Why VOCABULARY is Critical for Reading and What You Can Do About It

1. Why VOCABULARY is Critical for ReadingandWhat You Can Do About It

2. “It is widely accepted among researchers that the difference in students’ vocabulary levels is a key factor in disparities in academic achievement but that vocabulary instruction has been neither frequent nor systematic in most schools.” Common Core Standards Appendix A, pg. 32 Vocabulary

3. “…Research shows that if students are truly to understand what they read, they must grasp upward of 95 percent of the words.” Common Core Standards Appendix A, pg. 32

4. Common Core VocabularyAnchor Standards Reading - Craft and Structure R4.Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. Language – Knowledge of Language L3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

5. Common Core VocabularyAnchor Standards Language – Vocabulary Acquisition and Use L4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by usingcontext clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate. L5. Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuancesin word meanings. L6. Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

6. To Read, You Need… • Automatic word recognition • Reading comprehension • Vocabulary – word meanings • Other factors (strategic knowledge, motivation, general knowledge, purpose for reading…) • Language comprehension: Vocabulary & Background Knowledge

7. If a child has limited vocabulary when they get to school, they may sound out the words but not know what they mean; they won’t enjoy reading and will read less, and they will struggle to get new knowledge and vocabulary from reading.

8. Vocabulary knowledge • …contributes to reading ability AND is a consequence of reading. • ...can often be equated with important conceptual knowledge; if you know a word, you know a concept.

9. Research • Very little vocabulary instruction happening! • Several studies have shown that a year of school has NO IMPACT on vocabulary development. • NAEP: 68% of 8th graders scoring below the 25th percentile; low scores on vocabulary = low scores on comprehension

10. BIG Ideas About Vocabulary Development • Multiple times – hear and use the word • For children to learn a word, they need a lot of information about the concept of a word • Explicit and Implicit Instruction must take place. In the study, implicit was the least effective, explicit alone the next best, and finally implicit and explicit instruction together was far better.

11. Word Selection

12. 1. Determine Unit of Study Kindergarten Science Unit: WEATHER Week 1: Clouds • Unit Goals: Students will become familiar with how meteorologists measure weather, how they use weather conditions to make forecasts, and how to prepare for different kinds of weather. • Week 1: CLOUDS Concepts: Students will understand how meteorologists classify clouds and cloud cover and how meteorologists use clouds to predict weather conditions.

13. 2. Select vocabulary to teach Informational Text • New word for new concept • New word repeated frequently • Specialized meaning in subject area Fiction • Sophisticated word for known concept • New word repeated once or twice • Used across contexts

14. Tiers of Words Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan (2002, 2008) have outlined a useful model for conceptualizing categories of words readers encounter in texts and for understanding the instructional and learning challenges that words in each category present.

15. Tiers of WordsTier One Words of everyday speech usually learned in the early grades albeit not at the same rate by all children. Examples: big, small, house, table, family

16. Tiers of WordsTier Two • General academic words, which are far more likely to appear in written texts than in speech. • Subtle or precise ways to say relatively simple things. (Saunter instead of walk) • Examples of Tier Two Words: • relative, vary, formulate, specificity, accumulate • calibrate, itemize, periphery • misfortune, dignified, faltered, unabashedly

17. Tiers of Words Tier Two • Are not unique to a particular discipline and are not the clear responsibility of a particular content area teacher. • Are frequently encountered in complex written texts and are powerful because of their wide applicability to many sorts of reading.

18. Tiers of WordsTier Three • Domain-specific words that are specific to a field of study and key to understanding a new concept within a text. • Examples: lava, carburetor, legislature, circumference, aorta • More common in informational texts • Often explicitly defined by the author, repeatedly used, and heavily scaffolded.

19. Vocabulary – Identifying Tiers In early times, no one knew how volcanoes formed or why they spouted red-hot molten rock. In modern times, scientists began to study volcanoes. They still don’t know all the answers but they know much about how a volcano works. Our planet is made up of many layers of rock. The top layers of solid rock are called the crust. Deep beneath the crust is the mantle, where it is so hot that some rock melts. The melted, or molten, rock is called magma. Volcanoes are formed when magma pushes its way up through the crack in Earth’s crust. This is called a volcanic eruption. When magma pours forth on the surface, it is called lava. Simon, Seymour. Volcanoes. New York: Harper Collins, 2006. (2006)

