Transcript Best Practices in Vocabulary Instruction - Content

Best Practices in
Vocabulary Instruction:
Modified Self-Selected
Vocabulary in Action
Wendy Otto Pliska, Hamilton School District
[email protected]
Introducing the kids…
 This activity takes place in my Freshman
Seminar class.
 This is a freshman study skills/reading course
open to at-risk freshmen based on
recommendations from 8th grade teachers
and counselors.
 Students generally struggle with organization,
study skills, and reading, but are usually not
EEN, although some are ELL
 My class size varies from 12-17 per semester
Goals of the Program
 Help students to regain self-awareness when
they don’t understand a word
 Give students choice
 Expose students to unfamiliar words
 Teach students vocabulary acquisition
strategies they can use on their own in other
classes
 Help students think metacognitively about
their own vocabulary learning
Goals of the Program, continued
 Teach students the difference between
memorizing a definition and understanding a
word
 Create vocabulary assessments that go
beyond knowledge and comprehension
questions
 Encourage students to use their new words in
other contexts/classes
 Get students excited about new words!
The first part last: the results
 Every semester, approximately 100 of our new
vocabulary words are included in the final exam
 Results:
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Spring 2009 (16 total students in class)
 Average final exam score = 89% correct
 1 student earned 100%
 3 students earned 99%
 2 students earned 97%
Fall 2008 (14 total students in class)
 Average final exam score = 91% correct
 1 student earned 100%
 1 student earned 99%
 3 students earned 98%
What do we do?
 Weekly schedule
 Thursdays: Each student contributes 3 new words
 Fridays: All words go on board; we discuss, vote, and
discuss our six “winners”
 Mondays: 6 flashcards are due (one for each new
word)
 Tuesdays: 6 word boxes are due (one for each word)
 Wednesdays: Vocab Review Game
 Thursdays: Take Weekly Quiz, bring 3 new words
Thursdays: 3 New Word Sheets
Fridays: Voting on New Words
 Take photo of words on board and import
Mondays: 6 Flashcards due
 Take photos and import
Tuesdays: Word Boxes due
Key Elements of Word Boxes
 Rate Your Knowledge:
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K - I know it; H - I have a hunch what it means;
S - I’ve seen it but I don't know it; and N - I've
never seen it before today.
Helps student reflect upon their own
understanding of the word
Also helps dispel the idea that you either know
a word or you don’t
(Buehl, 2005)
Key Elements of Word Boxes
 Identify Part of Speech – helps to eliminate
misuse of words within sentences
 Common Context and Usage – helps
students identify words that are usually only
used in a certain context (i.e. legitimate is
often used when discussing legal issues)
Key Elements of Word Boxes
 Meaning and Examples
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When discussing words with students, I
actively discourage them from just writing
down the dictionary definition
Instead, talking about how a word is used,
examples, synonyms, characteristics, etc., can
help a student gain a more mature
understanding of the word
(Buehl, 2009, p176)
Key Elements of Word Boxes
 Two-Part Create Your Own Sentence:
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First… Who would use this word?
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Next… How would s/he use this word?
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This helps students think about actual word
usage
Using this prompt first helps avoid bland, vague
sentences (i.e., “Bob is legitimate”)
Students then write a sentence from the point of
view of the speaker they’ve identified
(Buehl, 2009, p177)
Key Elements of Word Boxes
 Identifying the context clues in the student-
generated sentence helps students focus on:
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Creating specific, descriptive sentences
What context clues are
Side Note on Assessment Policy
 Inspired by the work of Ken O’Connor (How to Grade for
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Learning), I have a No-Zeroes, No-Excuses homework policy
If a student does not have his or her vocabulary practice work
done on time, s/he will owe me the time it takes to complete the
work. This can be after class, during lunch, and/or after school.
This guarantees that students complete the formative work
needed to learn words
This policy also trains students to do their work; since they will
be completing it anyway, they are much more likely to get it
done on time
In addition, I only include summative assessments (weekly
vocabulary quizzes) in the grade book… this allows students to
take risks and make mistakes on the practice (formative) work
without being afraid of bad grades
Wednesdays: Vocabulary Review
 Most Popular and
Easiest = Vocab Bingo
 Simply have students
write one vocabulary
word in each square
 You read off definitions,
examples, synonyms,
etc… and if a student
has that word, they
mark it off
 Helps students review
words in a fun way!
