©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Lindamood-Bell ® Professional Learning Community Vocabulary Development Kathryn Winn March 26, 2014 Visualizing and Verbalizing ® Instruction

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes “We all have in our conscious minds a great vocabulary of images, and I think all human communication is based on these images, as our dreams.” ~ Tennessee Williams

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Vocabulary Vocabulary refers to the words we use to communicate and our knowledge of the word meanings. Four Types Listening: what we hear being read or spoken Speaking: oral language Writing: written language Reading: printed words we read/understand, but do not necessarily use in spoken language Page 55

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Vocabulary Development Vocabulary is often taught as part of content areas in the classroom. This is not enough for some students. Children typically begin first grade with a 6,000 word spoken vocabulary. Word recognition and vocabulary are essential skills for struggling readers. Research has shown that after decoding skills, a child’s vocabulary is one of the most important factors in fluent and easy reading.

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Imagery for Oral Vocabulary Oral vocabulary is necessary for comprehension, but it is not sufficient—many V/V students have adequate vocabulary, yet language goes in one ear and out the other. Weakness in imagery is a contributing factor to weak oral vocabulary. V/V instruction develops the underlying and necessary imagery skills to garner oral vocabulary. Page 55

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes “We cannot think about something of which we are not consciously aware, and we cannot be aware of something not perceived sufficiently at the sensory level to come to consciousness.” ~ Karl Pribram, Brain and Perception

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Vocabulary Development We cannot visualize sentences without the imagery for the parts within the sentences—the words. Your student needs rapid, accurate imagery for the words within the sentences in order to create a comprehensive mental representation of the whole.

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Drive the Sensory Bus Concept Imagery “I see...” TeacherStudent Your language activates sensory input for concept imagery. “What do you picture for, ‘The black and white cat’?”

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Vocabulary Goal: To help your student develop the ability to image the meaning of a word, to store that imaged meaning, and to access and retrieve the meaning more rapidly. Check images for key words in stories, or from a vocabulary list. The student creates a picture for an unknown word. Look for signs of imagery as you wait for her to visualize and then ask a few questions to be sure she was imaging. May show a picture from a picture dictionary, or Google images, if needed.

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Vocabulary Development Use sensory language: “What do you picture for a skyscraper?” vs. “What is a skyscraper?” Put the word in a high imagery sentence for the student to image. The student creates sentences, with the word, that demonstrate meaning and imagery.

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Vocabulary Development Example: Student does not have an image for carriage. Teacher: “Let’s picture that word you weren’t sure about. Picture this for the carriage: a big, fancy wagon, with a top, that people ride in. It has big wheels and it is pulled by horses.” Look for signs of imagery as you wait a bit for her to visualize, then ask a few questions to be sure she was imaging. Teacher: “What did you picture for the top of the carriage… the wheels… the… ?”

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Vocabulary Development If student is still struggling with the meaning/image of a word: Anchor your description by showing the student a picture for the word, and discussing. Helpful Resources: Google, Picture Dictionaries, Giant IT! Picture Index. For Low-Level Students: Talkies ® Picture Vocabulary! Book, Picturing Vocabulary! Cards. Others?

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Vocabulary Challenge Pick “words of the week” for your group or class, and put them on a word wall. The challenge is to use those words, throughout the week, a certain number of times. The students earn points for each time a word is used appropriately.

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Vocabulary Activity Unknown Word: garden Visualize and verbalize the word—students visualize the word. Each word has a definition and high imagery sentence. Question for imagery, do not assume it. 1.What are some good example sentences? 2.How will you question for detailed imagery with the following sentence? “The garden was filled with ripe tomatoes, strawberries, and flowers.”

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Vocabulary Development If your student needs vocabulary development: continuing to expose her to new vocabulary will result in a significant increase in her knowledge of word meaning.

©2014 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Vocabulary Development The grade level of paragraphs should be appropriate for the student’s oral vocabulary level, but there may still be words within the sentence that are not in your student’s oral vocabulary, or words you want to be certain she is visualizing. In either case: help your student create mental representations for a word.