literacy in content area classes

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Literacy in Content Area Classes Presented by Melanie Kahler, Literacy Consultant, Ingham Intermediate School District October 28, 2014.

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Literacy in Content Area Classes. Presented by Melanie Kahler, Literacy Consultant, Ingham Intermediate School District October 28, 2014. Introduction. My daughter Anna. Steve and I love Mackinac Island. Justine and Nate are expecting a son in November . We have 3 dogs and 4 cats!. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Literacy in Content Area Classes

Presented by Melanie Kahler, Literacy Consultant, Ingham Intermediate School District

October 28, 2014.

Introduction

Justine and Nate are expecting a son in November

My daughter Anna

We have 3 dogs and 4

cats!

Steve and I love Mackinac Island

I like to photograph flowers

Agenda

Welcome, Learning Targets and Group Expectations

Setting the Stage Motivation and Engagement Vocabulary and Content instruction Wrap Up Setting the Stage for Day 2

Learning Targets

At the end of today you will be able to: Understand the unique needs in literacy instruction

for adolescents and what that means for your classroom

Know how to use incorporate direct instruction techniques to increase literacy skills

Know the literacy content indicators recommended by the Center on Instruction

Focus on increasing motivation and engagement for adolescents, including struggling readers

Focus on increasing vocabulary and content knowledge for adolescents, including struggling readers

Use embedded strategies so that struggling readers can be more successful in content area classes

To make this day the best possible, we need your assistance and participation

• Be Responsible – Attend to the “Come back together” signal – Active participation…Please ask questions

• Be Respectful – Please allow others to listen

• Please turn off cell phones • Please limit sidebar conversations

– Share “air time”– Please refrain from email and Internet browsing

• Be Safe– Take care of your own needs

Group Expectations

The Beginning--

Find a partner and decide who will be Partner #1 and who will be Partner #2

Find another pair to form a small group of four

Plate Activity

Get out Note Page from packet

Adolescent Literacy is Different!

For adolescents, literacy is more than reading and writing. It involves purposeful social and cognitive processes. It helps individuals discover ideas and make meaning. It enables functions such as analysis, synthesis, organization, and evaluation. It fosters the expression of ideas and opinions and extends to understanding how texts are created and how meanings are conveyed by various media, brought together in productive ways.

A Policy Research Brief, Produced by The National Council of Teachers of English; April, 2006

And…

Adolescent literacy is necessarily interdisciplinary because middle and high school students must read and write in such fields as science, mathematics, and social sciences as well as English. This means that they need to learn the forms, purposes, and other textual demands specific to multiple disciplines (Kucer, 2005).

A Policy Research Brief, Produced by The National Council of Teachers of English; April, 2006

Focus should be on the skills that students are expected to master, rather than on what information students should know

An example might be that high school ELA classes in 9th grade read English Lit, 10th grade reads World Lit and 11th grade reads American Lit.

A mind shift would be “What do my students need to know, understand and be able to do in order to show mastery of the standards?”

Texts are selected and utilized as materials appropriate for teaching the standards.

Craig & Sarlo, 2012

So…let’s learn what that looks like in a content area classroom!

Why Introduce Good Literacy Practices Using the Adolescent Literacy Walk-Through for Principals (ALWP)

It has a specific focus on effective, research-based academic literacy instruction that should be observed in reading and/or intervention classrooms. This includes content-area classrooms with a disciplinary focus on science, social studies, math or literature.

Content-area teachers have the best knowledge of the reading, writing, listening, discussion, and deep thinking skills that are required to understand texts in their content area.

“While it is clear that content-area teachers cannot be expected to teach struggling readers basic reading skills, they can help students develop the knowledge, reading strategies, and thinking skills to understand and learn from increasingly complex text in their content areas.”

Adolescent Literacy Walk-Through for Principals; Center on

Instruction, 2009

Adolescent Literacy Walk-Through for Principals (ALWP)

Center on Instruction; 2009

Looking at your classroom—Vocabulary and Content Instruction Indicators

Yes No

Provides the students with explicit instruction, including:

---clear goals and directions

---modeling

---guided practice

---independent practice

Builds student background knowledge

Teaches domain specific vocabulary

Teaches all purpose academic words

Teaches multisyllabic word reading strategies

Teaches content concepts

Teaches content facts

Follow-Up Points for Vocabulary and Content Instruction

The probability that students will learn new words while reading is relatively low—about 15 percent.