20. Vocabulary – Identifying Tiers In early times, no one knew how volcanoes formed or why they spouted red-hot molten rock. In modern times, scientists began to study volcanoes. They still don’t know all the answers but they know much about how a volcano works. Our planet is made up of many layers of rock. The top layers of solid rock are called the crust. Deep beneath the crust is the mantle, where it is so hot that some rock melts. The melted, or molten, rock is called magma. Volcanoes are formed when magma pushes its way up through the crack in Earth’s crust. This is called a volcanic eruption. When magma pours forth on the surface, it is called lava. Simon, Seymour. Volcanoes. New York: Harper Collins, 2006. (2006)

21. Vocabulary – Identifying Tiers In early times, no one knew how volcanoesformed or why they spouted red-hot molten rock. In modern times, scientists began to study volcanoes. They still don’t know all the answers but they know much about how a volcano works. Our planet is made up of many layers of rock. The top layers of solid rock are called the crust. Deep beneath the crust is the mantle, where it is so hot that some rock melts. The melted, or molten, rock is called magma. Volcanoes are formed when magma pushes its way up through the crack in Earth’s crust. This is called a volcanic eruption. When magmapours forth on the surface, it is called lava. Grade 4-5 Text Complexity Band Simon, Seymour. Volcanoes. New York: Harper Collins, 2006. (2006)

22. Why Not Teach All Unknown Words in a Text? • The text may have a great many words that are unknown to students – too many for direct instruction. • Direct vocabulary instruction can take a lot of class time; time that teachers might better spend having students read. • Students might be able to understand a text without knowing the meaning of every word in the text. • Students need opportunities to use word-learning strategies to independently learn the meanings of unknown words.

23. Word Selection for Explicit Instruction • Decide on number of words to be taught directly at your grade level. • Suggestion: 150 vocabulary words per year or 1 word weekly for each academic subject. • Therefore, plan for approximately 30 math terms, 30 reading terms, 30 writing terms, 30 science terms, and 30 social studies terms per year. (10 per marking period in each subject) Select words that: • are unknown • are critical to the meaning • will likely be encountered in the future

24. From the beginning….. Understand lists are not “cast in stone”, but rather additions and deletions may become necessary over time.

25. Vocabulary Selection TASK: Work with your grade level group to select words for the FIRST marking period. Your goal is to have a small number of words that you will use for explicit vocabulary instruction.

27. Marzano’s Six-Step Process for Vocabulary Acquisition • Step 1: Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term. • Step 2: Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words. • Step 3: Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representing the term.

28. Marzano continued • Step 4: Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in their notebooks. • Step 5: Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another. • Step 6: Involve students periodically in games that allow them to play with the terms. From Building Academic Vocabulary by Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering

29. Vocabulary with Thinking Maps Module 301A: Word Learning Strategies with Circle Maps (301 A) I can develop Circle Maps for defining academic vocabulary framed with word learning strategies. Module 301B: Vocabulary Development Using Brace, Bridge, and Double Bubble Maps (301 B) I can develop vocabulary activities to deepen the basic understanding of academic terms. Module 301C: Vocabulary Word Games Using the Tree, Bubble, Flow and Bridge Maps (301 C) I can design word play activities to acquire mastery of academic language.

30. Guided Highlighing Great Instructional Tool for teaching Vocabulary

31. Example of Guided Highlighted Reading for Vocabulary THE HISTORY OF JAZZ • Historically the journey that jazz has taken can be traced with reasonable accuracy. That it • ripened most fully in New Orleans seems beyond dispute although there are a few • deviationists who support other theories of its origin. Around 1895 the almost legendary • Buddy Bolden and Bunk Johnson were blowing their cornets in the street and in the • funeral parades which have always enlivened the flamboyant social life of that • uncommonly vital city. At the same time, it must be remembered, Scott Joplin was • producing ragtime on his piano at the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, Missouri; and in • Memphis, W.C. Handy was evolving his own spectacular conception of the blues. • In line 2 find and highlight the word that means disagreement. (dispute) • In line 2 find and highlight the word that means one who departs from the norm (deviationists) • In line 5 find and highlight the word that means flashy. (flamboyant) • In line 7 find and highlight the word that means developing. (evolving) • In line 7 find and highlight the word that means idea. (conception)

32. Your Turn…Select from the list of words from “History of Jazz” Six words that meet the following criterion: • 2 important for text comprehension • 2 for word analysis (parts, scalability, map using tree, unusual or unique form or rule) • 2 academic vocabulary (Tier 2)

33. History of JazzVocabulary