Building Academic Building Academic Vocabulary in the Vocabulary in the

Social StudiesSocial Studies

Building Academic Building Academic Vocabulary in the Vocabulary in the

Social StudiesSocial Studies

Amy Nelson ThibautAmy Nelson ThibautCFISD Social Studies Helping CFISD Social Studies Helping

TeacherTeacherTSSSA 2005-2006TSSSA 2005-2006

•These vocabulary “best practices” are characterized by more reading, more concepts development, explicit instruction for critical and specialize terms, increased opportunities to hear and use language in meaningful ways, and assistance in transferring that learning to other contexts.

•Ineffectual instructional practices move students away from seeing words as

multifaceted sources of enjoyment and information.

Janet Allen, PhD

Concept Circle

• In this technique students are shown a circle• Each quarter of which contains a word or

phrase.• The student must then describe or name the

concept to which all the sections relate• In doing this, students have to determine

the meaning of each of the words, analyze the connections among the words, and think of a concept or

relationship that ties the words together.

Concept Circles• Describe or name the concept relationship among the

sections

• Topic: ___The Depression_______________

Dust Bowl

Hoovervilles

migrant Hobo

The technique works in reverse….

• Give students the concept• Then ask students to complete the concept

circle with four things they have learned in relation to this concept.

•This tool lets you ascertain the connections your students

are able to make from their learning about a given concept.

Concept Circles• Describe or name the concept relationship among the sections

• Topic: ___The Civil Rights Movement__

Racism Church bombings

violence stereotyping

Opposites

• Give students a list of paired words with opposite meanings

• Students scour a stack of newspapers to find and cut out pictures or cartoons that could represent the words

• They then glue the pictures onto a grid–This is an incredible tool for

assessing whether students actually have a working knowledge of particular words.

Social Studies Opposites:

A Hunt for Contrast

WAR

PEACE

Free Association

• Teacher calls out a “Target” Term• Students take turns – as a class, in

small groups, or in pairs – saying any word they think of that is related to the target term.

• After a few minutes the teacher says “Stop”. The last person to say a word must explain how that word is related to the target.

• Require students to raise their hands and be called upon or to ensure that they pay attention to their peers’ responses, require that they repeat the previous response before offering their own.

An alternative to Oral Free Association

• Ask students to write their responses in a learning log or on scratch paper

• When you say, “Stop,” they exchange papers with a partner and ask each other to explain any of the words on their lists.

• In this way, students generate their own lists, but also are exposed to

the thinking of another student.

A Twist on Free Association

• Play the Pyramid Game– Pair students – one faces the screen and the

other faces the opposite direction– The person facing the screen looks at the concept

and begins giving content based clues that will solicit the answer from his/her partner

– When a pair gets the answer, the person facing the screen signals the teacher to move to the next category.

– When the pair completes the Pyramid, the game stops while the partnership recreates the clues given to solicit the correct concept.

50 points 50 points 50 points

100 points 100 points

200points

PreambleFederalism

Freedom of Speech

Popular sovereignty

Separation of powers

Bill ofRights

Game Activity:Talk a Mile a

Minute•Teams of students are given a list of terms that have been organized into categories.

•Every team designates a “talker” who is provided with a list of words under a category title.

•The talker tries to get the team to say each of the words by quickly describing them. The talker is allowed to say anything about the terms, but may not use any words in the category title or any rhyming words

•The talker continues until the team members identify the first term in the category, then he/she moves to the next term in the category

Comparing Terms: Format 1: Sentence

Stems•This format provides sentences to be completed by students.

•The first set of sentences asks students to fill in similarities between the two terms, and the second set asks for differences.

•Sentence stems provide very structured guidance for students, thus helping them to avoid common errors in their thinking. Sometimes students jump into a comparison task without first identifying the characteristics on which they will base their comparison.

Sentence Stems Examples

• ______ and ______ are similar because they both…..• _______________________• _______________________• _______________________

•______ and ____ are different because

•______ is _____, but _______ is ________

•______ is _____, but _______ is ________

•______ is _____, but _______ is ________

Sentence Stems Examples

• Monarchy and dictatorship are similar because they both…..• Are forms of government.• Are governments with major power given to one person.• Have examples from history in which the powerful person

was a tyrant.

Sentence Stems Examples continued

• Monarchy and dictatorship are different because …

• In a monarchy, the ruler is often in power because of heritage, but in a dictatorship, the ruler often comes to power through force or coercion.