Explicit vocabulary instruction can be divided into two major approaches Direct instruction in word meaning

Instruction in strategies to promote independent vocabulary acquisition skills

Students also learn vocabulary through rich discussion of text

Kamil, Borman, Dole, Krale, Salinger & Torgeson; Improving adolescent literacy: Efffective classroom and intervention practices; A Practice Guide, 2008

Comprehension Strategy Instruction Indicators Yes No

Provides the students with explicit instruction, including:

---clear goals and directions

---modeling

---guided practice

---independent practice

Teaches Comprehension monitoring

Explicitly teaches or models the use of:

---graphic organizers

---semantic organizers

---summarization/paraphrasing

---question asking

---question generating

---knowledge of text structure

---knowledge of text features

---making inferences

Follow-Up Points for Comprehension Strategy Instruction

The active participation of students in the comprehension process makes the most difference on students’ comprehension

It appears that multiple-strategy training results in better comprehension than single-strategy training

Direct and explicit instruction is a powerful delivery system for teaching comprehension strategies

Kamil, Borman, Dole, Krale, Salinger & Torgeson; Improving adolescent literacy: Efffective classroom and intervention practices; A Practice Guide, 2008

Discussion of Reading Content Indicators Yes No

Provides the students with explicit instruction, including:

---clear goals and directions

---modeling

---guided practice

---independent practice

Provides opportunities for discussion-oriented instruction of text subject matter including assisting and encouraging students in:

---taking a position

---using others’ questions and comments to build discussion

---expressing opinions

---making connections across time and subjects

---questioning the author

Follow-Up Points for Discussion of Reading Content Indicators

The theory of using discussion-based approaches to improve reading comprehension is based on the idea that students can, and will, internalize processes experienced repeatedly during discussions

Students mentioned explicitly that practicing making predictions, clarifying confusions and paraphrasing in small groups was a useful way to stimulate high-quality discussion of texts

Classrooms that were more discussion-oriented produced higher literacy growth than those where sustained discussions were less frequent

Kamil, Borman, Dole, Krale, Salinger & Torgeson; Improving adolescent literacy: Efffective classroom and intervention practices; A Practice Guide, 2008

Motivation and Engagement Indicators Yes No

Provides the students with explicit instruction, including:

---clear goals and directions

---modeling

---guided practice

---independent practice

Focusing students on important and interesting learning goals

Provides a range of activity choices

Provides interesting texts at multiple reading levels

Provides opportunities for student collaboration in discussion and assignments

Maintains a positive, rewarding classroom atmosphere

Follow-Up Points for Discussion of Motivation and Engagement Indicators

It is possible to be motivated to complete a task without being engaged because the task is either too easy or too difficult

Students respond better to teachers that strive to increase the amount of information that students remember and understand, rather than teachers that emphasize good grades

Studies have consistently shown that students that have learning goals are more motivated and engaged than students that have performance goalsKamil, Borman, Dole, Krale, Salinger & Torgeson;

Improving adolescent literacy: Efffective classroom and intervention practices; A Practice Guide, 2008

Expectancy x Value: Theory of Motivation

Expectancy Rate 10 x Value Rate 10 = 100% Motivation

Expectancy Rate 10 x Value Rate 0 = 0% Motivation

Expectancy Rate 0 x Value Rate 10 = 0% Motivation

CHAMPS: A Proactive & Positive Approach to Classroom Management; Sprick, 2009

Expectancy Value Motivation

10 X 10 = 100%

10 X 0 = 0%

0 X 10 = 0%

Where does the student fall on this table?

Learning Goal vs. Performance Goal

Learning Goal-A statement of what students will know and be able to do.

Marzano; 2009

Performance Goal-(1) a goal focused on gaining favorable judgments or avoiding

unfavorable judgments by others; 

(2) a goal that specifies the achievement of an end product of performance that is relatively independent of the performance of other people, such as running a race in  certain time rather than beating others. 

