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Session #2

Academic Vocabularyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzjEzohHmaM

Academic Vocabulary

… is not unique to a particular discipline and as a result are not the clear responsibility of a particular content area teacher. What is more, many Tier Two words are far less well defined by contextual clues in the texts in which they appear and are far less likely to be defined explicitly within a text than are Tier Three words. Yet Tier Two words are frequently encountered in complex written texts and are particularly powerful because of their wide applicability to many sorts of reading. Teachers thus need to be alert to the presence of Tier Two words and determine which ones need careful attention. Common Core State Standards (English Language Arts, Appendix A)

http://www.engageny.org/resource/common-core-in-ela-literacy-shift-6-academic-vocabulary

3 Tiers of Words

Common Core State Standards, Appendix A, page 33

Why are “academic words” important?

• They are critical to understanding academic texts.• They appear in all sorts of texts.• They require deliberate effort to learn, unlike Tier 1

words.• They are far more likely to appear in written texts than

in speech.• They often represent subtle or precise ways to say

otherwise relatively simple things.• They are powerfully useful and frequently occurring. Common Core State Standards, Appendix A, page 33

Choosing Tier 2 Words

• Jose avoided playing the ukulele.• Which word would you choose as a Tier 2

vocabulary word? Tier 3?

Which words?

Avoided- Tier 2Why?• Verbs are where the action is

– Teach avoid, avoided, avoids– Likely to see it again in grade-level text– Likely to see it on assessments– We are going to start calling these useful words “Tier 2 words”

• Why ukulele?– Rarely seen in print– Rarely used in stories or conversation or content-area information

Ukulele- Tier 3

How do I determine that a word is TIER 2?Word Is this a

generally useful word?

Does the word relate to other words and ideas that students know or have been learning?

Is the word useful in helping students understand text?

If you answer “yes” to all three questions, it is a Tier 2 word. If not, it is probably a Tier 3 word.

How Many Words?

• In school settings, students can be explicitly taught a deep understanding of about 300 words each year.• Divided by the range of content students need to

know (e.g., math, science, history, literature), of these 300–350 words, roughly 60 words can be taught within one subject area each year. • It is reasonable to teach thoroughly about three

to ten words per week.

Implications for Instruction

• Teach fewer words.• Focus on important Tier 2 (high utility,

cross-domain words) to know & remember.

• Simply provide Tier 3 (domain-specific, technical) words with a definition.

Vocabulary Casserole

Ingredients Needed:20 words no one has ever heard before in his life1 dictionary with very confusing definitions1 matching test to be distributed by Friday1 teacher who wants students to be quiet on Mondays copying words

Put 20 words on chalkboard. Have students copy then look up in dictionary. Make students write all the definitions. For a little spice, require that students write words in sentences. Leave alone all week. Top with a boring test on Friday.

Perishable. This casserole will be forgotten by Saturday afternoon.

Serves: No one.Adapted from When Kids Can’t Read, What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers

Vocabulary TreatIngredients Needed:

5-10 great words that you really could use 1 thesaurusMarkers and chart paper1 game like Jeopardy or BINGO1 teacher who thinks learning is supposed to be fun

Mix 5 to 10 words into the classroom. Have students test each word for flavor. Toss with a thesaurus to find other words that mean the same. Write definitions on chart paper and let us draw pictures of words to remind us what they mean. Stir all week by a teacher who thinks learning is supposed to be fun. Top with a cool game on Fridays like jeopardy or BINGO to see who remembers the most.

Serves: ManyAdapted from When Kids Can’t Read, What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers

Effective Vocabulary Instruction

• Increase independent reading time.

• Facilitate read-alouds.

• Keep vocabulary in circulation. • Keep vocabulary interactive.

• Use graphic organizers.

Game Resources

• Scattergories • Taboo • Crossword puzzles • Boggle • Upwords • Balderdash• Prop box

Content contained is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Vocabulary Websites

http://www.wordsift.com/ Word maps, word cloudshttp://quizlet.com/ Make flash cards & gameshttp://jc-schools.net/tutorials/vocab/ Academic

vocabulary gameshttp://www.vocabulary.com/ More games, including

games using Latin & Greek rootswww.worldwidewords.comDefinitions, history and short essays on words http://www.visualthesaurus.com/ Visual thesauruswww.vocabgrabber.comwww.wordle.com

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Online resources for games…

• http://www.vocabulary.co.il/• http://www.freereading.net/index.php?

title=Vocabulary_Reintroduce_and_Build_Mastery_Activities• http://www.visuwords.com/

• http://www.pppst.com/templates.html• http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/gameboard.htm• http://its.leesummit.k12.mo.us/gameresources.htm• http://people.uncw.edu/ertzbergerj/ppt_games.html• http://reading.pppst.com/vocabulary.html