema), re-read, look at
  the picture and talk about it.
• Model other words
• Ask students to think about what they heard you
  do
• Chart what they noticed

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Using mentor texts continued.

• Then tell students its their turn to listen
  carefully
• Raise their hand when they dont understand a
  word
• Record their unfamiliar word(s) on a chart What
  can you do to help yourself figure out the
  meaning of an unfamiliar word?
• Next have students to work with partners using
  other texts to find unfamiliar words and record
  their findings on the chart
• Come back together and share findings

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Example of chart
Unfamiliar Word What I think it means? What helped me?
collected To have a lot of something, same thing but different colors or sizes Pictures, schema
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Teaching unfamiliar words using the Frayer Model
as an instructional strategy.

• Mini-lesson- identify important vocabulary from
  content area/unit. Show students the word(s)
  that they are expected to understand in order to
  master the lessons objective.
• Review vocabulary words or concept list with the
  class before students read the selection.
• Students may work in groups on the vocabulary
  words.
• Have students read the assigned text selection
  and carefully define the key concepts after
  talking about the vocabulary . Have each group of
  students complete the four-square chart for each
  concept word.
• Have the groups to share what they learned when
  they come back together.

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Example of Frayer Model
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Other Strategies for Vocabulary Building

• Content-Word Boards
• Writing
• Open word discussions
• Use concrete objects

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Context Clues Chart
Created by Daisy Bokus and Her Third Graders One
Child at a Time by Pat Johnson
What to do when you can read a word but you dont know what it means
1. Cover it up.
2. Read all around the word.
3. Think about a word that would make sense in its place.
4. Read the sentence again using the new word instead.
5. Thats probably what the hard word means.
6. It works most of the time, but not all the time.
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Mentor Texts with rich vocabulary
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How does teaching strategies to understand
unfamiliar words impact student learning?

• Turn and talk

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Benefits of Strategies

• Promotes critical thinking
• Discuss meaning of unfamiliar words
• Opportunities to clear up misconceptions
• Familiarizes students with unknown vocabulary
• Gives visual representation
• Imagery
• Builds connections to new concepts
• Deeper understanding

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Resources

• Fountas, Irene and Pinnel, Gay Su. Guided
  Reading. Heinemann, Portsmouth,NH. 1996.
• Johnson, Pat. One Child at a Time. Stenhouse
  Publishers, Porland, Maine. 2006.
• Marzano, Robert, Pickering and Pollock. Classroom
  Instruction that Works. 2001.
• Miller, Debbie. Reading with Meaning. Stenhouse
  Publishers. Portland, Maine. 2002.
• Parker, Steve. Brain Surgery for Beginners and
  Other Major Operations for Minors. Brookfield
  ,CTMillbrook Press. 1995.
• Portalupi, Joann and Fletcher, Ralph. Nonfiction
  Craft Lessons-Teaching Information Writing K-8.
  Stenhouse Publishers. 2001.
• www.worksheetworks.com /Frayer model.
• Zimmerman, Susan and Hutchins Chryse. 7 Keys to
  Comprehension. Three Rivers Press, NY,NY. 2003