How Words Get Learned and Stay Learned Amy Benjamin www.amybenjamin.com

William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by Explicit Instruction “Decent Exposure” (www.amybenjamin.com) Forms: N: usurper, usurpation V: usurp, usurps usurped, usurping Adj: 00 Adv: 00 Syn: commandeer, appropriate Ant: yield, surrender usurp: seize political power undeservedly William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland --Lewis Carroll the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to and conquest The history of the present King of Great Britain is The Declaration of Independence --Thomas Jefferson, et. al. a history of repeated injuries and This is a format that I devised. I call it “Decent Exposure” and you can find 100 of these models on my website, www.amybenjamin.com. What we’re doing is marching the target word out in four different literary contexts. So the students are getting not only a full view of the word, but also model sentences and a little bit of cultural literacy on a wide range of literature. Let’s look at another one. The ghosts were returning; they filled Italy, they were even the places she had known as a child. A Room with a View --E.M. Forster usurpations. This was a shocking thing; that the slime of the pit Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde --Robert Louis Stevenson seemed to utter cries and voices; that the amorphous dust gesticulated and sinned; that what was dead, and had no shape, should the offices of life. usurping usurpation usurp Frequency: 658

Explicit Implicit

Exceed Brief Definitions Examples Etymology Visuals Synonyms, near-synonyms Morphology (word forms) Stories

nostalgia Explicit Teaching: Etymology Illuminates Meaning algia: pain neuralgia Gr: nostos: return home Visuals illuminate meaning

Explicit Teaching: Teaching morphology facilitates use nostalgia, nostalgic Have you ever felt nostalgic for elementary school? Teaching collocation facilitates use: I’m nostalgic for… I’m nostalgic about… feel nostalgic…. Connecting to related words facilitates use: sentimental, memories, forgotten, reminds me of, evokative, deja vu

Engagement

13 Words PRE VERSE DE SCRIBE CON TRANS RE PORT GRESSIVE VERT A

Answers: prescribe ascribe describe report deport avert transport revert regressive convert converse retract contract detract You can find more of these games on my website. They are free and ready to use.

How Words Get Learned and Stay Learned

Getting to Know the Words We Meet in Reading: The word I would like to get to know is: Dictionary Definition: (Use vocabulary.com, preferably) My guess: Visual: Draw a very quick picture: Definition in my own words: Complete sentence of at least 10 words: Must contain an action verb and a visual image.

Incidental Exposure Explicit Instruction Latin Word Roots

Latin Root: specere: to see SPEC, SPIC- to see

Sp. Cognates: espectador, inspeccionar, respeto Latin Root specere: to see SPEC, SPIC- to see subset 2: aspect subset 1: specify spectator, spectacular, spectacle inspect, inspector, inspection respect, disrespect suspect, suspicion, suspicious spectrum aspect prospect, prospector perspective, retrospect Sp. Cognates: espectador, inspeccionar, respeto

Swiss cheese soup, the soup de jour, Is chronically elusive. Attempts to twist it on a spoon Have proven inconclusive. Swiss cheese soup is slimy goop. Its contents are elastic. It consists of bacon bits, And tastes like melted plastic. The slurping up of Swiss cheese soup Results in much chagrin. One cannot help but notice Stubborn strands around one’s chin. The act of eating Swiss cheese soup Is whimsical and scary. It’s not for the fastidious And not for the unwary.

Swiss cheese soup, the soup de jour, Is chronically elusive. Attempts to twist it on a spoon Have proven inconclusive. Swiss cheese soup is slimy goop. Its contents are elastic. It consists of bacon bits, And tastes like melted plastic. The slurping up of Swiss cheese soup Results in much chagrin. One cannot help but notice Stubborn strands around one’s chin. The act of eating Swiss cheese soup Is whimsical and scary. It’s not for the fastidious And not for the unwary.

