Teaching Vocabulary Arming Students With Words

Building a Wide Range of Words Students in grades 3-12 acquire an average of three thousand new words each year (Baumann and Kameenui, 1991).

Why Teach Vocabulary? 1. Provides a helpful foundation that allows students read and understand difficult texts. 2. Expands their ability to communicate through writing by using more precise words. 3. Raises their scores on standardized tests such as the SAT. 4. Empowers students socially by giving them the language of the dominant culture of power. 5. Improves the quality of subject matter discussions by creating a common vocabulary between all teachers and students in that area.

Categories of Vocabulary (Burke, 2008). 1. Expressive vocabulary 2. Receptive vocabulary 3. Academic vocabulary 4. Genre-specific vocabulary 5. Background knowledge vocabulary 6. Domain-specific vocabulary

Six Steps to Teaching Vocabulary (Adapted from Marzono) Step One: 1. Let them hear how the word is pronounced then have them pronounce it aloud.

Step Two Present students with a brief explanation or definition of the new term or phrase.

Step Three Present students with a nonlinguistic representation of the new term or phrase.

Step Four Ask students to generate their own explanations or descriptions of the term or phrase.

Step Five Ask students to create their own nonlinguistic representation of the term or phrase.

Step Six Ask students to do something with the words so that they can apply what they know about the words.

Activities for Owning Words Use the word in a sentence Develop a trigger phrase Act out the word (charades) Do a role play where one of the characters is uses a word. Play a game using the word Vocabtoons (cartoons using the words) Have the students teach the word to groups or the class. “Vocabbyball” Vocab Booklet Concept Maps Pictionary Write a song, rap, poem, or commercial using the vocab words. Websites (Ex: L of F site) Hang their drawings on the walls “Got Your Back” activity. Vocabulary carousel Photo power point