Vocabulary Instruction
Read the following text and answer the questions that follow:
Were you able to understand the text or answer the questions? How did you feel while reading it or attempting to answer the questions?
Along with background knowledge and listening comprehension, vocabulary is a necessary part of language comprehension. Vocabulary is one of the strongest predictors of reading comprehension because comprehension depends on knowing word meanings.
Middle School: Please read the following articles:
Classroom Vocabulary Assessment for Content Areas
Approach #1: Academic Word Frequency
Links
Academic Word List with Definitions (Coxhead)
Academic Vocabulary Lists (Gardner & Davies)
Approach #2: Sequence of Word Acquisition
Links
Article: Which Words Are Worth Teaching
Approach #3: 3 Tiers of Vocabulary
Resources
Choosing Vocabulary Words for Instruction
EVERYONE, PLEASE RESPOND: Which approach would be more appropriate for you to provide students with the necessary vocabulary support in your classes? How can you apply that approach?
Understanding what the first activity was about, I chose to use my critical thinking skills and attempt to answer the questions using the given vocabulary. I couldn't do it! I absolutely could not have faked my way through it. I thought the exercise was EXTREMELY eye-opening and understood how students would be so frustrating (a similar experience is below**).
ReplyDeleteWhen working with Jacob’s Ladders and read-alouds, I feel the 3 Tier Approach (#3) through Point-of-Contact teaching would be most appropriate. However, I also feel as a REACH teacher, to extend and enrich, I like the idea of using Vocabulary Journals in Book Creator with Academic Word Frequency (#1) as an ongoing activity from year-to-year!! I have created a library to start with my 3rd and 5th-grade Reading classes using Coxhead’s AWL. :)
**I have a 5th-grade science Jacob's Ladder that I could NOT understand AT ALL! If I can't understand it, how in the world could 5th graders?!?!? Turns out that was part of the exercise...the first question was "What details do you wish the author would have provided but were not included about black holes and this discovery? Why do you think that information was missing? Should this information have been included? Why or why not?" HOWEVER, even explaining this to the students, we went through the article to pick out the vocabulary we don't understand to put in our new Academic Word Journals before moving forward with discussion. I think they appreciate that approach!
I agree attempting to read the text given was extremely difficult. I also tried to use all my strategies to try to understand it but for me it was impossible and frustrating. On the other hand, the text that was given in Cox Campus that was also supposed to be a difficult text to read and comprehend was extremely easy. The only reason why though is because I come from a family of medical professionals. For me it was another beautiful example of why background knowledge is so important!
DeleteReading the opening assignment made me feel like several of my students when they cannot figure out what the terms mean! It definitely gave me a better appreciation for the frustration a student feels when they do not understand the vocabulary in their passages.
ReplyDeleteI have used several strategies for vocabulary acquisition with my middle school students. I will use online flashcards, mini quizzes, frayer models, and even standard definitions. I do feel like having students find their own definition or own explanations for terms helps them make personal connections to the content vocabulary. My most frequent way of giving vocabulary is through reading- whether it is slides with key words bolded or content articles. I have been working on helping students recognize what they do not know. Often, my students will read through or skim an article then say they cannot find unknown words. This this is disproven with comprehension questions. So instead of having students look for words they don't know, I tell them to look for words a younger student wouldn't know. Once we have some terms, I ask to try and use context clues to find the meaning before we check online for a more concrete definition. This has been helpful in showing students that we may see a word that we have seen before, but might not understand what that term means in the context. This opens some discussion of how language can differ per content or even style of writing.
It is frustrating reading the above knowing there are words that are made up-I am sure students in our classes feel similarly frustrated when they have never seen them OR do not know the meanings of the words we present them with. I do think all of the approaches to vocabulary are important and should be used at appropriate times. For my classes, I think it is necessary for me to recognize which tier the vocabulary sits on so that I can best present the definitions and uses to my students. Because many of the new vocabulary words I introduce are music “academic language” specific, I always introduce them as “Fancy musical words” and I think this grabs their attention. Many music vocabulary words are Italian and this further separates them into our music academic language! (PRESTO, ADAGIO, FORTE, ANDANTE, etc.). It also means that they sit at tier 3. I need to be careful to recognize both of these aspects when presenting and assessing this vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI like that you have a name for them like "Fancy Musical Words," I'm sure when you use that term the students always see it as a vocabulary cue.
DeleteI found Biemiller's discussion of concrete and symbolic word meanings very interesting. And the exercise prior to the articles really showed me how many of my students must feel when presented with words like equality or globalization. These are no more accessible to many students than traxoline and quaselled are to me. With social studies content, the majority of vocabulary that I teach is in fact symbolic. The fact these words require twice the exposure is telling. A great deal of concepts in 6th grade social studies are repeated almost identically in 7th grade with the difference being what area of the world is focused upon. I can definitely see the necessity of the repetition of these concepts when looking at it through the lens of symbolic word acquisition. In social studies, I find myself most often using a tiered approach to vocabulary. However, historically, I have focused mostly on Tier 3 words. In light of this information, I would like to try to incorporate more Tier 2 words when able as they seem to provide more "bang for your buck."
