Vocabulary Strategies in 15 Minutes! BACKGROUND Direct instruction of vocabulary can help students learn enough words to become better readers,. Awesome for vocabulary practice! Robert Marzano, a guru of vocabulary instruction, tells us that the bright kids need about 4 exposures to a word to own it, average students need about and our struggling students need at least Strategies for the classroom.

1. Vocabulary Strategies For Middle School

As teachers, we have the opportunity every day to. One significant way to help our ELLs succeed is to be intentional about teaching vocabulary. Limited academic vocabulary hinders many English language learners from reading and learning classroom content. But with effective strategies, students can leave our classroom with an enriched vocabulary bank every single day! While English language learners generally have the greatest need to expand their vocabulary, many non-English language learners—especially those from low socioeconomic communities—have a limited vocabulary bank, so many of them can greatly benefit from these strategies as well. Posters: Choose posters with colorful and clearly labeled images. Or add labels for the pictures yourself.

They don't have to be perfect—you don’t need to type, print, and laminate the words before you tape them onto the posters. Handwriting them in bold on sticky notes and taping the sticky notes onto the poster works equally well. The main thing is for your students to associate each word with its corresponding image to help them learn vocabulary.

Maps: Write the title above each map to depict what the land represents. If it’s a country, write the name of the country. Electric image animation system (eias alternatives for mac.

If it’s a world map, specify that. Maps are also great places to label cardinal directions: north, south, east, west, as well as northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest. Add labels for large bodies of water such as oceans and bays—their names often appear in tiny print and are therefore almost unnoticeable on the original map. For a world map, highlight the names of the seven continents to make them stand out. I strongly recommend leaving ample space between posters and maps on your walls so that your students are not over-saturated with visual input.

Walls that are too cluttered with information may overwhelm your students rather than draw them in. Supplies: Label containers for all supplies and materials in your classroom: pencils, colored pencils, erasers, scissors, rulers, glue, lined paper, white paper, and any other materials you use regularly. Label the shelves where binders, folders, writing journals, books, and workbooks are kept with their designated names.

Labeling all materials will not only help your students learn vocabulary, it will help you and your students locate supplies easily—thereby maximizing classroom time. Technology and Furniture: Label computers, computer screen, keyboard, mouse, speakers, classroom screen, cabinet, file cabinet, teacher desk, teacher chair, and tables. Miscellaneous: Label a wall, a visible outlet, a visible chord, light switch, air vent, the ceiling, windows, shades, curtains, and the classroom door and clock. Take full advantage of classroom time by using rich vocabulary in your everyday instruction and interactions with your students.

Believe me, they are listening to every word you say. Pair up Rich Vocabulary with Synonymous but Simpler Words: When you use rich vocabulary in the classroom, use synonymous but simpler words immediately after the rich vocabulary so that your English language learners gain a natural understanding of the rich vocabulary. For example, when you say to your students, 'Can you elaborate on that?' , some of your students may look at you as if they are clueless as to what you mean. But if you say, 'Can you elaborate on that?' Followed up with, 'Can you tell me more?'

, then they will grasp what you mean. They have now learned that to elaborate means to tell more about something. Use a Variety of Rich Phrases to Communicate the Same Message: Another way to naturally incorporate rich vocabulary into your daily dialogue is to use different rich phrases interchangeably to communicate the same message to your students.

For example, one day you might say, 'I'm perplexed by what the author is communicating' and another day you might say, 'I'm baffled by what the author is communicating.' Use gestures to communicate that you are confused, such as bringing your finger up to your head and putting on a very pensive look. If you think your students still need the rich phrase explained, continue to follow the rich phrase up with a synonymous but simpler phrase. Eventually, you will no longer need to use the simpler phrase because your students will have learned to associate it with the richer phrases. Be intentional about teaching vocabulary to your students by pre-selecting key words from the text you're about to read. Don’t assume students will know essential words from the text. Give them a quick pretest to assess their current knowledge of key vocabulary.

Once you've targeted the words your students don’t know, focus on teaching them! Word Study, word maps, word journals, and word walls are all excellent tools for helping students learn and apply new vocabulary. Aside from images, use tangible objects to teach the meanings of words. For example, if introducing the word bark (from a tree), show students a piece of actual bark you found outside. Or, better yet, take them outside and show them!

Have a designated, regular time to read aloud to your students in class. Reading to your students is an excellent way to not only teach new words, but to model their correct pronunciation. Choose high interest reading material with rich vocabulary and images.