Wednesdays: Vocabulary Review
 Another option: Vocab
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Battleship
This is played in a similar way to
the board game Battleship
Students use a manila file folder
as their game board
On the top flap, students “hide”
their words (one per box)
On the bottom flap, students
guess at the location of their
opponent’s words
If a student finds one of her
opponent’s words, she must be
able to correctly give the
definition of the word in order to
gain the point
Teacher or extra student can be
the mediator
Additional Vocabulary Review
Quizlet
 www.quizlet.com is a
great, free website
teachers and students
can use to create
vocabulary review lists
 I create a cumulative
word list (with
definitions) that
students can log in to
and use to review
Thursdays: Weekly Vocabulary Quiz
 Each weekly quiz contains 20
questions:
 8 “Knowledge” questions (fill
in the blank)
 6 “Application” questions
(“Connect Two” sentences)
[Buehl, 2009, p. 70-72]
 6 “Analysis” questions
(simple analogies)
 Students are given a word bank
 Any of the words from our
cumulative list may appear on
the quiz; students do not know
ahead of time which ones will
be on the quiz
FAQ’s
 Q: What if kids only pick the easy words?
 A: Most kids are pretty honest; individual low-
achievers conference with the teacher
 A: Most students rise to the challenge; they
actually enjoy stumping the teacher!
 A: See the Spring 2009 Cumulative Word
List (next slide)
Spring 2009 Cumulative Word List
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Amanuensis
Angst
Attentive
Autopsy
Barb
Barrack
Benign
Besotted
Blunt
Bombardment
Bravado
Caliber
Canvas
Catacombs
Celtic
Chasm
Cleft
Contemplate
Creatine
Culpable
Debonair
Dilapidated
Discrimination
Dreary
Duct
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Dumbfounded
Egregious
Emaciation
Euphoric
Exasperating
Exorbitant
Extemporaneous
Falsetto
Feeble
Flippantly
Flirtatious
Foe
Foreboding
Fracas
Frivolous
Frolic
Gala
Grisly
Haggle
Haughty
Heatedly
Heifer
Herculean
Idiosyncrasy
Holistically
Incredulous
Indecipherable
Inebriated
Insubordinate
Intrigued
Irascible
Jape
Kamikaze
Keen
Kosher
Lieutenant
Loquacious
Luscious
Malarkey
Maul
Murky
Narcissistic
Nil
Notorious
Nymph
Oblivion
Palindrome
Penitentiary
Picturesque
Platoon
Pansy
Paranormal
Promiscuous
Prude
Quizzical
Reap
Redundant
Regimen
Rendezvous
Revulsion
Ribald
Saccharine
Salacious
Savvy
Seductive
Serene
Sexagenarian
Slay
Telekinetic
Thrum
Torrid
Twilight
Unmoor
Unrequited
Vague
Vandal
Yiddish
FAQ’s, cont’d
 Q: How could you adapt this to multiple
sections of a course (so that a teacher
doesn’t have to create multiple new quizzes
every week)?
 A: My suggestion would be to let each class
contribute 2 words to the cumulative list, and
all classes are quizzed on the same list
FAQ’s, cont’d
 Q: Why does this work?
 A: Several reasons:
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Students must complete multiple formative
(practice) activities, so they are learning and
reviewing words several days/week
The word list is cumulative, so students don’t
merely memorize, test, and forget
In class, we focus on talking about a word and
using it in multiple ways, not just writing down
the definition
References
Buehl, D. (2005, June). Learning vocabulary in context. In Reading room. Retrieved
October 8, 2009, from Wisconin Education Association Council website:
http://www.weac.org/news_and_publications/education_news/20042005/read_context.aspx
Buehl, D. (2009). Connect two. In Classroom strategies for interactive learning (3rd
ed., pp. 70-72). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Buehl, D. (2009). Student-friendly vocabulary explanations. In Classroom strategies
for interactive learning (3rd ed., pp. 175-177). Newark, DE: International
Reading Association.
O’Connor, K. (2002). How to grade for learning: Linking grades to standards.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Rosenbaum, C. (2001, September). A word map for middle school: A tool for
effective vocabulary instruction. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(1),
44-49. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database.
Ruddell, M. R., & Shearer, B. A. (2002, February). “Extraordinary,” “tremendous,”
“exhilarating,” “magnificent”: Middle school at-risk students become avid word
learners with the Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (VSS). Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(5), 352-363. Retrieved from EBSCOhost
database.