Building Academic Vocabulary

1. Building Academic Vocabulary Coweta Committed to Student Success

2. Systematic Approach “Teaching specific terms in a specific way is probably the strongest action a teacher can take to ensure that students have the academic background knowledge they need to understand the content they will encounter in school.” ― Marzano and Pickering

3. Systematic Approach “When all teachers in a school focus on the same academic vocabulary and teach in the same way, the school has a powerful comprehensive approach.” “When all teachers in a district embrace and use the same comprehensive approach, it becomes even more powerful.” ― Marzano and Pickering

4. Research Findings • A student in the 50th percentile in terms of ability to comprehend the subject matter taught in school, with no direct vocabulary instruction, remains at the 50th percentile. • The same student after specific content-area terms have been taught in a specific way, increases to the 83rd percentile.

5. Background Knowledge • Instruction in specific content-area terms builds a student’s background knowledge in the content area. • Students who understand content in the new state math standards document regarding fractions have an understanding of terms such as numerator, denominator, part, whole, equivalent and so on.

6. Do the Math • Reading 14 minutes a day means reading over 1,000,000 words a year. • Preschool or children’s books expose us to more challenging vocabulary than do prime-time adult TV shows. • Math vocabulary can be learned through reading, talking, and playing games.

7. Teaching New Terms 6-step process • First three steps: Introduce and develop initial understanding • Next three steps: Multiple exposure to shape and sharpen understanding

8. Step 1 • Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term. • Strategies: • Direct experiences • Tell a story • Use a video • Individual or small group does investigation and presents to class • Current events • Mental pictures • Find or create pictures

9. Step 2 • Students restate description, explanation, or example in their own words. • Strategies: • Academic Notebook • Math Term • Math Vocabulary (Frayer Model)

10. Step 3 • Students construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representing the term. • Strategies: • Create math stories using pictures • Model, model, model • Use space in Academic Notebook for pictures (non-linguistic representations) • Search internet for representations

11. Step 4 • Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms. • Strategies: • Explicit focused review • Add to and revise Academic Notebook • Find examples and non-examples • List related words • Discuss common confusions/errors • Translate into another language • Discuss words with multiple meanings

12. Step 5 • Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another. • Strategies: • Think-Pair-Share • Think time to review term in Academic Notebook • Pair to discuss and explain to each other • Share with whole class “aha’s” • Monitor student discussions “listen to children’s voices” • Compare activities • “Compare 3” and “Similarities and Differences”

13. Step 6 • Involve students in games that allow them to play with terms. • Strategies: • Vocabulary Charades • Use arms, legs, and bodies to show the meaning of terms like radius, diameter, circumference (individual or in teams) • Talk a Mile a Minute • “Talker” given list of words in a category such as shapes. Gets team to say each word by quickly describing them. • Draw Me • Patterned after Pictionary • Name that Category • Patterned after $100,000 Pyramid

14. “Given the relationship between academic background knowledge and academic achievement, one can make the case that it should be at the top of any list of intervention intended to enhance student achievement.”― Marzano and Pickering