Making The Vocabulary Connection in Middle Schools

1. Making The Vocabulary Connection in Middle Schools Teaching Students Academic Language Keith Pruitt

2. Is There A Problem? “…what students already know about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they will learn new information relative to the content.” Marzano (2004, p.1) “Knowledge of specific terms is, for all intents and purposes, synonymous with background knowledge.” Marzano (2004, p. 62) But most students aren’t bringing much to the table.

3. Telling Studies • Nagy, Anderson, & Herman (1987) • Bloom (1976) • Dochy, Segers, & Buehl (1999) • All point to correlation of background knowledge and academic success.

4. Process and Store Information Fluid or innate intelligence Experience Crystallized or learned intelligence How Do We Get This Knowledge? schema

5. What seems to be critical is not sheer amount of experience but rather what one has been able to learn from and do with experience. Sternberg (1985, p.307) …knowledge is more highly associated with crystallized abilities than with fluid abilities. Rolfhus & Ackerman (1999, p.520) Which Intelligence Is Best?

6. Academic Success = Experience So what type of experiences can we provide in the school setting to help insure our students have academic success?

7. The Howard Gardner School of Experiences • Reflections- Writing, Thinking, Recording their thoughts. “We need to teach children how to think and let them know that it is ok to do so.” -Roger Farr

8. The Howard Gardner School of Experiences • Reflections- Writing, Thinking, Recording their thoughts. For information to be processed from our Sensory Memories to our Permanent Memories, it must first be processed through our Working Memories. - Anderson (1995)

9. The Work of J R Anderson Discards OR Sensory Memory Working Memory Permanent Memory Files Anderson, J.R. (1995). Learning and memory: An integrated approach. New York: John Wiley & Sons

10. The Howard Gardner School of Experiences • Reflections- Writing, Thinking, Recording their thoughts. • Interpersonal Communication- Collaborative group projects, dialogue, buddy reads, turn and talks. • Games- Monopoly (Economics), Scrabble (Language Arts, Vocabulary), Trivial Pursuit (History, Geography), Brain Gyms

11. The Howard Gardner School of Experiences • Reflections- Writing, Thinking, Recording their thoughts. • Interpersonal Communication- Collaborative group projects, dialogue, buddy reads. • Games- Monopoly (Economics), Scrabble (Language Arts, Vocabulary), Trivial Pursuit (History, Geography), Brain Gyms

12. BRAIN GYMS • WHO AM I? I am associated with money. Sometimes I hang out with dead Presidents. Burr was my death. I worked for a President. I was the first at treasury. I helped write federalism into being. Who Am I?

13. BRAIN GYMS • WHO AM I? I am associated with money. Sometimes I hang out with dead Presidents. Burr was my death. I worked for a President. I was the first at treasury. I helped write federalism into being. Who Am I? Alexander Hamilton

14. WHAT AM I? I can charge it up. Not a cell phone. I can take on different shapes sometimes being like a thread or even a sphere. I’m in cytoplasm. What am I?

15. WHAT AM I? I can charge it up. Not a cell phone. I can take on different shapes sometimes being like a thread or even a sphere. I’m in cytoplasm. What am I? Mitochondria

16. Back To Gardner • Art- Using painting, drawing, diagrams, graphic organizers, music, role plays, presentations, theatre, writing as a means of expression. Some of the greatest expression of ideas comes from visual arts! How can I use visuals to teach vocabulary?

17. USING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

18. Dallas Ponyboy Johnny S.E.Hinton, author Characters Who? Why? What? The Outsiders Gangs How? Where? When This shows how to use a graphic web to discuss a piece of literature visually.

19. The Vocabulary Book: Learning and Instruction, Michael F. Graves

20. Thinking Tree Teaching Vocabulary to Improve Reading Comprehension, William Nagy

21. The Usage Of Virtual Tours • Reading is a Virtual Experience • Language Interaction • Virtual Experiences • Direct Teaching of Vocabulary

22. Allington (1984) • Total Words Read by 1st graders during 1 wk of reading. *Poor Readers- 16 *Good Readers-1,933 Other Students Fell in between these two extremes.

