Strategies for vocabulary instruction in

a social studies classroom

Steps taken

The overall following steps are taken inside my classroom when I am introducing new words to my students.

• I explain a new word(s) and what the definition is.

• I then ask the students to explain to a partner next to them in their own words what it means.

• Throughout the unit the students will then see the words used throughout literature, primary sources and other forms of media.

• For homework or during class time I may ask the students to create or find a picture that represents the vocabulary word.

• The end result is a discussion with a partner what the new word/concept means and its impact on history.

Tier 3 Vocabulary

• Great Leap Forward

• Cultural Revolution

• Communes

• Red Guard

Images of vocabulary

I like to use

visual

images to

have the

students

make

connections

with the

vocabulary

words and

the meaning

behind

them.

Images of vocabulary

Instructional strategies

• “Digital tools have advantages. For example, many

allow students to:

• Read words in a variety of authentic examples;

• Hear pronunciations;

• View photos and images related to words

• Reinforce word learning through interactive games

• Play with and manipulate language

• Discover rhyming words; and

• Collaborate with classmates to create virtual words walls”

(Tyson, 2013)

Instructional strategies

examples

I love using Wordle in my

history classes because much

of what I look at are speeches

and other primary sources. By

inserting the speech into

Wordle the students are given

the chance to see which words

are key. Key questions that can

be asked are the following:

• The word cloud suggests

what about the speech?

• What are the most important

words?

• What connection can you

make about the most

important words and the

message of the speech?

Instructional strategies

examples

Free Rice is a website that I use in Global

Cultural Studies class based on a students

suggestion. For each answer they get right,

Free Rice will donate 10 grains of rice

through the World Food Program to help end

hunger. The kids loved this idea because

they felt like it centered around the “global”

part of our class.

Literature

All of the Tier 3 words appear in the book

Red Scarf Girl. Once the students have an

understanding of the definition they will then

have repeated exposure to the words

throughout the book. Research states,

“words are usually learned only after they

appear several times. Repeated exposure

could be in the same lesson or passage, but

the exposures will be most effective if they

appear over an extended time” (U.S.

Department of Education)

Example Connection from

Red Scarf Girl

• As we read in Red Scarf Girl, during the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards emerged as an important social group for young people. In late spring of 1966, Red Guard groups started to form across China’s university and middle school campuses as a reaction to an article exposing bourgeois tendencies in the Communist Party. Chairman Mao immediately expressed his support for the Red Guards, resulting in the growth of Red Guard groups throughout China. Former Red Guards offer different reasons for becoming Red Guards.

(Facing History and Ourselves, 2009).

Example Connection from

Red Scarf Girl

• One legacy of the Cultural Revolution is a robust commitment to education. An entire Chinese generation was denied the right to an education, a right articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. When schools reopened in 1977, millions of young Chinese took university entrance exams. Of the 5.7 million who took the 1977 exam, only 300,000 were admitted to universities. Many of these students have become part of China’s cultural, political, and business elite, and others have become political dissidents and democracy activists. Their experiences during the Cultural Revolution have shaped their ideals, often in terms of embracing more intellectual and economic freedom than they experienced in their youth. Some argue that the policies advanced by this generation have resulted in the economic progress China has enjoyed over the past three decades.

(Facing History and Ourselves, 2009).

Video clips

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGpmVs0_Dbc

By also providing the students

an opportunity to watch a video

on the Cultural Revolution and

Mao Zedong they will be able to

hear the vocabulary words and

placed with visual images to

help make connections.

• Facing History and Ourselves. (2009). Teaching Red Scarf Girl. Brookline, MA:

• Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2012a). Improving adolescent literacy: Content area strategies at work (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

• Tyson, K. (2013, February 10). 21 digital tools to build vocabulary [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.learningunlimitedllc.com/2013/02/20-digital-tools-for-vocabulary/

• U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Explicit vocabulary instruction. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.adlit.org/article/27738/