academic vocabulary - northeast georgia resa · common core state standards: academic vocabulary...
TRANSCRIPT
Academic Vocabulary
Content Literacy Collaborative March 21, 2013
Northeast Georgia RESA
Oconee River GYSTC
Guiding Questions
▪ What is academic vocabulary?
▪ Why is academic vocabulary important?
▪ How do we determine the academic vocabulary words we should teach?
▪ What are the strategies we need to effectively improve the academic vocabulary of our students?
Sharing the Pain
I was surprised when my students did not know the word ___________ .
• Complete the sentence at your table until you run out of words.
• Place each word on a separate post-it note. • Hold all post-it notes.
Tiered Vocabulary
Tier 1
words of everyday speech
brother bed
sky run
jump
Tier 2
general academic words
compromise
scrutinize
diligent
Tier 3
domain-specific words
apogee
peninsula
medieval
Common Core State Standards: Academic Vocabulary
… is not unique to a particular discipline and as a result are not the clear responsibility of a
particular content area teacher. What is more, many Tier Two words are far less well
defined by contextual clues in the texts in which they appear and are far less likely to be
defined explicitly within a text than are Tier Three words. Yet Tier Two words are
frequently encountered in complex written texts and are particularly powerful because
of their wide applicability to many sorts of reading. Teachers thus need to be alert to the
presence of Tier Two words and determine which ones need careful attention.
Common Core State Standards (English Language Arts, Appendix A)
Why are “academic words” important?
▪ Critical for understanding academic texts
▪ Appear across contents
▪ Require deliberate effort to learn, unlike Tier 1 words
▪ More likely to appear in written texts than in speech
▪ Often represent subtle or precise ways to say otherwise relatively simple things
▪ Seldom heavily scaffolded by authors or teachers, unlike Tier 3 words.
Common Core State Standards (English Language Arts, Appendix A)
Sharing the Pain
Let’s sort the words we came up with by the three tiers…
Choosing Words
Jose avoided playing the ukulele.
Which word would you choose to pre-teach?
Avoided: Tier 2
Why?
▪ Verbs are where the action is ▪ Teach avoid, avoided, avoids ▪ Likely to see it again in grade-level text ▪ Likely to see it on assessments
Why not ukulele? ▪ Rarely seen in print ▪ Rarely used in stories or conversation or content-
area information
Selecting Tier 2 Words
▪ Excerpt provided from CCSS Appendix B
▪ Read and underline Tier 2 words
▪ Compare to members of your group
▪ Come to consensus
One Minute Talks: Tier 2 and Tier 3 Vocabulary Instruction
▪ Select a partner. Decide who will share first.
▪ Share your current strategies for teaching vocabulary – distinguish between Tier 2 and Tier 3 strategies.
▪ Switch speakers after 1 minute.
▪ Should you have similar or exact strategies, please share anyway and try to think of new information to add.
The K-5 general academic vocabulary ship has sailed…
▪ Think enrichment – not remediation
▪ Select grade- and content-level appropriate strategies for Tier 3 words OR provide students with choices to allow them to track the success of these in their learning
▪ Strive for application – not memorization
▪ Build a school or school district program
Resources
Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown,
& Linda Kucan
Robert Marzano & Debra Pickering
Janet Allen
Beck, McKeown, Kucan
▪K-12 implications
▪Examples of a variety of strategies and assessments
▪Grades 6-12: Advocate frequent, rich, extended instruction – nuances of word choice vs. the synonym approach
Marzano & Pickering
▪Research-based vocabulary instruction
▪6-Step Process
Research-Based Vocabulary Instruction
1. Effective vocabulary instruction does not rely on definitions. 2. Students must represent their knowledge of words in linguistic and nonlinguistic ways. 3. Effective vocabulary instruction involves the gradual shaping of word meanings
through multiple exposures. 4. Teaching word parts enhances students’ understanding of terms. 5. Different types of words require different types of instruction. 6. Students should discuss the terms they are learning. 7. Students should play with words. 8. Instruction should focus on terms that have a high probability of enhancing academic
success. (Building Academic Vocabulary by Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering, 2005)
Marzano’s 6-Step Process
Step 1: Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term.
Step 2: Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words.
Step 3: Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representing the term or phrase.
Step 4: Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in their notebooks.
Step 5: Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another.
Step 6: Involve students periodically in games that allow them to play with terms.
(Building Academic Vocabulary by Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering, 2005)
Choosing Words: Marzano’s Lists
▪ 7,923 terms from 11 subject areas
▪ Extracted from national standards documents
▪ Four grade-level intervals: Level 1 (K-2), Level 2 (3-5), Level 3 (6-8), Level 4 (9-12)
▪ Tier 3
Janet Allen
▪4-12 focus
▪Built upon the work of Beck and Marzano
▪Practical strategies – what they are, how to use them, when and why
I Spy: A Word Scavenger Hunt
▪What: opportunity to apply word knowledge to real world context
▪How: teacher selects words/concepts and provides chart for organizing the results
▪Why: more in-depth understanding of content vocabulary; transfer of knowledge
Practical Application: Suggestions
▪ Collaborate with colleagues to identify unfamiliar academic words and plan deliberate strategies to support students in expanding their personal vocabularies.
▪ Use a variety of literacy strategies and note the results. Adjust your instruction appropriately.
▪ Collaborate with RESA content specialists and other teachers in your content area - within and outside of your school setting to share best practices, resources, and results.