The FREE Dictionary, by Farlex

Partner Work using Precision Partnering

Designated roles-both partners responding Listener has clear job/role Partners actively build on peers ideas

(elaborating, agree/disagree & why, etc.) Academic Language structured (sentence

frames/vocabulary words) Thinking is structured (time to think, clear

cognitive focus, modeling)

K. Feldman, 2014

Practicing Precision PartneringGet out handout for Frayer Model, a good way to increase vocabulary skills

1. Think about your assigned goal for two minutes, putting the definition in your own words and coming up with an example and nonexample

2. Write in on your paper

3. Partner 1-tell your partner the definition using the words, “My definition for a ______ is…” and “An example of a _____ would be…” A nonexample of a ______ would be…”

4. Partner 2-tell your partner if you understood the definition and if the example was clear. Explain why or why not, using the words, “I did/did not understand the definition of ______ because…” and The example for _____ was clear/not clear to me because…”

5. Partner 1, make any changes on the Frayer Model to refine your use of this vocabulary word

6. Reverse roles, discussing the other goal and using the Frayer Model again

Yes No

Provides the students with explicit instruction, including:

---clear goals and directions

---modeling

---guided practice

---independent practice

Notice, these four things are what all of the areas of Literacy in Content Areas have in common!

Why?Look at John Hattie Effect Sizes in Visible Learning for Teachers

Feedback 0.75

Direct Instruction 0.59

The Need for Explicitness, even at High School

The connections between literacy instruction and content area learning must be explicit especially for struggling readers.

Provide explicit reading and writing instruction with multiple opportunities for practice within authentic and relevant reading and tasks.

Improving Adolescent Literacy; Craig & Sarlo, 2012

Explicit Instruction=Modeling

Modeling

There are eight essential components of this instructional technique:

1. Concept/skill is broken down into critical features/elements.

2. Teacher clearly describes concept/skill.

3. Teacher clearly models concept/skill.

4. Multi-sensory instruction (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic)

5. Teacher thinks aloud as she/he models.

6. Teacher models examples and non-examples.

7. Cueing

8. High levels of teacher-student interaction

First Steps- Student-Teacher Interactions/Motivation and Engagement Indicators Why?

Look at John Hattie Effect Sizes in Visible Learning for Teachers

Teacher-student relationships 0.72

Teacher credibility in the eyes of the students

0.92

Student expectations for their own learning 1.44

The Care and Support of Teenagers

“We can help middle and high school students deal with the pressures of adolescence by giving them strong bonds with teachers, a sense of community, and consistent routines.”

“The Care and Support of Teenagers” by Colleen Swain

Educational Leadership, Online June 2011, Volume 68

Suggested Building Blocks Learn students’ names during the first

week of school (if you can’t master that show them that you are trying)

Welcome students as they enter your classroom

Help students think about long-term goals

Have students make a career list and list their role models for their chosen careers. Integrate this into classwork.

Celebrate the culture of each student (in addition of ethnicity you could talk about music, art, literature preferences)

Build a sense of classroom community an example could be setting norms for learning

with the class (See handout from Reading for Understanding)

Help students get to know one another Walkabout Bingo

Set common goals Establish and teach procedures and

routines How to enter and leave the classroom

How to submit and retrieve papers

How to ask and answer questions

“The Care and Support of Teenagers” by Colleen Swain, Educational Leadership, Online June 2011, Volume 68

Using Walkabout Bingo

Back to Our Checklist

Motivation and Engagement Indicators

Focusing students on important and interesting learning goals

Learning goals convey to students the destination for the lesson—what to learn, how deeply to learn it, and exactly how to demonstrate their new learning. In our estimation (Moss & Brookhart, 2009) and that of others (Seidle, Rimmele, & Prenzel, 2005; Stiggins, Arter, Chappuis, & Chappuis, 2009), the intention for the lesson is one of the most important things students should learn. 

Regardless of how important the content, how engaging the activity, how formative the assessment, or how differentiated the instruction, unless all students see, recognize, and understand the learning target from the very beginning of the lesson, one factor will remain constant: The teacher will always be the only one providing the direction, focusing on getting students to meet the instructional objectives. The students, on the other hand, will focus on doing what the teacher says, rather than on learning.

 “Knowing Your Learning Target”

by Moss, Brookhart & Long Educational Leadership, 68(6), 66-69

Non-Example of Directions with Embedded Learning Goals

Today, as you read the next chapter, carefully complete your study guide. Pay close attention to the questions about Bertha— Mr. Rochester's first wife. Questions 16 through 35 deal with lunacy and the five categories of mental illness. The next 15 questions focus on facts about Charlotte Brontë's own isolated childhood. The last 10 items ask you to define terms in the novel that we seldom use today—your dictionaries will help you define those words. All questions on Friday's test will come directly from the study guide.