ReplyDeleteReading the text at the beginning and not being able to understand it was beyond frustrating and I felt so lost not being able to understand what I was trying to read. This was very eye-opening and helped me to better realize what my students must feel when they are reading a text and cannot understand the words that they are reading.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the third approach, the 3 Tiers of Vocabulary, would be the most useful for me to use in providing students with the necessary vocabulary support. Thinking of vocabulary words in terms of tiers helps me to better identify what words may be Tier 2 or Tier 3 words. When prepping for read-alouds and other texts, it is easier for me to select the words that I need to provide student-friendly definitions for in the moment to help students better understand the text being read.
The text at the beginning was confusing! Student-friendly definitions and straight explicit teaching of the words before your read alouds is key for them to be able to enjoy the text. Students love coming to book club, so I know they are enjoying it! Thanks for offering it!
DeleteI agree that students enjoy going to Book Club, and I think your library that you set up is Awesome! I know that you are extending their knowledge with level 2 vocabulary, which helps the content. I agree that level 2 works best for me as well!
DeleteThere's a book club? I need more info on this. Do I have students in it? I'd love to ask them about it and possibly even do some of the readings so I could discuss with them in homeroom or etc.
DeleteI believe the best approach for me based on the ages of my students (K/1) would be the Tiers of Vocabulary approach. Throughout the day through conversations and activities the students are encountering unfamiliar words. Prior to our read-alouds I try to pull out vocabulary that the students will need to understand while we are reading the books. I also will pause at words they may not understand to give kid friendly definitions. An example from this week is the word “banister”. It was in a story about Martin Luther King Jr. The students had been introduced to some Tier 3 words like segregation but in the story where it says he “slid down the banister”. I paused to explain what a banister was and pointed it out in the picture.
ReplyDeleteGreat point of contact opportunity to use a student friendly definition of banister!
DeleteI also use point of contact teaching to provide student friendly definitions when doing read-alouds. This week while reading our Magic Tree House book, I stopped and gave student friendly definitions of the words “dog sled team”, “tundra”, and “snowbank”. I also showed them pictures of each to help them better understand what the word means.
DeleteI am quite certain that some of our students have a similar feeling of frustration while reading as I did when I read the passage posted. It really requires lots of mental effort to filter through the unknown words. I believe I am working mostly with Tier 2 words with my classes, so this would be the 3rd approach. With most of my classes I am working on decoding, blending , and segmenting. We read decodable texts and really work on fluency and vocabulary /tier 2 words. However, I plan to incorporate more Tier 3 words through a read aloud for about 5 minutes at the beginning of each class related to grade level science and social studies. I think this will really add some depth to some of the discussion and students love read alouds!
ReplyDeleteI love that you are finding ways to incorporate read alouds with the students and what a great way to incorporate with Science and Social Studies to build vocabulary and background knowledge!
DeleteReading through the exercise made me feel like I was reading a foreign language. I could not comprehend or learn from the passage.
ReplyDeleteThinking about words in 3 tiers is helpful to me when choosing words to teach or highlight during a lesson. I tend to highlight only tier 3 subject specific words but now I am challenged to incorporate some tier 2 words as well.
I usually use teacher to student instruction because it is most efficient during a google meet. Perhaps I will consider using breakout rooms for student to student instruction in the future.
Considering new vocabulary as a "foreign language" is a great way to describe the new words! I am sure it feels like teachers are talking in a foreig n language sometimes.
DeleteI thought the opening assignment was very interesting. It definitely helps us to understand how our students feel when they don't know vocabulary. What I thought was interesting though, was that I confidently answered the comprehension questions. Because the comprehension questions were explicitly answered in the text, I felt confident about answering them. I didn't understand my responses but I know they are right because I could easily find them in the text. I wonder how many times students have answered comprehension questions but not actually understood their response.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the approach of "Choosing Vocabulary Words for Instruction." I feel this lends itself particularly well to content specific vocabulary, as in math. Before lessons, I typically try to pick out the new vocabulary or vocabulary with new meanings in the context of math. This was also mentioned in the "Which Words are Worth Teaching" article. Many words might not be new, but may have new meanings as age and context develop. For example, the word MEDIAN may not be new students. They may know that a median is the grass or concrete divider in between two lanes, but MEDIAN in math has a new meaning. I try to relate the words with new meanings to the things they already know. Like a median in a road, median in math also means MIDDLE. I think it is very important to help students make these connections, but also pre-teach vocabulary so they don't end up reading word problems and definitions in the same way I read that example assignment.
