San Joaquin Valley’s Region VII Vocabulary Conference

1. San Joaquin Valley’s Region VII Vocabulary Conference

2. San Joaquin Valley’s Region VII Vocabulary Conference Vocabulary: Key to Improving Reading Achievement John J. Pikulski Sponsored by: Lou Massicci, Central Valley Representative Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers

3. Average NAEP Reading Scores for the Nation 9 yr. = +8 ( +4 99-04 ) 13 yr. = +2 (-2 99-04) 17 yr. = -2 ( -5 99-04)

4. The 4th Grade Slump “Result of neglect of vocabulary development in the primary grades” The 7th Grade Cliff “Result of neglect of vocabulary development in all grades” Stahl and Nagy, 2006 Pikulski, 2008 “While we have encouraging results for younger children, our nation's recent education report card has shown no progress for high school students in 30 years. So, it's time to focus on improving high schools.” Margaret Spellings, National Press Club Address, Sept. 21, 2005

5. Only words can free a thought From its prison behind your eyes. O’Neill, Mary. (1956). Words, words, words. Doubleday.

6. Words of Wisdom from U.S. Presidents

7. G. H.W. Bush • "Solutions are not the answer." • It's no exaggeration to say the undecideds could go one way or another." R. Nixon • " This is still the greatest country in the world if we just will steel our wills and lose our minds." B. Clinton • "People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like." A. Lincoln • "If Lincoln were alive today, he'd roll over in his grave." G. Ford

8. Average Rate of Meaning vocabulary Growth in the Elementary Grades Rate = words per year 2,500 – 3,000 About 15 Rate = words per school day Rate = words every day of the year 7 + Cited in Snow, C .et al. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children.

9. There is growing consensus that a challenging, but realistic goal is to teach children, through direct, explicit instruction, about 400 words a year (400/180= 2.2 per day or 11 per week) ; however, should the goal be that children learn 400 words that are explicitly taught?

10. 4 Major Elements of A comprehensive program of Vocabulary Development • Provide a rich, stimulating language/vocabulary environment. • Encourage wide reading. • Use frequent instructional read aloud events. • Integrate content and reading instruction. • Teach, model,and encourage the application of independent word learning strategies such as: use of morphological units (e.g. prefixes, suffixes, root words); reference works (e.g. dictionary, thesaurus); sentence and passage context; and their integration.

11. A comprehensive program of Vocabulary Development (continued) • Provide systematic, explicit instruction in the meanings words and clusters of words. • Create a keen awareness of and a deep interest in language and words (Word Consciousness.)

12. Instructional Read Aloud Activities

13. Conclusions from Juel et al Study(continued) • While substantial amounts of time were devoted to oral language activities, neither reading aloud to children, discussion of these readings nor mentioning of oral vocabulary seemed to affect vocabulary growth. • As suggested by other researchers, it appears that incidental instruction is not substantive enough. Growth in oral language was predicted, instead, by the amount of time spent on more direct vocabulary development.

14. Research Based Read Aloud Recommendations • Carefully select books based on difficulty, interest, and instructional value. • Build Background and Vocabulary before, during, and after reading. • Choose instructional vocabulary carefully. • Look for “Goldilocks” Words. • Do both whole class and small group interactive/instructional read alouds. • Review/reinforce target vocabulary. • Use at least 50% informational texts.

15. Motivate students to Read Widely.

16. Causes Principle of Reciprocal Causation (Matthew Effects) Cause Extensive Independent Reading • Larger vocabulary • Broader Background Knowledge

17. Major Sources of Vocabulary(A. Cunningham &Stanovich, 1998) Rare Words,1,000 I. Printed Texts Abstracts of Scientific Articles Newspapers Adult Books Children’s Books Preschool Books II. Oral Texts Prime-time Adult Shows Prime-time Children’s shows Expert Witness Testimony College Graduates, Friends, Spouses 128.0 68.3 52.7 30.9 16.3 22.7 20.2 28.4 17.3

18. Stages of Knowing a Word • Stage 1: I have never seen or heard it before. • Stage 2: I know it is a word; I’ve seen or heard it before; I don’t know its meaning. • Stage3: I know something about the word, like its part of speech, its positive or negative connotations, or the general context in which it is used, but I can’t give its meaning. • Stage 4: I know the word.

19. Teach an IndependentWord Learning Strategy

20. Why TEACHING students how to independently derive word meanings is important • Studies suggest that students arrive at a reasonable understanding of less than 5% of the “new” words they encounter in their reading • Studies suggest that we can raise their chances to about 15% if we actively teach and model how to independently derive word meanings

21. Deriving Word Meanings Strategy Carefully look at the word; decide how to pronounce it Look around the word: - Within the sentence -Reread previous sentences - Read ahead for more clues Look in the word: - Affixes - Base words -Root words Make your best guess at the word’s meaning If you think you have figured out the meaning of the word or if the word doesn’t seem important: Keep reading If you don’t know the meaning and if the word seems important: use a dictionary or glossary

22. Look Around Look Up Look In Pass Pronounce Predict potboiler POT-boi-lur The critics were unanimous that the new work by Lavazza is a potboiler! A usually inferior literary or artistic work, produced quickly for the purpose of making money. Potboiler comes from the phrase "boil the pot," meaning "to provide one's livelihood."

23. Teach words, not individually, but inMorphological and Semantic Clusters, going beyond “the words in the story.”

24. BODIES OF WATER Pond River Puddle Lake Semantic Clusters Ocean Pool Stream Creek

25. TelePrompTer Telegraph Telegram Telepathy Telethon Telekinesis Telecommute Telescopic Telescopy Horoscope Kaleidoscope Microscope Periscope Stethoscope Telescope Astronomer Astronomical Star Words Astronomy Galaxy Astrology Astronaut Astrodome Astroturf Galactic Intergalactic Semantic/Morphological Clusters

26. Become excited about word learning and communicate that Enthusiasm to your students

27. m-w.com wordsmith.org Dictionary.com

28. To keep your marriage brimming, With love in the loving cup, Whenever you're wrong, admit it; Whenever you're right, shut up. -Ogden Nash, author(1902-1971)