“Knowing Your Learning Target” by Moss, Brookhart & Long Educational Leadership, 68(6), 66-69

Example of Directions with Embedded Learning Goals

Today we will learn more about how Brontë uses her characters to explore the theme of being unwanted. Remember, a theme is an underlying meaning of the story. Yesterday, we examined Jane Eyre's life experiences as they relate to the theme of being unwanted. Today we will do the same for Adele, Mr. Rochester's ward. As you read, find examples of Adele being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, or forgotten. Then, in your learning groups, discuss your examples and your reasons for choosing them. At the end of class, use your notes to draft a short paragraph that answers the question, How does the character of Adele deepen Brontë's theme of being unwanted in the novel Jane Eyre?

“Knowing Your Learning Target” by Moss,

Brookhart & Long Educational Leadership, 68(6), 66-69

Thinking About Learning Targets with the Students in Mind

Provides a range of activity choices

Some ways to provide choice to middle and high school students—

Books

Magazines

Photographs

Internet resources

Newspaper articles

Leveled texts

Topics

Order of activities

Outcomes/assignments (blog, multimedia projects, articles, etc.)

Type of assessment

Provides interesting texts at multiple reading levels

The following text attributes contribute to a student’s experience of text difficulty or accessibility. Thoughts to ponder:

Language-think about the density of unfamiliar, abstract, multisyllabic and technical words

Sentence length and complexity-long sentences are measured as harder to read than short sentences, but complex sentence structure also affects difficulty

Conceptual difficulty-the difficulty of a text depends on how abstract its ideas are and the amount of background knowledge that is required

Idea density-textbooks often pack in and relate ideas for maximum coverage, contributing to the reading difficulty of the text

Relevance-how relevant and interesting the topic, the easier it is for students to read and understand

Adapted from Reading for Understanding; Schoenbach, Greenleaf & Murphy, 2012

Practice with Multiple Reading Levels1. Read each of the selections quickly

2. Choose the easiest and most difficult paragraphs with your group

3. Discuss each of the text attributes in relation to the chosen paragraphs

Meeting the needs of students at varied reading levels should include:

Vertical Text Sets--A vertical text set presents information about the same topic in a variety of reading level ranges.

 An example of a Vertical Text Set is an article on a specific topic from the World Book Encyclopedia  used in conjunction with an article on that same topic from the Encyclopedia Britannica's Macropaedia.  Both articles are on the same topic, but the World Book article will have less detail and be easier to read and understand than the article in the Britannica.

Here are the steps for using Vertical Text Sets:

1. Collect a set of materials (4 to 6 texts in sets) on a single topic from your text. Choose examples at different levels of difficulty and complexity.

2. Give the students time in class as a group to read and discuss the texts. Ask the students to read and discuss the following questions:

a. In comparing the texts in the set, what makes the text difficult to understand and why?

b. What are the specific text features that help or hinder their comprehension and engagement?

3. Ask the students to document this on a poster. Then, ask the students to choose the text that they feel most at ease in reading and which one would be a stretch for them to comprehend.

4. Debrief as a whole class, working from group to group talking about their text discoveries.

Horizontal or Thematic Text Sets--

A horizontal or thematic text set introduces different perspectives, supplementary content and/or different genres. This results in text that is more accessible than a core text, and builds schema that makes the core text more accessible and meaningful. Horizontal text sets can be used to build interest, background knowledge and vocabulary.

Adapted from Reading for Understanding; Schoenbach, Greenleaf & Murphy, 2012

Practice with Text Sets1. Each group member should read their

assigned text

2. Write down the information you learned about evolution

3. When prompted, discuss what you learned with the other members of your group

4. Write at least three facts on the poster paper and put it on the wall

Provides opportunities for student collaboration in discussion and assignments

Using Partner Talk to Strengthen Collaboration and Understanding

Harkness Seminar on The Odyssey

Collaboration Rubric for PBL

Practice Divide into groups of 3

Each group member read a different item

Read your item, take notes, mark on paper, etc.

