BuildingAcademicVocabulary

GraniteSchoolDistrictMathDepartment

MiguelGarcia
HeatherRiddle
DeeRigdon
AngieOsness

January2011
Acknowledgements
MaryAliceRudelich,Director
CurriculumandInstruction

Dr.RobertL.Averett,Director
ElementarySchoolTitleI

CarolynSchubach,AssociateDirector
CurriculumandInstruction

CharleneLui,Director
EducationalEquity

PaulRoss,Administrator
EducationalEquity

2
 GoalsforthisSession

Youwillunderstand:
Characteristicsofeffectivevocabulary
instruction.
Asixstepprocessfordirectinstructionin
vocabulary.
 WhattheResearchSaysAbout
VocabularyKnowledge
Childrenwhoenterschoolwithlimited
vocabularyknowledgebecomemore
discrepantovertimefromtheirpeerswho
Go to four teachers haverichvocabularyknowledge.
(Biemiller &Slonin,2001)

Therelationshipbetweenreading
comprehensionandvocabularyknowledgeis
strongandunequivocal.
(Bauman&Kameenui,1991;Stanovich,1986)
 DifferencesinVocabularyGrowth
StudentA StudentB
2wordsperday 8wordsperday
750wordsperyear 3,000wordsperyear

Childrenfromadvantagedhomeshavereceptivevocabulariesthatare
fivetimeslargerthanchildrenwhocomefromlowSEShomes.
(Hart&Risley,1995,1999)

WHY?

Parentsspokesignificantlyfewerwordstotheirchildren.
Childrenhearmoreimperativespeechorcommandsratherthan
expansiveconversations.
 WhattheResearchSaysabout
VocabularyInstruction
Goodvocabularyinstructionhelpschildrengain
ownershipofwords,insteadofjustlearning
themwellenoughtopassatest.Good
vocabularyinstructionprovidesmultiple
exposures throughrichandvariedactivitiesto
meaningfulinformationabouttheword.
(Stahl&Kapinus,2001)
FindingsfromtheNationalReadingPanelandthe
NationalInstituteforLiteracy

Studentslearnvocabulary indirectlywhentheyhearandsee
wordsusedinmanydifferentcontextsi.e.through
conversationswithadults,throughbeingreadto,and
throughreadingextensivelyontheirown.

Studentslearnvocabularydirectlywhentheyareexplicitly
taughtbothindividualwordsandwordlearningstrategies.
Directvocabularyinstructionaidsreadingcomprehension.
 SelectionCriteriaforInstructionalVocabulary
(Beck,McKeown,Kucan,2002)
TIER1 TIER2 TIER3
FOUNDATION MORTAR BRICK

Description Basicwordsthat Polysemous Uncommon

mostchildren words, wordsthatare
knowbefore homophones, typically
enteringschool idiomsand associatedwith
oradvancingto phrasal aspecific
anothergrade clusters,rich domain/
Go to four teachers challenging content
languagefor (academic
ELLs,words vocabulary)
thatnest
academic
content

Examples add,subtract, sum, circumference,

number,count difference, diameter,
mean,scale, numerator,
table,in equation
additionto
TASK:Workwithyourteamanddecideinwhichtiereach
wordbelongs.

Youwillhave2minutestocompletethistask!

rightevenoveraddendpowerexponentfunction

linesegmentrectanglesquareradiusplanecircle

clockyearlessthancentimeterunder shape

numberlinevolumesizeoutlierroot trapezoid
 When?
Whenallteachersinaschoolfocusonthesame
academicvocabularyandteachinthesameway,
aschoolhasapowerfulcomprehensive
approach.

Whenallteachersinadistrictembraceanduse
thesamecomprehensiveapproach,itbecomes
evenmorepowerful.
 ImpactofDirectVocabularyInstruction
Researchshowsastudentinthe50thpercentile
intermsofabilitytocomprehendthesubject
mattertaughtinschool,withnodirect
vocabularyinstruction,scoresinthe50th
percentile ranking.

Thesamestudent,afterspecificcontentarea
termshavebeentaughtinaspecificway,raises
his/hercomprehensionabilitytothe
83rd percentile.
 Considerthis
Backgroundknowledgeismoreimportantto
understandingofreadingthanIQ.

Vocabularyinstructioninspecificcontentareaterms
buildsupstudentsbackgroundknowledgeinthe
contentarea.

Studentswhounderstandcontent,forexample,inastate
mathematicsstandardsdocumentregardingdataanalysis
andstatisticshaveunderstandingoftermssuchasmean,
median,mode,range,standarddeviation,and central
tendency.
SystematicInstructioninVocabulary

BenefitsALL Students!