I think you make a great point about students being able to answer comprehension questions by finding them in the text, but still not understanding their response. I also like how you incorporate definitions or things students may already be familiar with when introducing new vocabulary words. I think that is super helpful in students being able to make connections between what they are already familiar with and a new definition.
DeleteI agree that teaching students multiple definitions of the words is important. I have had students ask me why they had to learn all the different meanings of each word. I had to explain how confusing it would be if they thought an antennae was only part of an insect and not also something to transmit radio frequencies. Vocabulary acquisition is difficult but with things such as vocabulary journals, multiple exposures, and child friendly definitions I feel our students are makin progress.
DeleteJamie and Anna, I agree that the questions could be answered but answered without truly comprehending the content. This is also eye opening on the teacher side of the equation because we need to make sure that the questions we use on assessments demonstrate understanding of content not a student's ability to restate a question with text from the passage!
ReplyDeleteGreat point! What exactly are we wanting to assess? Are we truly assessing the content? Is it acceptable at any point to address the process? Are we checking for content mastery or task completion?
DeleteReading the text was frustrating and reminded me how students feel when introduced to new vocabulary words. It also reminded me to allow multiple exposures to new vocabulary words and prompt students to use kid-friendly definitions. I utilize several strategies to assist my students in acquiring new vocabulary. I focus on tier two words because these words can be used across subjects. I now realize that tier three words are important but tier two words are more often found in reading. I have started using Wordly Wise this year and even though this program does not provide a "magic list" of explicit vocabulary words to teach, I am finding these words are beneficial for my students. I am also spending more time on each set of words and providing my students with a variety of ways to practice the new vocabulary words such as; reading in multiple passages, writing sentences with the words, creating their own passage or story with the new words, creating a vocabulary book in Book Creator, making flash cards, reviewing with a Nearpod lesson (I create a Nearpod for each lesson), and finally a compression quiz to see if they understand the vocabulary words. Once a lesson is complete, I encourage the students to continue to use past vocabulary words in speech and in their writing. Other strategies that I continue to use is using teachable moments during read-alouds to define unknown words and encouraging students to use tier two words while speaking and writing. Finally, though I wish there was a "magic list" of words to teach our students, I do agree that providing our student with direct/explicit and also indirect exposure to vocabulary words will assist their vocabulary acquisition and comprehension. I see that more time needs to be given to our students to listen and converse with each other and this is an area I am going to improve upon in our virtual setting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your idea about class discussion. I do think we should provide more opportunities for our students to "unmute". Maybe we could incorporate some fun discussion for the students to begin to interact in efforts to motivate them to have academic disucssion .
DeleteWhen reading the first section, I could see where students would get frustrated and give up. I, being of different mind, make it a game/puzzle with a bit of competition of "I'm going to conquer this". I think of this when teaching vocabulary, as I am not one that liked it when I was in school. If vocabulary, Tier 3 , in particular, is taught in puzzle/game format it helps those "math/puzzle" minded students learn vocabulary. I love when students find a math or science word used and have a "aha moment when they see the same word in ELA or SS or vice versa.
ReplyDeleteDue to me working through the Vocabulary lesson, I knew exactly what this example blog was "getting at"! I agree, it was mind blown, and I didn't understand anything. Rereading didn't help either, because I was unfamiliar with the topic and had no background knowledge to supplement instruction or the curriculum! In other words, I see exactly how my students feel when they are presented with information that hasn't been taught or discussed in the classroom. In the past, my cold reads were like this (unfamiliar/unknown), but now they reflect current instruction and my kiddos understand what the article or passage is about.
ReplyDeleteLastly,
I use tier 2 words to support vocabulary instruction. Most of those terms are from Science and SS.
In trying to read the opening assignment - I just stopped. I didn't want to work that hard. I imagine so many students who struggle with reading feel the same way. No wonder getting some assignments is like pulling teeth!
ReplyDeleteApproach #3 describes my vocabulary instruction the best. Tier 3 words are not easy to understand outside of their specific academic content and honestly some aren't even needed outside of that content. Those areas may even be areas that the students will not use in their lifetimes unless they go into a career in a related field. Most students by the time they get to me in 5th and 6th grade, already have a strong tier 1 vocabulary. However, tier 2 vocabulary acquisition has much to be desired. This is where I focus my vocabulary instruction using the Wordly Wise word lists. Several of the words included in our lessons are surprisingly unknown to many students despite how common I feel these words are. Many I would not have explicitly taught. I would have assumed students at this grade level already knew these words. But many don't. This has opened my eyes to the reality of vocabulary acquisition and the necessity for explicitly taught tier 2 vocabulary.