Teach it to other group members and share an example of when you might use it in your classroom

Maintains a positive, rewarding classroom atmosphere

Here are some tips for starters:

Agree on classroom rules at the beginning of the year

Three to five rules is ideal

State them positively

Check in with the students at the start of class

Greet them every day

Be clear about the purpose and learning expectations for the day

Be consistent about expectations

Consistency should be maintained for activity, time of day, among and between students

Reinforce appropriate behaviors

Think four positives for every negative

Maintain student dignity Corrections should be unobtrusive

Maintain your own dignity when angry

Be neutral, not accusatory Ask what happened, not “why did you do that”

Avoid jumping to conclusions

Look for cause Be aware of students that act out, or refuse to

participate because they are struggling with the academic task

Get CHAMPS training

Time to Move into Academic Literacy Skills

“Carefully scaffolded instruction in textbook comprehension can assist students to be independent college and career-ready readers.”

(Best Practices

in Adolescent Literacy Instruction; Hinchman & Sheridan-Thomas, 2014)

This includes all students, whether they are good readers or struggling readers.

VideoDoug Fisher talks about Gradual Release of Responsibility, or

Explicit Instruction, or

I Do It, We Do It, Y’All Do It, You Do It, or…

A view of good instruction from the Reading Apprenticeship lens—

ModelingGuided PracticeIndependent PracticeMastery of Skills

Stating the purpose of the lesson is not on the continuum but occurs before the instruction begins

We will stress generalization of this teaching technique to all of the tasks that we talk about today, and when we meet again in January.

Thinking Out Loud

Thinking Out Loud as an Instructional TechniqueThe Think Aloud strategy allows the teacher to model how a good reader thinks about text while reading.  The process is fairly simple.  The teacher reads aloud from an appropriate book, and stops periodically to:

1. make predictions

2. clarify meaning

3. decode words

4. make personal connections,

5. question the author

6. summarize what has been read. 

This explicit modeling of the reading strategies will benefit all students as they strive for deeper understanding of what they read.

Explicit, Modeled and Guided Strategy Instruction

Students receive explicit instruction on how and when to utilize a particular reading strategy

Teacher models the use of the reading strategy to understand text and/or answer a reading comprehension question

Students use the strategy in guided practice with teacher or peer support and feedback

Teacher assigns independent practice that is closely monitored

Students who are unable to effectively apply the strategy independently should be provided more explicit, modeled, or guided practice

Back to Our Checklist

Vocabulary and Content Instruction Indicators

Builds student background knowledge

K-W-L LINK Give One, Get One Anticipation Guides

K-W-L

This K-W-L Chart, which tracks what a student knows (K), wants to know (W), and has learned (L) about a topic, can be used before, during, and after research projects.

Using K-W-L While Reading Content Area Text1. Show students the text and encourage them to

think about what content might be included.

2. Ask students to think about what they might already know about the topic.

3. Have them brainstorm information about the text that they want to know, encouraging them to keep these questions in mind as they read the text. These can be recorded on the chart as a class or individually.

4. As students read the text, instruct them to revisit their questions in the “What I Want to Know” column every few days and answer them in the “What I Learned” column.

This website will take you to a fillable K-W-L form.

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/printouts/KWL%20Chart.pdf

Using K-W-L for Research Projects1. Ask students to first think about what they know about

the selected topic (for example, the poison dart frog) and write it in the first column.

2. Students should then direct their thinking toward the research questions they have about the poison dart frog. These questions are recorded in the second column.

3. Then, as students conduct research, they should add information gathered to the column, showing what was learned. 

4. For older students, you may want make a K-W-L-S chart, with the fourth column focusing on what students may “still” want to learn even after completing research.

readwritethink, International Reading Association; 2013

LINK (List, Inquire, Note, Know)Purpose:Through brainstorming and inquiry students activate background knowledge about a topic. Through reading and discussion they will build and revise their ‘schema’.

The procedure is available in Reading For Understanding; 2012, pg. 244 and is adapted from Joseph Vaughn and Thomas Estes, in Strategic Teaching and Learning, California Department of Education, 2000.

List Give students three minutes to individually

list ideas, words, and phrases they associate with a new topic.

Without commenting, compile a class list of ideas.

Inquire Invite students to inquire into each other’s

ideas on the list. Encourage the person who nominated an idea to respond to questions about it.

Compile a class list of students questions to drive the reading and learning.

Note Ask students to read one or more texts about the topic

and make notes that shed light on the topic—what they think they know and what they wonder.