• In monarchies today, the rulers are often perceived to be loved by the people, but in dictatorships, the rulers are often feared and hated by the people.

»A monarchy can coexist with a representative government, but a dictatorship often is a police state.

Comparing Terms: Format 2: Venn

Diagram

•Forms of government

•Single person rule

•Many are tyrants

•Can coexist with representative government

•Loved by people

•Inherited power

•Often perceived as police state

•Rulers often hated and feared

•Comes to power through coercion or force

Monarchy

Dictatorship

DIFFERENCES

DIFFERENCES

SIMILARITIES

Comparing Terms: Format 3: Double

Bubble

Monarchy Dictatorship

Forms of government

Co-exist with represent. government

Ruler is hated or feared

Comparing Terms: Format 4: Matrix

Item 1 Item 2 Item 3

Characteristic 1

Similarities &

Differences

Characteristic 2

Similarities &

Differences

Characteristic 3

Similarities &

Differences

Comparing Terms: Format 4: Matrix

•In the column headings, students place the terms they are going to compare.

•In the rows, the students identify the general characteristics on which they will base their comparison.

•In the cells, they briefly describe each term as it relates to each characteristic.

•Finally, students look at their information and draw conclusions about the similarities and differences.

•The matrix lends itself to comparing more than two terms at a time.

•Its power lies in the fact that it provides an organizer for the information about a term. Once complete it guides students to think about, and discuss, the similarities and differences in some detail.

Comparing Terms: Format 4: Matrix

Monarchy Dictatorship Democracy Similarities & Differences

How the leader comes

to power

Usually Inherits power; Serves for life

Usually takes power through force; Often is leader for life

Leaders are elected; Often does not have total power

Monarchy and Dictatorship are more alike & democracy is different. Monarchies and dictatorships take or give power to an individual while in demo. the people decide by election who will govern.

The reaction of the people

Usually loved except by persecuted groups

Often the dictator is hated or feared

People often split but know they can elect soon

The role of the people

People expect to obey

People expect to obey

Power through vote

Solving Analogy Problems

• A complete analogy contains two terms in the first set (A and B) that have the same relationship as the two terms in the second set (C and D). A common format for an analogy statement is A is to B as C is to D.

• If only one term is missing, the field of possible accurate answers is narrowed considerably:– Martin Luther King, Jr. is to civil

rights as _______ is to women’s rights

Solving Analogy Problems

• When two terms are missing, an analogy can be completed with a wider variety of answers. Many different perspectives can be applied to compete the analogy:

• Harry Truman is to World War II as _____ is to ______

• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is to Native Americans as _____ is to _______

Solving Analogy Problems• As students solve the analogy

problems, make sure they include a description of the relationship that both sets of terms have in common.

• Use a graphic organizer to clearly highlight the importance of defining how the items in each set are related.

Term A Term BAS

Term C Term D“Relating Factor”

Solving Analogy Problems

Synagogue Judaism

MosqueAS

A place of worship

Islam

•Analogy problems with two missing terms provide opportunities for students to think beyond the obvious relationships, thereby helping them to gain new insights into the analogy terms.

Creating Metaphors• Metaphors expose how objects or ideas that

seem quite different might actually be, at a more general level, very similar.

• The goal of creating metaphors is to guide students into seeing general relationships between new terms they are learning and another term which they are more familiar with although the terms seem very different.

Creating Metaphors• To engage students in metaphorical thinking try

the following steps:• Step 1: List the specific characteristics of a

targeted term.• Step 2: Rewrite those characteristics in more

general language.• Step 3: Identify another specific term

and explain how it also has the general characteristics identified during Step 2.

Creating Metaphors

Term More General Description

Term

Frederick Douglas

Was a slave as a young boy.

Learned to read and write anyway.

Wrote books and gave speeches against slavery

Had a rough beginning.

Achieved goals even when difficult

Worked to help other people who suffered like him.

Helen Keller

Got sick as baby, lost sight and hearing

Learned to read Braille, write, and went to college

Through speeches and writing, she inspired others to overcome disabilities

Creating Metaphors• At first, students might need significant

guidance and modeling, especially as they try to decide just how general the language in Step 2 should be

• Teachers who use metaphors report that students who struggle with assignments requiring extensive writing sometimes demonstrate deep levels of insight when the focus is on this type of

thinking.

REFERENCES• Allen, Janet. Words, Words, Words:

Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers, 1999.

• Marzano, Robert J. and Debra J. Pickering. Building Academic Vocabulary. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2005.