13
 SixStepsto
EffectiveVocabularyInstruction
InitialUnderstanding
1. Describe Theteacherprovidesadescription,
explanation,orexampleofthenewtermnota
dictionaryorglossarydefinition.
Askstudentswhattheyknow.
Explainineverydaylanguage.
Useavideoorothervisualsourcetoexplainthe
word.
Tellastorythatusestheterm.
Havethestudentsinvestigatethemeaningand
doaskit.
Usecurrenteventstorelatetotheterm.
Describeyourmentalpictureoftheterm.
Findorcreatepicturesthatillustratethe
term.
(Marzano andPickering,BuildingAcademicVocabularyTeachersManual,2005)
 StudentFriendlyExplanations
BringingWordstoLife:RobustVocabularyInstruction
(Beck,McKeown &Kucan)

Tellwhatawordmeansineverydayconnectedlanguage.
Itshouldincludewordslike: you,something,andsomeone.
Thesetermshelpstudentstogetanideaofhowtousetheword
Examples:
Ifyouscale something,youchangeitssizeproportionally.
Arulerissomething thatpeopleusetomeasurelength.
Ifsomeone isclassifying shapestheyaresortingthembytheir
characteristics.
 SixStepsto
EffectiveVocabularyInstruction
InitialUnderstanding
2. Restate Thestudentswriteandrestateintheirown
wordsthedescription,explanation,orexamplegivenin
class.
Studentstranslatemeaningintotheirownwords.
Usingpersonalvocabularywillhelpconnectmeaning.
Writingaidsmemory.
 SixStepsto
EffectiveVocabularyInstruction
InitialUnderstanding
3. Draw Studentscreatepicture,symbol,orgraphic
representingtheterm.
Nonlinguisticrepresentation.
Mnemonicdevicedoesnthavetobeperfect.
Pictureofactualobject
Symbol
Exampleofterm
Graphic
Dramatizationofterm(cartoon)
Somethingcutfrommagazineor
internet
 SixStepsto
EffectiveVocabularyInstruction
CreatingMultipleExposures
4. Activities Studentsareengagedinactivitiesthathelp
themaddtotheirknowledgeoftheterms.
Structuralanalysis.
Prefixes/suffixes.
Identifysynonyms/antonyms.
Drawadditionalpicturesorgraphics.
Listrelatedwords.
Translateintoanotherlanguage.
Analogies.
 SixStepsto
EffectiveVocabularyInstruction
CreatingMultipleExposures
5. Discuss Studentsdiscussthetermswithoneanother
andsharewhattheyarethinkingaboutthetermand
whatitmeanstothem.
Clarifyunderstanding.
Thinkpairshare.
Discussmeaningsanddrawings.
Comparedescriptionsanddrawings.
Sharewithwholeclass.
 SixStepsto
EffectiveVocabularyInstruction
CreatingMultipleExposures
6. Games Studentsareperiodicallyinvolvedingames
thatallowthemtoplaywiththevocabularyterms.
Jeopardy
Charades
$100,000Pyramid
Pictionary
Concentration
Password
HollywoodSquares
PartnerGames
TALKAMILEAMINUTE
triangle
equilateral
trapezoid
radius
parallel
circle

21
 PreTeachingVocabulary
MargaritaCalderon

1. Teachersaystheword.
2. Asksstudentstorepeattheword3times.
3. Teacherstatesthewordincontextfromthetext.
4. Teacherprovidesthedictionarydefinition(s).
5. Explainsmeaningwithstudentfriendlydefinitions.
6. Engagesstudentsinactivitiestodevelopword/concept
knowledge.
7. Highlightgrammar,spelling,polysemy,etc.
DistrictVocabularyCards
 MathematicsWordWall
ThepurposeofaMathematicsWordWallistoidentifywords
andphrasesthatstudentsneedtounderstandanduseinorder
tomakeacademicprogress.
Theywillusethesewordsandphraseswhenreading,writing,
speakingandlisteningtothelanguageofmath.
MathematicsWordWallsaretobeactivelyusedbytheteacher
andstudents.
Wordsandphrasesaretobepostedastheyareintroducedin
thelesson.
25
 DistrictWebsite
www.graniteschools.org

Departments
TeachingandLearningServices
Curriculum
Math

26
 FinalThoughts
Teachers,schools,anddistricts
thatembraceacomprehensive
approachofbuildingacademic
vocabularywillseeimpressive
resultsinclassroomsandon
achievementtests.
 YourJourneyHasBegun
Eachfall,monarchbutterfliesinMainebeginan
unbelievablejourneytoahilltopinMexico.
Howdotheydoit? Theyfocusonthegoal,not
thedifficulties.Eachdaytheytaketheir
bearingsandsetoff,allowingtheirinstinctsand
desiretosteerthem.Theyacceptwhatcomes;
somewindsblowthemoffcourse,othersspeed
themalong.Theykeepflyinguntil,oneday,
theyarrive.
ResourcesUsedinPresentation
Beck,Mckeown,andKucan, BringingWordsto
Life:RobustVocabularyInstruction

Marzano andPickering,BuildingAcademic
VocabularyTeachersManual,2005

AssociationforSupervisionandCurriculum
Development,ASixStepProcessforTeaching
VocabularyDVD

MargaritaCalderon,TeachingReadingto
EnglishLanguageLearners