It is helpful at this point to look over students’ notes, both for accountability and to informally assess students’ understanding (and misunderstandings) of the topic

Know Ask students to reflect on how their thinking has

changed and why—what they now think they know and questions they still have about the topic.

As a class, revisit the original list of phrases and questions and identify prior misinformation or misunderstandings and how students’ schema have changed as a result of reading and processing the text. Note lingering confusions and new questions or wonderings promped by the reading.

Practicing LINK

Invertebrates

Give One-Get One

Before starting to study a subject that students are likely to know something about, having them think about they knowledge they already have and share it with classmates increases the knowledge in the room.

Reading for Understanding; 2012. pg. 246 http://freeology.com/wp-content/

files/giveonegetone.pdf

Procedure for Give One-Get One

Introduce a new topic. Have students fold a piece of paper

lengthwise to form two columns and write “Give One” at the top of the left column and “Get One” at the top of the right column. Or, use a specific Give One-Get One form.

As students to individually brainstorm a list in the left column of all the things they already know about they the topic.

Have them talk to two or three other students about what is on their lists, adding any new ideas they think are correct to their “Get One” column.

Once everyone has given and gotten information, have the whole class discuss the information students have listed.

Again, have students add any new information they get from this discussion in the right-hand column of their lists.

If any information is in doubt, alert students to try to clarify it as they read and learn more.

Practicing Give One-Get OneThe Holocaust

Anticipation Guide

An Anticipation Guide is appropriate for activating prior knowledge about a topic, as well as building curiosity about the topic. It allows the teacher to check for misconceptions before designing instruction, as well as getting a good idea of instruction was successful.

http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/anticipation-guide

Anticipation Guide Video

Teaches domain specific vocabulary

Two important concepts regarding teaching vocabulary--

1. Tier One, Tier Two and Tier Three words

2. Direct vocabulary instruction is key

Tier One, Tier Two and Tier Three Words

Tier OneMost basic words

Rarely require instruction in school

Examples: clock, baby, happy

Tier TwoWords that are of high frequency for mature language users and are found across a variety of domains

Examples: coincidence, absurd, industrious

Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life. New York, NY

Tier Three Words whose frequency of use is quite

low and is often limited to specific domains

Best learned when needed in a content area

Examples: isotope, lathe, peninsula

Tier Two words are recommended for the most extensive vocabulary instruction. Tier Three words should be taught as quickly and easily as possible. They are content specific words and not words that need to be taught in a way that requires generalization.

Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life. New York, NY

How Do You Select the Words for Explicit Instruction?• Is the word interesting? Useful? Will it be useful in to know the word for other texts?

• Can you define the word using vocabulary the students will understand?

• How does the word relate to other words that students are learning?

• Will the word help with the major understanding of the selection?

Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life. New York, NY

Use Form to Activate and Assess Prior Knowledge

Teaching Vocabulary in the Classroom

1. The teacher explains a new word, going beyond reciting its definition (tap into prior knowledge of students, use imagery)

2. Students restate or explain the new word in their own words (verbally and/or in writing)

3. Ask students to create a non-linguistic representation of the word (a picture, or symbolic representation)

4. Students engage in activities to deepen their knowledge of the new word (compare words, classify terms, write their own analogies and metaphors)

5. Students discuss the new word with partners

6. Student periodically play games to review new vocabulary (Pyramid, Jeopardy, Telephone)

Based on the work of Robert Marzano

Graphic Organizers for Vocabulary Instruction

Teaches all purpose academic words

We will talk about the Academic Word List

The Academic Word List

What is the Academic Word List?

The AWL is a list of words which appear with high frequency in English-language academic texts. The list was compiled by Averil Coxhead at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. 

The list contains 570 word families and is divided into 10 sublists. Sublist 1 consists of the 60 most common words in the AWL. Sublist 2 contains the next most frequently used words and so on. Each sublist contains 60 word families, except for sublist 10, which contains 30.

To find these words, an analysis was done of academic journals, textbooks, course workbooks, lab manuals, and course notes. The list was compiled following an analysis of over 3,500,000 words of text.

