Vocabulary and ConceptsVocabulary and Concepts

Strategies You Can Use

Vocabulary and ReadingVocabulary and Reading

Students cannot comprehend what they read unless they know the words they are reading—they need to understand the vocabulary.

There are three levels of vocabulary: common words (tier 1), words of general knowledge (tier 2), and words from specific fields (tier 3).

Music VocabularyMusic Vocabulary

Tier 1: Music. This is a word that most people in general know.

Tier 2: Harmony. This is a word that cuts across fields (music, psychology, visual arts, etc.) that educated people know.

Tier 3: Allegro. This is a word that is specific to music and that only musicians need to know.

Music VocabularyMusic Vocabulary

Over time, the level of vocabulary we need to learn changes.

K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 college

3

2

1Tier

Music VocabularyMusic Vocabulary

What music-related words do students need to know in Kindergarten?

What music-related words do students need to know in 7th grade?

What music-related words do seniors in high school need to know?

List words and estimate whether they are Tier 1, 2, or 3.

Teaching VocabularyTeaching Vocabulary

Vocabulary is not a list of random words.

Most vocabulary words are interrelated by way of concepts.

Words need to be taught conceptually.

Why??? Think about this as you consider the self reflection on the next slide.

Self ReflectionSelf Reflection

Think for a minute about how you have learned vocabulary, particularly the tier 2 and 3 music vocabulary you identified above. What has worked for you? What has not worked for you? What strategies were used to teach it to you? What strategies did you use to learn it? Write a drop box page, a discussion thread, or a private e-mail to me about this.

Thinking about conceptsThinking about concepts

Concepts can be organized in many ways. Think about using visuals to help students

understand the relationships between words. Visuals not only support an understanding of the

complex relationships being taught, they also support visual learners.

These visuals are called “graphic organizers.”

Musical Instruments: A Musical Instruments: A Semantic MapSemantic Map

V io lin F am ily V io l F am ily

C h ord op h on es

B e llsK azoosM aracas

e tc .

Id iop h on es

W ood w in d s B rass

A ccord ianB ag p ip e

H arm on ica

F ree reed

A erop h on es

D ru m s

M em b ran op h on es

M u s ica l In s tru m en ts

I did this with the “organizational chart”slide template.

Constructing Graphic Constructing Graphic OrganizersOrganizers

Analyze the vocabulary of the learning task. List all the words that you believe are important for the student to understand.

Arrange the list of words until you have a scheme that shows the interrelationships among the concepts particular to the learning task.

Add to the scheme vocabulary. Add terms that you believe the students understand in order to show relationships between the learning task and the discipline as a whole.

Evaluate the organizer. Have you clearly shown major relationships? Can the organizer be simplified and still effectively communicate the idea you consider crucial?

Introduce the students to the learning task by showing them the scheme. Tell them why you arranged the terms as you did. Encourage them to contribute as much information as possible to the discussion of the organizer.

As you complete the learning task, relate new information to the organizer where it seems appropriate. Vacca and Vacca, pp. 166-167

Another Graphic OrganizerAnother Graphic Organizer

Bridge

F-hole

Tuners

Fingerboard

Bow

Isn’t it amazing what you can do on Powerpoint?

You could add a clip of someone playing the instrument

Need more ideas?Need more ideas?

Ask your students to help construct graphic organizers.

The first time you do this, use the whole group. After defining terms, consider as a group how they might be related to one another. You will be able to correct any misconceptions through developing the graphic organizer.

Small groups of students can develop graphic organizers that can be shared with the whole group.

Vocabulary Strategies: Vocabulary Strategies: FreewriteFreewrite

Choose a vocabulary word or phrase that is tier 2. Tier 3 where there is no possibility of making good guesses will not work for this activity.

Allow students to write freely about what they associate with the word or phrase.

During freewrites, students are not to worry about grammar or spelling. They are to write as quickly as possible without stopping.

This strategy allows students to explore their ideas about a new word or phrase.

Vocabulary Strategy: Vocabulary Strategy: BrainstormBrainstorm

Ask students to generate all the words they can think of related to a concept. For example, what are all the musical words you know that are related to the concept of dynamics?

From here you can introduce new words (crescendo/decrescendo) or you can introduce the idea of “-issimo” intensifies the meaning of the word in Italian, giving students “fortissimo” and “pianissimo.”

Vocabulary Strategy: Vocabulary Strategy: List-Group-LabelList-Group-Label

Create categories and ask students to suggest words to go under each heading.

ClassicalCounterpointSymphonyConcerto

JazzLickImprovisationChanges12-bar Blues

BothMelodyHarmonyRhythm

Vocabulary Strategy: Vocabulary Strategy: Semantic Word MapSemantic Word Map

The simple name for this is “web.”

Types of Music in America

Classical

Jazz

Bluegrass

Rap

Rock

Cajun

Reflection:Reflection:

How might you make a semantic word map of the following terms?What other terms could you add? What would be the central concept?

Sonata allegroMinuet and trioABASonataSymphonyConcertoRondo

Word SortWord Sort

Give the students the words you are using.Ask them to sort the words into categories.During discussion, students can justify their

choices. You will be able to assess their understanding and reteach as necessary.

You can give them the categories or you can ask them to come up with their own categories.

Knowledge RatingKnowledge RatingCan

define/playHave

seen/heard???

Major scale

Minor scale

Pentatonic scale

Dorian

Students assess their own knowledge and check the appropriate boxRich vocabulary learning means students can actually use the knowledge. Standardized testsonly assess recognition (“have seen/heard” column) and don’t test students abilities to use the concept.

Things to RememberThings to Remember It takes 8 or 9 meaningful encounters with a word for it to enter our

vocabulary. Choose concepts that students can immediately use because that will help

them to remember. Vary your strategies to accommodate students’ interests and abilities. Remember to address all learning styles. Try to work with other teachers on tier 1 and 2 vocabulary. Aim for the rich learning of vocabulary, not merely the ability to recognize a

word. The lack of vocabulary will significantly reduce a student’s ability to read.

Just because a student is in high school, do not assume the student has a sufficient tier 1& 2 vocabulary to read what you have assigned. When in doubt, check it out—find out what the students is understanding during reading.

Vocabulary Games and Vocabulary Games and ChallengesChallenges

Jeopardy—make a Jeopardy board that requires students to use vocabulary in constructing questions.

Who needs to know this? Ask students which occupations require knowledge of this word. Give points only for unique responses and give students a chance to justify their responses.

For Tier 1 and 2 vocabulary, give students points when they hear or read the word outside your class.

ReferenceReference

Much of the material in this chapter is from Vacca, R. T. and Vacca, J.L. Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2002.