23. Nagy and Anderson (1984) • Middle Grade Students (words per year) Type A Child- 10-50 m/year Type B Child- 1 m/ y Type C Child- 100,000/ year

24. HOW MANY TYPE C STUDENTS DO WE HAVE IN OUR MIDDLE SCHOOLS? IT IS NOT UNUSUAL FOR 25% TO 50% OF OUR MIDDLE SCHOOL 8TH GRADERS TO BE BELOW PROFICIENCY IN READING. IN INNER CITY SCHOOLS, IT CAN BE UP TO 80%. THE LOW END READER IN 9TH GRADE IS READING ON PAR WITH THE AVERAGE 3RD GRADER!!! “…a poor reader is likely to have difficulty in all subject matter classes.” –Stallings (1986)

25. The Usage Of Virtual Tours • Reading is a Virtual Experience • Language Interaction • Virtual Experiences • Direct Teaching of Vocabulary

26. Language Interaction • Have students work in groups with texts. • Use leveled text to supplement content areas. • Provide lots of reading materials in the classroom. • Remember that most learners in your classroom are visual learners!

27. SHOW THEM DON’T JUST TELL THEM!

28. The Usage Of Virtual Tours • Reading is a Virtual Experience • Language Interaction • Virtual Experiences • Direct Teaching of Vocabulary

29. Usage of Virtual Reality • We can’t expose students to every real life adventure that we would desire. But through the internet, we can expose them to many worlds they might never be able to see. • FOR EXAMPLE…

31. You may visit this site at www.thehermitage.com

32. The Smithsonian Institute offers free online help for teachers at their web Address. www.thesmithsonianeducation.org

36. The Usage Of Virtual Tours • Reading is a Virtual Experience • Language Interaction • Virtual Experiences • Direct Teaching of Vocabulary

37. The direct teaching of Vocabulary is essential To academic success. Do you know what this says? Why not? You are educated, right? What do you need to know to break the code?

38. The direct teaching of Vocabulary is essential To academic success. The direct teaching of vocabulary is essential to academic success. ---Keith Pruitt

39. Breaking The Code of Language • Vocabulary building involves a systematic delivery of words based on experiences in a school setting that provides a schema of explanation in words students can understand. -- Keith Pruitt (2005)

40. Tier 3 Words are those that are unique to a specific content area. Can be used in several contexts. Are not used in everyday language. DEMOCRACY MEREDIAN PROTOPLASM CAVITY CELL ESTIMATE MIGRATION MITOSIS PHOTOSYTHESIS MITOCHONDRIA What is Academic Language

41. HERE IS WHAT IS INVOLVED • Jean Piaget’s (1960) Schema Theory You must create a picture! • Explaining words in a meaningful context. (Janet Allen, 1999) • Repeated usage of words. It takes 6-8 repeated usages in short period for child to make a word a part of vocabulary. • Integrate the tactile, visual, and auditory experiences. • Understand the importance of Tier 3 words.

42. This is the type of thing one would do to explain words by using words to which students may relate.

43. One of the arguments for ____________ in the first place had been that________ would increase the wealth of the ______ _______ And lessen her dependence on other nations. According to the __________ theory, she would prosper and grow strong by _________ more and more to __________ and _________ less and less from them. Colonies would aid by providing a ______ for her ___________ goods and a source of supply for ___ _________ she could not produce at home. To get the full benefit, she would have to exclude ________ (as Spain had done) from her _______ trade. The words in red are great Tier 2 words that can be emphasized for clarity. The blanks represent Tier 3 (Academic Language) that is absolutely necessary to make sense of the text. This is an American History Text.

44. One of the arguments for colonization in the first place had been thatcolonies would increase the wealth of the mother country and lessen her dependence on other nations. According to the mercantile theory, she would prosper and grow strong by exporting more and more to foreigners and importing less and less from them. Colonies would aid by providing a market for her manufacturedgoods and a source of supply for raw materials she could not produce at home. To get the full benefit, she would have to excludeforeigners (as Spain had done) from her colonial trade. One could not access the text without the vocabulary. But unless one has a schema for the words, it is like not having the words printed.

45. What Does This Word Mean? craniopharngioma

46. What Does This Word Mean? craniopharngioma A tumor of the pituitary gland, which if untreated may cause permanent brain damage.

47. Use Vocabulary Games • Vocabulary.com • Thirdage.com • Vocabulary.co.il • Vocabulary Connections (Steck Vaughn)

48. SLAM Board • Give Students Post It Notes • As you read various selected sections of the text book, have students write the words that they don’t know on post it notes. • On cue, have them come to a selected spot and post the words on the board. • Teacher then uses these in exercises.

49. Marzano’s Characteristics of Effective Direct Vocabulary Instruction • Does not rely on definitions. (Explain It) • Representations in linguistic and nonlinguistic • Multiple exposures • Teach word parts. (Roots, affixes) • Vary the instructional pedagogy. • Have students discuss new vocabulary. • Allow students to play with words. • Focus on words that impact academic success.

50. Provide purpose for reading Glossary terms are highlighted Terms are defined for the students in words they can understand Pearson Longman, Keystone, Level E