The words selected for the AWL are words which occur frequently in a range of academic subjects, including the Arts (including history, psychology, sociology, etc.), Commerce (including economics, marketing, management, etc.), Law and the Sciences (including biology, computer science, mathematics, etc.). The AWL does not, however, include technical words which are specific to a given field. Nor does it contain words which are of general use and very high frequency.

http://www.englishvocabularyexercises.com/AWL/index.htm#what

Sublist 1

analyze • approach • area • assess • assume • authority • available • benefit • concept • consist • constitute • context • contract • create • data • define • derive • distribute • economy • environment • establish • estimate • evident • export • factor • finance • formula • function • identify • income • indicate • individual • interpret • involve • issue • labor • legal • legislate • major • method • occur • percent • period • policy • principle • proceed • process • require • research • respond • role • section • sector • significant • similar • source • specific • structure • theory • vary

Sublist 2

achieve • acquire • administrate • affect • appropriate • aspect • assist • category • chapter • commission • community • complex • compute • conclude • conduct • consequent • construct • consume • credit • culture • design • distinct • element • equate • evaluate • feature • final • focus • impact • injure • institute • invest • item • journal • maintain • normal • obtain • participate • perceive • positive • potential • previous • primary • purchase • range • region • regulate • relevant • reside • resource • restrict • secure • seek • select • site • strategy • survey • text • tradition • transfer

Sublist 3

alternative • circumstance • comment • compensate • component • consent • considerable • constant • constrain • contribute • convene • coordinate • core • corporate • correspond • criteria • deduce • demonstrate • document • dominate • emphasis • ensure • exclude • framework • fund • illustrate • immigrate • imply • initial • instance • interact • justify • layer • link • locate • maximize • minor • negate • outcome • partner • philosophy • physical • proportion • publish • react • register • rely • remove • scheme • sequence • sex • shift • specify • sufficient • task •technique•technology • valid • volume

Sublist 4access • adequate • annual • apparent • approximate • attitude • attribute • civil • code • commit • communicate • concentrate • confer • contrast • cycle • debate • despite • dimension • domestic • emerge • error • ethnic • goal • grant • hence • hypothesis • implement • implicate • impose • integrate • internal • investigate • job • label • mechanism • obvious • occupy • option • output • overall • parallel • parameter • phase • predict • principal • prior • professional • project • promote • regime • resolve • retain • series • statistic • status • stress • subsequent • sum • summary • undertake

Sublist 5

academy • adjust • alter • amend • aware • capacity • challenge • clause • compound • conflict • consult • contact • decline • discrete • draft • enable • energy • enforce • entity • equivalent • evolve • expand • expose • external • facilitate • fundamental • generate • generation • image • liberal • license • logic • margin • medical • mental • modify • monitor • network • notion • objective • orient • perspective • precise • prime • psychology • pursue • ratio • reject • revenue • stable • style • substitute • sustain • symbol • target • transit • trend • version • welfare • whereas

Sublist 6

abstract • accurate • acknowledge • aggregate • allocate • assign • attach • author • bond • brief • capable • cite • cooperate • discriminate • display • diverse • domain • edit • enhance • estate • exceed • expert • explicit • federal • fee • flexible • furthermore • gender • ignorant • incentive • incidence • incorporate • index • inhibit • initiate • input • instruct • intelligence • interval • lecture • migrate • minimum • ministry • motive • neutral • nevertheless • overseas • precede • presume • rational • recover • reveal • scope • subsidy • tape • trace • transform • transport • underlie • utilize

Sublist 7

adapt • adult • advocate • aid • channel • chemical • classic • comprehensive • comprise • confirm • contrary • convert • couple • decade • definite • deny • differentiate • dispose • dynamic • eliminate • empirical • equip • extract • file • finite • foundation • globe • grade • guarantee • hierarchy • identical • ideology • infer • innovate • insert • intervene • isolate • media • mode • paradigm • phenomenon • priority • prohibit • publication • quote • release • reverse • simulate • sole • somewhat • submit • successor • survive • thesis • topic • transmit • ultimate • unique • visible • voluntary

Sublist 8abandon • accompany • accumulate • ambiguous • append • appreciate • arbitrary • automate • bias • chart • clarify • commodity • complement • conform • contemporary • contradict • crucial • currency • denote • detect • deviate • displace • drama • eventual • exhibit • exploit • fluctuate • guideline • highlight • implicit • induce • inevitable • infrastructure • inspect • intense • manipulate • minimize • nuclear • offset • paragraph • plus • practitioner • predominant • prospect • radical • random • reinforce • restore • revise • schedule • tense • terminate • theme • thereby • uniform • vehicle • via • virtual • visual • widespread

