1. Strategies for Building Academic Vocabulary in Every Content Classroom
Katie Brown
2014 Washington State Teacher of the Year
ELL Specialist/Instructional Coach
Shuksan Middle School
Bellingham, WA

2. In 45 minutes you will… Review the three types of academic vocabulary.
Review Marzano’s 6 step process for teaching academic vocabulary.
Identify two or more strategies you can use in your classroom next week.
Practice using vocabulary strategies with others.

3. 3 Types of Vocabulary Content Words Discourse Words Word Parts
Photosynthesis
Solar System
Integer
Equation
Thesis
Argument
Content-specific
Summarize
Identify
Collect
Compare
Infer
In other words,
However,
To sum up,
Task-specific, how to talk & write about content
Prefixes
Suffixes
Root words
Clues
Word knowledge for problem solving

4. Marzano’s 6 Steps for Vocabulary Instruction:1
Teacher gives description, explanation and example of word 2
Teacher asks learner to give a description, explanation or example in their own words 3
Teacher asks learner to draw a visual representation of word 4
Learner participates in activities using word 5
Learner discusses word with other learners 6
Learner participates in games that reinforce new word

5. New Word Overview WORD: Rotation (root word = rotate)
Description: To turn or spin on a central point or axis
Example: Sometimes you have to rotate a picture to see it better.
Sentence: The Earth’s rotation takes 24 hours.
Illustrations:

6. Student-Friendly Explanations
Dictionary Definition
In My Own Words…
Photosynthesis: the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water.
Example:
How plants make their own food.
Carbon D + water + light = sugar + oxygen
Fragile- easily broken, damaged, or destroyed
Watch out, it might break
Say it!
Write it!

7. Vocabulary Cards Abiotic Word Picture Definition
Nonliving things in the environment
Sentence
The sun, air, and water are abiotic factors that impact animals.

8. Concept Definition Map
Picture/Visual
Colonists who
wanted to separate from England and form an independent nation.
Patriot
Patriots did not want to follow British law.
Supporter
Nationalist
Person who loves their country
Sentence
Synonyms

9. Word Wall / Word Sort Arrange or sort cards frequently by:
Student generated categories
Word family
Color
Size
Difficulty- rank easy to hard
Alphabetical order
Summer words/winter words
Narrative
Expository
Rhymes
Vowel sounds
Starting/ending sound
Content vocabulary
Similar terms

10. Pictures for newcomers: How could you sort these?

11. Matching word image definition
Print and cut.
Students work in pairs to match them together.
Visuals may relate to more than one word and can spark discussion about academic vocabulary.

12. Mostly made of ice or gas
Comparison Matrix
Put an “x” in the correct box
Orbits the Sun
A solid object
Mostly made of ice or gas
Mostly made of rock
Comet
Asteroid
Meteoroid

13. Sentence Frames for writing and speaking
_________ and _________ are alike because _____________________________.
_________ and _________ are different because _____________________________.
________ is an example of ______________.
Another word for _______ is _________.

14. Examples of Sentence Frames
A prophet and a mosque are different because
__a prophet is a person and a mosque is a building___.
A prophet and a mosque are similar because
they both are used to spread the beliefs of Islam___.
Agree means to have the same opinion, but disagree means to have a different opinion.

15. Cloze: Fill In The Blanks
Use these words: rotation, axis, revolution
The earth rotates on its central point, or _______. It makes one full ____________ on its axis every 24 hours and one ______________ around the sun every days.

16. Describe An Image w/ Word Bank
What does this picture represent?
Explain why. (There can be more than one answer)
Words to use:
Galaxy Universe Star Satellite Orbit

17. Describe An Image w/ Word Bank: Example 2
What does this picture represent?
Explain why. (There can be more than one answer)
Words or phrases to use:
Statistic Percent Average Studies show
WHY?

18. Bridge Map Another word for _____ is______ Add Subtract Divide
Multiply
Equal

19. Why? Which one doesn’t fit? setting characters plot chapter mean
median
mode
measure
Why?

20. What do these have in common?
sum
product
difference
quotient
ribosome
cytoplasm
nucleus
mitochondrion

21. The best games engage 100% of students, 100% of the time

22. Watch 100,000 Pyramid!
Find the PowerPoint template for this game in the “Vocabulary” section on my website