Attractive images in text are powerful in communicating the meanings of words. With older students or to teach meanings of words for which there are no visuals on the page, it's critical to pre-teach key words from the text, accompanied by pictures you've gathered to represent the words' meanings. Keep the visuals handy after pre-teaching vocabulary—such as posting them on a word wall—so when the you come across the words in the text, you can quickly point to the visuals without distracting students from the reading. Try to minimize interruptions as you read. Fewer pauses when reading increases reading fluency which in turn aides comprehension. Allow students many opportunities to practice new vocabulary through games and classroom activities.

Some examples: Word Bingo: Each student has a card with grids, with one word written in each grid. Students listen for the meaning of each word and place markers on each word depicting the meaning they hear.

The first player to mark a complete row, column or diagonal pattern of words is the winner. For more advanced students, give them each two cards–—they now need a marked pattern of words on each card to win!

Charades: Students have to act out a word or phrase without speaking, while the rest of the class tries to guess what the word or phrase is. The goal is for students to guess each word or phrase as quickly as possible.

For more advanced or competitive students, divide the class into teams. Time how long it takes each team to guess the opponent’s word/phrase. Keep track of time to determine the winning team!

Word Jeopardy: Students are given clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in the form of questions. Jeopardy games can be created on smartboards by following utube tutorials. Impromptu teachable moments are priceless learning opportunities. They come unannounced but are timely opportunities to teach new vocabulary. For example: you come across a word in a text you didn’t introduce before reading the text.

Or a student uses a word in an oral sentence and another student asks what the word means. Don’t let the opportunity pass. Google the word with images and display them on the classroom screen. Or write the word on the board along with a quick sketch of its meaning, adding gestures and body language to help explain it. Apply the word to a real-life experience you had. Students love hearing about your life stories!

They’re much more likely to remember what the word means when you make a personal connection to it. For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: Show Details Necessary HubPages Device ID This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. Login This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. Google Recaptcha This is used to prevent bots and spam. Akismet This is used to detect comment spam. HubPages Google Analytics This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. HubPages Traffic Pixel This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site.

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Vocabulary Strategies For Middle School

Vocabulary Strategies Scroll to the bottom of this page and you will find analog and digital activities for vocabulary in your classroom. Try embedding some of these activities in your lesson plans today! Research has consistently found that vocabulary plays a fundamental role in the academic achievement of U.S. Students in Grades K–12. Knowing vocabulary words is key to reading comprehension.

The more words a child knows, the better he or she will understand the text. Teachers can teach vocabulary directly or indirectly. Using a variety of effective methods will increase the student’s ability to learn new words. “A student’s maximum level of reading comprehension is determined by his or her knowledge of words. This word knowledge allows students to comprehend text.

As the teacher, you can explicitly teach word meanings to improve comprehension. However, to know a word means knowing it in all of the following dimensions:.

The ability to define a word. The ability to recognize when to use that word. Knowledge of its multiple meanings. The ability to decode and spell that word Therefore, it is vitally important to teach key words that children will need to comprehend texts, learn the content in those texts, and pass tests. Words are taught through direct instruction of word meanings as well as through discussions about words (including prefixes, suffixes, and roots) – all combined with a lot of reading.” (Colorin Colorado, 2007) Limited vocabulary is the first “red flag” indicating a probable learning gap in a child’s reading comprehension. While vocabulary can be picked up through dialogue and conversation, research shows that is it grown in the formidable years through learning to read and building a capacity for reading fluency and comprehension.

It continues to grow through the secondary and college level moving from concrete to more abstract skills and concepts. The more we encourage children to read each day, the better developed their vocabulary becomes. Research has found that children’s exposure to language-rich environments is related to their socioeconomic and welfare status; that is, children from professional families enter school knowing almost twice as many words as those from working class backgrounds and almost three-and-a-half times more words than those with welfare backgrounds.

Vocabulary consists of the words we understand when we hear or read them (receptive vocabulary) and words we speak or write (expressive vocabulary). Knowing a variety of words is important for language development and reading comprehension. The English language has the largest vocabulary or lexicon in the world. And our language is continually growing!

(Think of words like widget, blog, info-sharing, selfie!) Most children begin first grade with about 6,000 words of spoken vocabulary. They will learn 3,000 more words per year through third grade. There are two evdience based best practices that US Digital Literacy highly recommends to teachers for building and increasing vocabulary in their students.

They are Morphology and Tiered Vocabulary. Morphology Morphology Linguistics: the study and description of how words are formed in language The study of English words derived from Greek and Latin roots is the study of Morphology. Think of the early years of learning, teachers help studenst learn words by introducing word families, rimes, and phohgrams.