Sublist 9accommodate • analogy • anticipate • assure • attain • behalf • bulk • cease • coherent • coincide • commence • compatible • concurrent • confine • controversy • converse • device • devote • diminish • distort • duration • erode • ethic • format • founded • inherent • insight • integral • intermediate • manual • mature • mediate • medium • military • minimal • mutual • norm • overlap • passive • portion • preliminary • protocol • qualitative • refine • relax • restrain • revolution • rigid • route • scenario • sphere • subordinate • supplement • suspend • team • temporary • trigger • unify • violate • vision

Sublist 10

 

adjacent • albeit • assemble • collapse • colleague • compile • conceive • convince • depress • encounter • enormous • forthcoming • incline • integrity • intrinsic • invoke • levy • likewise • nonetheless • notwithstanding • odd • ongoing • panel • persist • pose • reluctance • so-called • straightforward • undergo • whereby

A Lot of Words…What to Do?

When introducing new content:

1. Check the content for use of words that can be found on the AWL

2. Assess prior knowledge of the appropriate AWL words

3. Explicitly teach the vocabulary in the lesson that can be found on the AWL, being sure to teach how the same word can be used in other content areas

Practice with AWL

Teaches multisyllabic word reading strategies

Reasons to teach multisyllabic word reading in your classroom—

4th and 6th graders having difficulty reading longer words had significant gains when taught to use affixes and vowels to pronounce long words

7th, 8th, and 9th graders who were taught a decoding strategy for reading long words had fewer oral reading errors and increased reading comprehension

Shefelbine, 1990

Lenz & Hughes, 1990

What is D.I. S.S.E.C.T?

The Word Identification Strategy used in SIM was developed by Lenz and Hughes(1990) and initially tested on 12 middle school students with learning disabilities.

By: Michelle Williams

This strategy is intended to help struggling readers decode and identify unfamiliar words, and is based on the common underlying structure of most polysyllabic words in English.

The mnemonic D.I.S.S.E.C.T assists struggling readers identify unknown words.

D.I.S.S.E.C.T. Discover the content

Isolate the prefix

Separate the suffix

Say the stem

Examine the stem

Check with someone

Try the dictionary

Practice Multisyllabic Decoding Instruction

Teaches content concepts

Concept maps are hierarchical, visual diagrams that show the relationships among the concepts and convey even complex information at a glance. (Novak, 1993)

Learner constructed concept maps can be used to (1) assess student understanding of the content, (2) summarize what has been taught/read, and (3) support study of the material.

Concept Map

Remember that your students will need instruction when beginning to use graphic organizers.

A review from earlier-

Modeling

Guided Practice

Independent Practice

Mastery of Skills

Introducing a Course Map

Course Map

Semantic Mapping

Students generate words related to a concept, categorize the words, and discuss relationships between words.

It is very useful when the central concept is complex and associated with a rich reservoir of related terms.

It can be used: Whole class

Partner or group work

IndividualExplicit Instruction, Effective and Efficient Teaching; Archer &

Hughes, 2011

An Example of Semantic Mapping

Semantic Feature Analysis

The semantic feature analysis strategy uses a grid to help kids explore how sets of things are related to one another. By completing and analyzing the grid, students are able to see connections, make predictions and master important concepts. This strategy enhances comprehension and vocabulary skills.

Wrap Up and Next Steps

1. Take two minutes to review your notes and the materials that we talked about today.

2. Fill out the 3-2-1 Strategy Chart

3. Share your ideas with your partner

4. When prompted, decide on one or two individual learning goals to work on between now and when we meet again in January

5. Write your learning goal(s) in the final square of your Note Page

6. Be prepared to share successes and challenges in reaching your learning goal when we meet next time

Learning Targets

At the end of today you will be able to: Understand the unique needs in literacy instruction

for adolescents and what that means for your classroom

Know how to use incorporate direct instruction techniques to increase literacy skills

Know the literacy content indicators recommended by the Center on Instruction

Focus on increasing motivation and engagement for adolescents, including struggling readers

Focus on increasing vocabulary and content knowledge for adolescents, including struggling readers

Use embedded strategies so that struggling readers can be more successful in content area classes

Thanks for all you do!

Have a great year! If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Melanie Kahler

Literacy Consultant K-12

Ingham ISD

[email protected]

(517)244-1244