Transcript - bYTEBoss

Best Practices in
Vocabulary Instruction:
Modified Self-Selected
Vocabulary in Action
Wendy Otto Pliska, Hamilton School District
[email protected]
PART ONE: CCSS &
CONTENT AREA
VOCABULARY
Intermediate vs. Secondary
Vocabulary Needs
 “as children reach school age, new words are introduced less
frequently in conversation, and consequently vocabulary acquisition
eventually stagnates by grade 4 or 5 unless students acquire
additional words from written context” (Hayes & Ahrens, 1988).
 at most between 5 and 15 percent of new words encountered upon
first reading are retained, and the weaker a student’s vocabulary is
the smaller the gain (Daneman & Green, 1986; Hayes & Ahrens,
1988; Herman, Anderson, Pearson, & Nagy, 1987; Sternberg &
Powell, 1983).
 [but] research shows that if students are truly to understand what they
read, they must grasp upward of 95 percent of the words (Betts,
1946; Carver, 1994; Hu & Nation, 2000; Laufer, 1988).
What does the research say?
 the difference in
students’ vocabulary
levels is a key factor
in disparities in
academic
achievement
(Baumann &
Kameenui, 1991; Becker, 1977; Stanovich, 1986)
Lexical Dexterity
 For a reader to grasp the meaning of a word, two
things must happen:
1.
2.
the reader’s internal representation of the
word must be sufficiently complete and well
articulated to allow the intended meaning to
be known to him or her;
the reader must understand the context well
enough to select the intended meaning from
the realm of the word’s possible meanings
(which in turn depends on understanding the
surrounding words of the text).
Lexical Dexterity
Research suggests…
 …students need incremental, repeated exposure in a
variety of contexts to the words they are trying to learn.
 When students make multiple connections between a new
word and their own experiences, they develop a nuanced
and flexible understanding of the word they are learning.
 …students learn not only what a word means but also
how to use that word in a variety of contexts, and they can
apply appropriate senses of the word’s meaning in order
to understand the word in different contexts.
(Landauer & Dumais, 1997; Landauer, McNamara, Dennis, & Kintsch, 2007; Nagy, Herman, & Anderson,1985).
Tiers of Vocabulary
Tier One words
 words of everyday speech
 usually learned in the early grades,
 not considered a challenge to the average native
speaker, though English language learners of
any age will have to attend carefully to them.
While Tier One words are important, they are
not the focus of this discussion.
Tiers of Vocabulary
Tier Two words
 the Standards refer to as general academic words
 more likely to appear in written texts than in speech.
 appear in all sorts of texts: informational texts (relative, vary,
formulate, specificity, and accumulate), technical texts (calibrate,
itemize, periphery), and literary texts (misfortune, dignified, faltered,
unabashedly).
 often represent subtle or precise ways to say relatively
simple things—saunter instead of walk, for example.
 These are perfect words for targeted, explicit instruction
Tier Two words are found across many types of texts, they
are highly generalizable.
Tiers of Vocabulary
Tier Three words
 Standards refer to as domain-specific words
 specific to a domain or field of study (lava, carburetor,
legislature, circumference, aorta)
 key to understanding a new concept within a text.
 specific and closely tied to content knowledge.
 Recognized as new and “hard” words for most readers,
they are often explicitly defined by the author of a text,
repeatedly used, and otherwise heavily scaffolded (e.g.,
made a part of a glossary).
Examples of Tier Two &
Three Words
Examples of Tier Two &
Three Words
Instructional Implications

Many kids cap out at Tier 1 or 2 WHY?
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Explicit instruction is necessary to give kids
access to content materials and complex texts
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Key questions for teachers are…
How do we measure the difficulty of a word?
Is it necessary for a student to know that word?
Practice
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Activity: Using one of our
sample texts, choose a section
and identify the Tier 2 & Tier 3
words
Focus:
 Knowing the
word
 Knowing how,
why, & when to
use the word
Helping Students Recognize &
Analyze the Impact of Word
Choice
Which is most accurate?
Columbus discovered America
 Columbus invaded America
 Columbus pillaged America

The Dilemma of a Carnivore”
 Shrinks call this "cognitive dissonance." You munch a
strip of bacon, then pet your dog. You wince at the sight
of a crippled horse but continue chewing your burger.
Three weeks ago, I took my kids to a sheep and wool
festival. They petted lambs; I nibbled a lamb sausage.
That's the thing about humans: We're half-evolved beasts.
We love animals, but we love meat, too. We don't want to
have to choose. And maybe we don't have to. Maybe,
thanks to biotechnology, we can now grow meat instead
of butchering it.”
William Saletan, Washington Post, 5/28/06
The Dilemma of a Carnivore”
 Shrinks call this "cognitive dissonance." You munch a
strip of bacon, then pet your dog. You wince at the sight
of a crippled horse but continue chewing your burger.
Three weeks ago, I took my kids to a sheep and wool
festival. They petted lambs; I nibbled a lamb sausage.
That's the thing about humans: We're half-evolved beasts.
We love animals, but we love meat, too. We don't want to
have to choose. And maybe we don't have to. Maybe,
thanks to biotechnology, we can now grow meat instead
of butchering it.”
William Saletan, Washington Post, 5/28/06
Connotation Spectrum
Gaunt
Lanky
Thin
Slim
slender
Skinny
Negative
Positive
Vocabulary in the Classroom…
 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
Mondays: 6 Flashcards due
 Word on the front
 Definition on the back
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.