morphology: start your engines! (ncra 2014)

Morphology: Start your Engines!Kenneth McKee

Buncombe County Schools

Elizabeth SwaggertyEast Carolina University

@kennycmckee@swaggerty

#NCRA14#morphology

https://kahoot.it/#/

Word Tiers

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3

Basic words that require little to no instruction.

Precise or sophisticated words that appear across domains.

Low-frequency words that appear in specific domains.

Book, girl, sad, run, etc.

Adjust, translation, depend, structure, etc.

Allegory, monarchy, hypotenuse, mitosis, etc.

Academic Language: Bricks & MortarBricks = Tier 3 - Technical words specific to a discipline

Mortar= Tier 2 - General but sophisticated words used to communicate complex thoughts (process and conceptual words & phrases, common in complex texts and test language)

Tier 2 Knowledge

Generative Morphology

PrefixesSuffixesRoots

Students generate “known” words to link to “new” words.

Impact of Explicit Generative Vocabulary Instruction on 10th Grade Biology Students’ Tier 2 Vocab Knowledge

PreTest Class Mean Posttest Class Mean0

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12

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General Academic Vocabulary Knowledge

Let’s do this!

genotype

Definition: the genetic makeup of an organism or group of organisms with reference to traits.

Although we cannot visibly see all of our traits physically (phenotype), they can be found within our DNA (genotype).

(gen) o (typ)e

Morpheme Web Activity

“gen” – birth, kind

So, how did we get

here?

Generative Vocabulary Routine

1. Introduce/define a morphologically complex content word.

2. Prompt students to break down words into morphemes.

3. Introduce the target morpheme, and explain how it relates to the meaning of the content word.

4. Have groups of three or four students generate all the words they know that include the morpheme.

Generative Vocabulary Routine

5. Circulate to prompt groups who need help.6. Use a whole-class format to discuss words and

create the class morpheme web.7. While discussing words, emphasize the

spelling-meaning connection. Identify “false” roots by “taking the route back to the root.”

8. Extend students’ word knowledge by introducing new words and their meanings to the web.

Inquiry Activities

M. E. E. P.Morpheme(prefix, root, or suffix)

Examples(from students)

Explanations(whole class or small group)

Picture(individual student association)

Mal- -Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter)-Malificent(Sleeping Beauty)-Malpractice-Malevolent

Bad

Pens-, pend-

Cap-

Dinner Party

Find the “guests” who have place cards similar to yours. Sit down at a table for your “dinner party.” Discuss what you have in common.

Work backward

Word Hunting

Games!

uncw.edu/EdGames

Brainburst

1. Select a root. Set a timer for two minutes. Each team generates as many words as possible derived from that root.

2. When timer goes off, each group draws a line under their last word and counts the total number of words.

3. The group with the longest list reads the list aloud. If any other group has the word, it is crossed off from all lists. Any words that are not on another list are crossed off.

Brainburst

4. Each group in turn reads any words that have not been called to determine if they have a unique word. Disputes can be settled with the help of a dictionary.

5. The team with the most unique words are the winners of the round.

ReferencesBear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2012). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York, NY: Guilford.Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213-238. doi:10.2307/3587951

ReferencesFlanigan, K., Templeton, S., & Hayes, L. (2012). What’s in a word? Using content vocabulary to

generate growth in general academic vocabulary knowledge. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56(2), 132-140. doi:10.1002/JAAL. 00114Kieffer, M. J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2010). Morphing into adolescents: Active word learning for English

language learners and their classmates in middle school. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(1), 47-56. doi:1598/JAAL.54.1.5

References

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers.

(2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors. Retrieved from

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/9-10 Zwiers, J. (2008). Building academic vocabulary: Essential

practices for content classrooms, grades 5-12. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Elizabeth Swaggerty swaggertye@ecu.eduEast Carolina University

Kenneth McKee kennethcmckee@gmail.com Buncombe County Schools