Tips for Teaching Vocabulary
From the desk of Carol C…
Have you looked up the word “rigor” in a dictionary recently? Webster’s says: harsh inflexibility in opinion, temper, or judgment. It seems that dictionaries, online at least, have not caught up with the definition of rigor in education. What might this be? Rigor is the goal of helping students develop the capacity to understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging. (Strong, Silver, and Perini) It used to be that rigor was only used in terms of gifted classes, AP courses, or post K-12 work. Not anymore though. Now with the Common Core Standards, educational rigor is expected from all teachers and students regardless of the grade level.
How do we increase our rigor? One of the most important ways is through teaching vocabulary. “Vocabulary is the glue that holds stories, ideas, and content together…making comprehension accessible for children.” (Rupley, Logan, and Nichols, 1998/1999) Wow and agreed!
However, vocabulary can be difficult to teach. (Amen.) Why? First, what words do we teach? Then, what’s the best way to teach these words once we find them? Ultimately, how do we make sure that students are able to use and apply these words correctly in context?
Researchers in the field of vocabulary development have come up with three tiers or types of vocabulary.
Tier 1-consists of basic, everyday words that students usually learn on their own. Examples are: book, girl, sad, run, dog, and orange. Most simple word family words are found here.
Tier 2-high frequency words and words that can be found across your entire curriculum. These words are used in adult conversation and in literature, have multiple meanings, and are essential to comprehension. These words need direct instruction. Examples might include: shriek, litter, fortunate.
Tier 3-words that are tied to a particular subject area. These words are important for a unit of study. Examples might include: habitat, terrain, population, census
Now let’s go back to Tier 2 words since these are the ones that will need to be taught through direct instruction. How do we select Tier 2 words?
•Level II words (are) taught before students read (the text and) include words:
–that will be frequently encountered in other texts and content areas.
–crucial to understanding the main ideas.
–that are not a part of the students’ prior knowledge.
–unlikely to be learned independently through the use of context and/or structural analysis.
(Dr. María Elena Argüelles)
After you have chosen the words to be taught, the next step is to teach them. (Brilliant, you say.) One of the effective methods is to follow the same routine used to introduce word wall words. Write the word on the board, say and spell the word, have students say and spell the word. Next give students a definition that they are able to understand. Put the word in different sentences showing how to use it correctly. Act out or demonstrate the word when possible. Now in their vocabulary notebooks have your students write the word and its definition and draw a picture of the word or an example of it. It is most important for students to have a vocabulary notebook, so these words are not lost and can be referred to over and over. Notebooks can be set up in many different ways. One way is to make three columns on a page…one for the word, one for the definition, and one for the drawing. You may want to add a space for using it in a sentence.
Once you have introduced all of the words and had your class write them in their notebooks, you’ll need to practice with them. The following ideas can be used in subsequent days or when introducing the words.
Idea Completion
(Vocabulary words are in italics.)
• The audience asked the virtuoso to play another piece of music because …
• The skiing teacher said Melanie was a novice on the ski slopes because . . .
• Paul called Tim a coward when . . .
Overheard Conversations
Match these words to the correct sentence.
extraordinary, unique, peculiar, monotonous
• “There’s nothing like it in the world!”
• “It’s fantastic! Better than I could have imagined!”
• “That was a weird one!”
• “What a drag!”
Have You Ever
• Describe a time when you might urge/console/commend someone
• Describe an animal that is dangerous/gruesome
• Describe a time when you felt dread/scared/danger
These ideas above are just a few of the many that Dr. María Elena Argüelles and others have on the website: http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/title1/08fallconfhandouts/vocab.pdf
Scroll through it and see what other ideas might work for you. The website has ideas for working with Tier 3 words and a list of no-no’s when teaching vocabulary.
Teaching vocabulary in context packs a powerful punch. However, when you decide to supplement your vocabulary work, these are some good places to start. Before you know it, the rigor in your lessons will increase and so will the working vocabulary of all your students!