The generative approach began with studies of Naom Chonsky in the 1950s. This is not a new idea.

It is rather a renewed idea in that students should be taught Latin and Greek morphemes as a word family so they can build upon meaning. A study of over 100 4th and 5th grade students found that “Students with greater understanding of morphology also have higher reading comprehension scores”. Examples: Teacher teaches prefix bi- meaning two students learn bicycle, bimonthly, bicoastal, bisect Teacher teaches root word geo- meaning earth students learn geology, geography, geode, geographer Introducing one Latin or Greek root a week and spending only 5-10 minutes a day will increase gains significantly in building vocabulary wil will transfer to reading.

A five day plan for teaching morphology may be: (Specific idea credited to Webinar: Comprehension-Going Beyond Fluency with Dr. Tim Rasinski sponsored by www.SciLearn.com) Day 1 Introduce root and meaning, brainstorm words, build their own words Day 2 Students read a selection with the root Day 3 Students work on teacher directed activity with the root: cloze passage, word sorts, word creations Day 4 Students play game: Word-O, Word Ladders Day 5 Student is assessed Note: Morphology can be started as early as second grade and should continue beyond the high school years. Tiered Vocabulary The Definition of Academic Vocabulary Academic language refers to the sentence structures (syntax) and vocabulary (both spoken and written) commonly used to learn across academic disciplines and within specific content areas. Tiers describe how academic vocabulary differs from more common, everyday language. Isabel Beck suggests educators consider three types of vocabulary words—three tiers of vocabulary—for teaching and assessing word knowledge. A word’s frequency of use, complexity, and meaning determines into which tier it will fall.

Those with mature vocabularies and age-appropriate literacy skills understand and use words from all three tiers. The three tiers of vocabulary, Tier I—Basic Vocabulary, Tier II—High Frequency/Multiple Meaning, and Tier III—Subject Related.

Tier I consists of the most basic words. While in early years direct instruction is given with sight words, these words rarely require direct instruction in upper grades. They typically do not have multiple meanings.

Tier 1 vocabulary includes the words that children encounter in readers which are designed to support the development of their decoding, sight-reading, and fluency skills. Sight words, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and early reading words occur at this level. Examples of tier one words are: book, girl, sad, run, dog, and orange. There about 8,000 word families in English included in Tier I. Tier II consists of high frequency words that occur across a variety of domains. That is, these words occur often in mature language situations such as adult conversations and literature, and therefore strongly influence speaking and reading.

Standards for Tier II words:. Important for reading comprehension.

Characteristic of mature language users. Contain multiple meanings. Increased descriptive vocabulary (words that allow students to describe concepts in a detailed manner). Used across a variety of environments (generalization) The meanings of Tier II words are either consistent across disciplines (e.g., “compare,” “contrast,” and “synthesize”), or they can vary by discipline (e.g., “point of view,” “plot,” “diagram,” and “image”). Tier II words are the most important words for direct instruction because they are good indicators of a student’s progress through school.

Other examples of tier two words are: masterpiece, fortunate, industrious, measure, and benevolent. There are about 7,000 word families in English (or 700 per year) in Tier II. Tier III consists of low-frequency words that occur in specific domains. Domains include subjects in school, hobbies, occupations, geographic regions, technology, weather, etc. We usually learn these words when a specific need arises, such as learning amino acid during a chemistry lesson. Examples of tier three words are: economics, isotope, asphalt, Revolutionary War, and, crepe. The remaining 400,000 words in English fall in this tier.

It important to remember that Tier II and III words are not all clear-cut in their tier classification. There is more than one way to select the words.

Word knowledge is subject to personal experience. US Digital Literacy proposes that educators explicitly teach the Tiers of Vocabulary so students will have a meta-cognitive understanding of their own vocabulary acquisition process. This helps students to have an enduring understanding of the importance of the words they are learning as well as how they fit into English Language Arts which is becoming a lost art in America. Students then begin to build better success rates and ability to transfers skills to authentic learning. Additional classroom strategies include: Pre-teach Vocabulary: Explicit teaching of vocabulary prior to a lesson can take on many forms.

Drawing or sketching a word helps provide a visual connection to the meaning of the word. Sharing pictures or actual objects of items helps students make concrete connections to new words.

Role playing or using gestures also helps build understanding. Create a language rich classroom: Use labels to identify objects in your classroom. Provide word walls and anchor charts to display key vocabulary. Utilize desktop cards to reinforce unit vocabulary.

