Developing Vocabulary and Concepts

Objectives - Understand characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction. - Apply a six-step process for direct instruction in vocabulary.

How were you taught vocabulary in school? - Which methods were helpful? - Which methods had little impact?

Teaching Vocabulary  Every academic discipline creates a unique language to represent its important concepts.  Key concepts must be taught directly and explicitly in order for students to fully comprehend the material.

Types of Vocabulary Words  Tier 1 Words – Basic high-frequency words that are commonly used in everyday language. (friend, move, eat, home)

Types of Vocabulary Words  Tier 2 words – General words that we commonly hear in academic settings. They are a large part of understanding directions and tasks ( compare, evaluate, diagram).

Types of Vocabulary Words  Tier 3 Words – Low frequency words that are needed to understand a content area material. Part of the language of the content area. (Declaration of independence, nucleus, quadratic equation)

Vocabulary Instruction #1 Isomorphism is the process whereby the dynamics of the relationship between the supervisor candidate and the trainee may mirror similar dynamics that are present between the trainee and the clinical therapy. In the early literature on the training and supervision of psychotherapy, these dynamics were defined as parallel process, the interplay of dynamics between the patient, the therapist, and the supervisor. The contemporary term of isomorphism connotes something more systemic than a parallel process. Because supervisors, therapists, and clients are conceived as transacting parts of a training system, the structure and even the content of the training and the therapy subsystems are expected to be recursively replicated in one another.

Vocabulary Instruction #2 Isomorphism = Angry Critical Judgmental Dependent Angry Critical Judgmental Dependent

Vocabulary Instruction #2 Isomorphism is the process whereby the dynamics of the relationship between the supervisor candidate and the trainee may mirror similar dynamics that are present between the trainee and the clinical therapy. In the early literature on the training and supervision of psychotherapy, these dynamics were defined as parallel process, the interplay of dynamics between the patient, the therapist, and the supervisor. The contemporary term of isomorphism connotes something more systemic than a parallel process. Because supervisors, therapists, and clients are conceived as transacting parts of a training system, the structure and even the content of the training and the therapy subsystems are expected to be recursively replicated in one another.

Vocabulary  Research shows direct instruction of vocabulary makes a positive impact on student performance. (One study showed students in the 50 th percentile moved to the 80 the percentile in performance when direct vocabulary instruction was provided.  Only the most important vocabulary terms will be taught directly.

What are the words I should teach?  Select the words that are most important to the concepts you are trying to teach.  Ideally this will be a mix of Tier 2 and Tier 3 words

How many words should I teach?  In a given lesson no more than 2-3 words in a lesson.  Why do we want to keep this number small?

How to Organize: Math Journals/Notebooks Example 1 Example 2

Six Step Process For Teaching Vocabulary Marzano

Six-Step Process  First 3 steps – introduce and develop initial understanding. These steps are ideally taught at the same time.  Last 3 steps – provide practice and expand understanding. The steps provide ongoing practice.

Step 1  Provide a description, explanation, or example of new term. - Descriptions vs. Definitions page 16 - You may want to pair the description with a visual image, especially for ELL students.

Step 2  Students restate explanation of new term in own words.  Students are asked to write their own descriptions, explanations, or examples in their math notebooks/journals.  It is important students do not simply copy the teacher’s description but instead think about how they would describe the term.

Step 3  Students create a nonlinguistic representation of term.  Page 23 in Marzano and Simms  Once again it is important for students to create their own representation and not simply copy the teacher.

Practice  On your own, select a vocabulary term for fractions from one of the lists beginning on page 150 in Marzano and Sims.  Step 1 – Think about how you would explain this term to students.  Step 2 – Create your own description or example of the word.  Step 3 – Create a non-linguistic (visual representation) of the word.

Step 4  Students periodically do activities that help add to knowledge of vocabulary terms.  Examples pages  Comparing and contrasting  Double Bubble Diagram  Classifying

Step 5  Periodically students are asked to discuss terms with one another.  Examples (page 35)  Paired Thinking  Inside Outside Circle  Can you think of anything we have talked about this week that might provide this opportunity?

Step 6  Periodically students are involved in games that allow them to play with terms.  Examples pages  Talk a Mile a Minute  The teacher divides students into pairs. One partner faces the overhead and the other partner faces the wall. The teacher shows a list of words to the partner facing the overhead and the student is asked to describe the words to his/her partner without using the name of the term. The partner facing the wall must guess the term based in his/her partner’s description. Students are given one minute (this can be flexible based on your students). If they finish before the timer goes off, they sit down.

Talk a Mile a Minute  Equal  Portion  Numerator  Improper Fraction  Benchmark Fraction

Talk a Mile a Minute  Whole  Denominator  Simplify  Number Line  Simple Fraction