Transcript Adolescent Literacy: Strategies for Successful Learning

Visualizing Vocabulary:
Moving Beyond Lists and
Definitions
Victoria A. Oglan Ph.D.
Let’s Predict
How many words are
there in the English
language?
How many words do you
think you know?
What is the longest word
in the English
language??
What word in the English
language has the most
meanings?
Set has 464 definitions in
the Oxford English
Dictionary
Run runs a distant second
with 396
Rounding out the top 10 are:
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go with 368
take with 343
stand with 334
get with 289
turn with 288
put with 268
fall with 264
strike with 250
How many metaphors do
you use in regular
conversation
(free discourse)?
It is now well accepted that the
chief cause of the achievement
gap between socioeconomic
groups is a language gap.
~ Ed Hirsch 2003
 Struggling
readers lack work
knowledge
 Struggling readers do not use
visualization as a strategy
Research also tells us:
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Knowledge of word meaning is critical to
success in reading
Students learn words through wide reading
Knowing a word means more than knowing
a definition for the word
Discussion leads to vocabulary learning
Students learn words through strategy
instruction
What Doesn’t Work?
 Copying
definitions
 Writing sentences
 Telling students to “use context”
 Memorizing lists of definitions
Four Principles to Guide Vocabulary
Instruction
 Students
should be active learners in
vocabulary and strategies to enhance
vocabulary
 Students benefit from personalizing
the learning of words
Four Principles to Guide Vocabulary
Instruction
 Students
gain from immersion in
words
 Students augment their vocabulary
through repeated exposure to words
Comprehensive vocabulary instruction that
includes strategy instruction where students
are provided opportunities to play with words
and language is a necessary part of a plan
for academic success.
Some Strategies to Think About…
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Word sorts
Sticky note sentences
Cloze tasks
Word walls
Picture walk (to introduce new words)
Rebus
Word webs
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List, group label
Ten important words
Kid-Friendly definitions
Word wonder
ARTiculate the word
Word curiosity
Search the web
 www.cnn.com/studentnews
 www.nytimes.com/pages/education
 www.smithsonian.com
 www.teachingtolerance.org
Become a wordsmith, a lexophile
Make your classroom a place
where students learn to
become language collectors.
One forgets words as one
forgets names. One's
vocabulary needs constant
fertilizing or it will die
~Evelyn Waugh