Model the use of appropriate vocabulary: The use of more sophisticated language, being exposed to a variety of genres, reading aloud and discussing texts that challenge listening comprehension, playing word games that involve reflection about the relation between the structure and meaning of words, having multiple opportunities for using new words in multiple contexts, and learning about specialized topics and concepts are appropriate methods for the teacher to model formal vocabulary. Explicitly teach, reinforce, and revisit:. Analysis of word parts and structures. Use of context clues. Appropriate use of reference tools (for example, dictionaries and thesauruses). Development and articulation of personal approaches for building vocabulary knowledge.

Lead discussions of student-friendly definitions. Provide sentence examples with contexts that make the meaning of each new vocabulary word transparent. Present audio and visual support with opportunities for students to hear and see a word, its syllables, sounds, definition, and its application. Deliver practice of vocabulary words within context-rich sentences. Use synonym and antonym activities to deepen understanding of word meanings and how they relate to other words. Allow students to apply the word using games and word puzzles. Have students use graphic organizers, such as concept circles, word webs, and word squares.

Support experimentation and reward use of even partially known vocabulary words, particularly in student writing. Embed new vocabulary words into writing or discussion prompts, homework assignments, quizzes, and classroom instruction. Monitor and assess students’ learning: Allow students multiple opportunities to use words they are learning. Remember the “rule of seven” attempts to move new information from working memory to long term memory. Also, hold students accountable for using the words both in speech and writing.

And, give students multiple attempts to show mastery. Specific activities are outlined below. Analog activities are included as well as some of our favorite online activities and websites that help promote vocabulary. For the analog activities click the arrow down button to open each box for a description of the activity plus the resource. For the digital activities click the logo to go to a description page with a link to the website.

(Most of the websites we use are free or are at a freemium. But some charge a fee.).

Students will comprehend a word better when they get to see it. This is a fun way for the students to show their creativity and how they see what a word means. Students will be assessed by them being able to recognize a word, know the meaning, and draw a picture about it. Procedure: Teacher hands out white paper. The students draw out the vocabulary word in bubble letters on the piece of paper. The students describe the word in their own words. Then the students draw pictures to represent the word.

The students should fill up the their paper and leave no white spaces. Resource: Graffiti Writings.

(n.d) Gaikwad, P. Advanced instructional strategies compendium. Silang, Philippines: Adventist Institute of Advanced Studies. Authentic learning means putting the student at the center of the experience. But sometimes, they need a little support, especially when you are introducing new more complicated terms. Using the word wall match-up strategies, students will using problem solving and reasoning skills to match up terms with definitions, and in some cases symbolic representation.

Terms are on word wall, definitions can be given in text via book or handouts. Resource: Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. In this game students form a circle. (If you have a class of about 26 you may want to make two separate circles.) The teacher selects a category and asks students to think of three words that would fit in that category.

The teacher gives a ball to one person in the group and directs students to pass the ball to their right, calling out one of their words as the ball is passed to them. The teacher gives 45 seconds to each group to see how many words they can call for the given category.

(Variations of this activity can be created too.) Resources: and Pieces of Learning, NCAGT, March 2017. Mind maps begin with one centralized word or idea that branches out into multiple associated ideas, words or concepts. Tony Buzan, a British psychologist, invented mind mapping to better accommodate individuals who absorb information in a non-linear fashion. In brief, mind maps: have one central word or idea located at the center of the diagram and have multiple associated ideas, words and concepts branched to the main idea. Resource: http://www.inspiration.com/blog/2011/03/quick-lesson-visual-learning-maps-explained/. Resources:15 vocabulary strategies in 15 minutes. Learning Tasks.

Www.learningtasks.weebly.com Beck, Isabel L., McKeown, Margaret G., and Kucan, Linda. Bringing words to life. New York, NY: The Guilford Press Kieffer & Lessaux, Breaking down words to build meaning: Vocabulary and reading comprehension in the urban classroom. The Reading Teacher, 6, 134-144, (2007). Montgomery, Judy K.

MAVA-Montgomery assessment of vocabulary acquisition. Greenville, South Carolina: Super Duper Publications, Inc. Montgomery, Judy K. Vocabulary Intervention for RTI: Tiers 1, 2, 3 Retrieved October 28, 2008. 3 Tier vocabulary words. Retrieved October 28, 2008 http://www.learningunlimitedllc.com/2013/02/20-digital-tools-for-vocabulary/.