Knowing a word is not an “all or nothing” thing. Strangers? Friends? Acquaintances? Knowing a word is like knowing a person. Not an all-or-nothing thing. Some words are strangers, meaning that they are completely unfamiliar. Others are acquaintances, meaning that we have some familiarity with them. Others are friends, meaning that we know them and use them. <go to chat> How does a word acquaintance become a word friend? Three ways: (same as a person goes from being an acquaintance to being a friend) 1. Spend time (repeated exposure) 2. Get to know (word components: prefixes, roots) 3. Have fun: word games and puzzles fastidious chagrin inconclusive elusive soup du jour elastic

Should I spend time teaching this word explicitly? inconclusive unwary fastidious Three Questions: How useful is this word? Will students be likely to encounter it again soon? Is it necessary for comprehension? Will teaching this word explicitly equip the students with word-learning skills that can be applied to other words? 3. Am I enthusiastic about this word? Can I make it interesting? To comprehend text, the reader needs to know 95% of the words. Next, we’re going to look at two models for explicit instruction that results in durable learning of the target word.

inconclusive unwary fastidious wary conclusive

Morphology Chart NOUNS: VERBS: ADJECTIVES: ADVERBS: They will fit into this frame: The_____. VERBS: They will fit into this frame: To____ or Can____ ADJECTIVES: They will fit into this frame: The ________truck ADVERBS: They will fit into this frame: Do it ___________. Nouns answer the question: What? or Who? Verbs answer the question: What is it doing, having, feeling, or being? Adjectives answer the question: What kind? (They may also answer the questions Which one? and How many? but those kinds of adjectives do not fit into the frame of The______truck. Adverbs answer any of these questions: Where? When? Why? To what extent? How?

Recommendations for Teaching Vocabulary Tricycle AWL (Academic Word List): Recommendations for Teaching Vocabulary Thoroughly and Effectively Literary Words: Simply use the words in the subset that your school will be focussing on for a two-week period (see calendar). Use the words repeatedly, within an understandable context, in your speech, written directions and notes on the board. 2. “Soup de Jour”: Present students with a handful of words and have them write sentences about recent learning (ex., reading). This works well when students work together and a few students read their sentences aloud to the class. 3. “Upgrades”: When students have rough drafts handy, direct their attention to the subset and have them replace one or two words in their rough draft, thus upgrading their diction. Share with class. 4. vocabulary.com has all of the subsets pre-loaded, searchable as “Academic Word List Subset 1,” et. al. (Don’t forget the quotation marks when doing the search.” Students can practice independently. Type a: Literary Terms (metaphor, point of view, alliteration, et. al.) Type B: Words Encountered in Literature (“Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit.”) These “big wheel” words and phrases may be taught in detail or by quickly giving oral definitions in the context of reading. You might consider which words deserve detailed instruction according to these criteria: 1. Relevance: Is this word important to comprehension of the text? Are students likely to encounter this word again? Is an educated person expected to know this word? Does this word seem age- appropriate? 2. Leverage: Can I use this word teach other, related words, such as synonyms, antonyms, degrees of intensity, etymology, et. al.? 3. Enthusiasm: Is this a word that I find interesting? Academic Word List Literary Words Latin Roots Latin Word Roots: Suggestions for explicit instruction of literary words: Use visuals Explain the etymology Give an example or description first, and give students a chance to observe the salient features of the concept. Then, name the concept. (“Naming a known concept.”) Using Amy Benjamin’s list (www.amybenjamin.com) of 40 Must Know Latin Word Roots, decide on grade levels to address at least 32 of the roots. Each root may be presented as a Monday “kick-off.” 2. vocabulary.com: You will find many of these (and other) roots by looking up “Latin Love.” Students can practice independently. Independent Learning Suggestion: Use the graphic organizer entitled “Getting to Know the Words We Meet in Reading.” II. vocabulary.com probably already has word lists pre-loaded for any work of literature students are reading for class.