EFFECTIVE VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION! Created by Dana Natale

Common myths about Vocabulary Instruction! ◦ Students learn best by just looking up words in the dictionary and writing the definition! ◦ FALSE! This is not effective because students are not making any connections to the words. ◦ After they are tested, the students are to never be asked to use the words again! ◦ FALSE! You should encourage your students to still use old words verbally and in their writing. By doing this it makes the word a part of the students everyday vocabulary! ◦ Vocabulary instruction is not important to reading comprehension! ◦ False! For students to comprehend what they read, they need to understand the words or know how to figure out what the words in the text mean!

What does the research say? ◦ Vocabulary is just as important as the other four components of the reading process! ◦ This means while teaching, please include vocabulary strategies in your lessons just like you would for phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, and comprehension. ◦ Vocabulary instruction must be meaningful for the students. ◦ Let your students be active in their vocabulary learning. By just spewing words out to them in front of the room is not what you want to do. Students are NOT learning those words. They are memorizing them for the test and moving on. Make them get involved. Play games. Make it fun. We will go over some fun strategies later in the presentation!

What does the research say? ◦ Students will learn new words by incidental learning as well. ◦ Not all vocabulary learning is planned. Class discussions and read alouds are two other ways your students can “accidently” learn new words. While discussions are happening throw in some words they may not know! Ask them if they know and they may even ask you what the word is. When reading a book aloud, make sure to point out words you want them to focus in on! ◦ Make students learn in a word rich environment. ◦ Expose your students to new words as often as you can. Not every word needs to be tested, but you can talk to them about words. Have them write, discuss, and listen. All of these actions promote an environment that is rich with words!

Fun, effective strategies! ◦ We will be discussing the following vocabulary strategies: ◦ Wordplay ◦ Figurative language ◦ Literature Circles ◦ Character mapping

Wordplay- Make words fun! ◦ Wordplay is an easy way to start incorporating new vocabulary techniques in your classroom! ◦ Wordplay does not have to be a long process in the classroom. It can be done as morning work, a do now, a when you are done activity or even in literacy centers. ◦ Some examples of wordplay that can be done in the classroom: ◦ Jokes, puns and riddles ◦ Jumbles from the newspaper ◦ Word of the week/day game ◦ Crossword puzzles that includes old vocabulary words ◦ Scattegories, scrabble, boggle, and any other games that make the students think about their word choice!

Figurative Language ◦ Remember to focus on non literal meanings of words. While it is great that students learn the actual definition, we use/see a lot of figurative language in our everyday oral language and readings! ◦ Ways to practice figurative language: ◦ Practice a type of figurative language biweekly to focus on in the classroom. ◦ Have students look for figurative language in their reading book or books they are reading independently. ◦ During writing, encourage use of idioms, similes, metaphors and even onomatopoeias. ◦ Read poetry with your students. Point out different phrases in the poems! “It was a piece of cake!”

Literature Circles ◦ Teacher led groups: ◦ Model the different jobs you may assign students! ◦ Model discussion techniques that can be used when they meet up with their group. ◦ Work with your students so they can eventually work more independently in their literature circles. ◦ Jobs in literature circles- these are the ones I use and there are many different versions! ◦ Discussion director: This student comes up with three major discussion questions to be talked about! ◦ Word Wizard: Find a three to five vocabulary words that you found to be interesting. These are to be words you did not know. Use context clues to guess the meaning before using a dictionary. ◦ Precise Predictor: After reading, make two predictions about what will happen. Bring these up at your meeting and see if others agree or disagree! ◦ Insightful Illuminator: Bring to the group two sections from the reading that you enjoyed the most!

Character Mapping ◦ Character mapping is similar to semantic mapping! ◦ Students give a basic description of a character in the middle. ◦ From there they use character traits to describe the character. ◦ Then they link an action or event to the trait to support their trait choice. ◦ Students can add multiple events to one trait and add more as they read!

Conclusion ◦ Remember: ◦ Do not believe the myths of vocabulary instruction! ◦ Make vocabulary learning fun and interesting! ◦ Use multiple techniques while teaching vocabulary! ◦ Change what you do if it is not working for your students! ◦ Make the students active in their learning of vocabulary! ◦ Word rich environments are great ways to expose your students to more and more words! ◦ And remember….. Have fun!!!!!!!