Developing Common Core Vocabulary and Comprehension Across the Grades

Presented by Kelly FordManville, January 2015

Manville SchoolsGoals

High-Quality Instruction

Complex Reading and Writing

Student-Centered Learning

Critical Thinking

Common Core/PARCCMajor Shifts

Building background knowledge

Today we will explore effective ways to support literature by connecting it with

non-fiction texts. We will learn about what research says about the critical element

of background knowledge.

Common Core/PARCCMajor Shifts

Academic vocabularyToday we will investigate what research

says about proven vocabulary instructional strategies

Goal for This Workshop

Acquire knowledge of the research and strategies used to teach

students HOW to comprehend complex fiction and nonfictions texts

independently.

Background knowledge + vocabulary = comprehension

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Knowledge

Comprehension

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

Background

Knowledge

Dr. Sousa’s Brain Research

Sense and Meaning Come First

Does this make sense? What is this? What is the agenda? What will I be asked to do? Can I

do it?

Does this mean something to me? What am I going to get out of this? Is this relevant to me?

Why should I pay attention?

With or Without Background Knowledge

Rate your level of background knowledge from 1 to 5, 5 being a high level a background knowledge, on the following:

Winter is coming

Three worlds collide

Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

Because of Winn Dixie

David Tyree of NY Giants

If you knew you had to read a passage on one of these topics, and then answer questions, which one would you pick to read?

Marking Period 1 Theme: Uncharted Waters

Essential Questions: Why did explorers in history want to risk the unknown? What parts of our world are still unexplored? What kind of traits do all explorers have, past and present? In what ways do their discoveries impact us today?

Age of Exploration in SS (Maritime/Age of Discovery)

Age of Exploration in science (Scientific Revolution)

Reading Dark Life in LA, sci-fi about living underwater in the future (comparing historical explorers with fictional characters exploring uncharted areas undersea)

Age of Exploration in math class (longitude, latitude)

With or Without Background Knowledge

List three major topics you will be teaching for the rest of the year. How will you build background knowledge:

Nonfiction/tie to SS or science

Personal relevance comparison

Story/Movie clip/Game/Pop Culture

Vocabulary

Article/current events

Vocabulary is the bridge between phonics-level reading in K-2 and comprehension of texts

in grades 3-12

Linkk to eBook of Vocabulary Teaching and Learning Researchhttp://www.cuc.edu.ve/upc/PNFT/INGLES/Teaching_and_Learning_Vocabulary.pdf

3rd-12th grades: Polysyllabic words introduce new situations where phonics skills break

down.

Apply becomes application which becomes applicable or applicable.

--------------------------

Lightning Thief: threatened, philosophical, appetite

--------------------------------------

9th grade World History: Europe, military buildup, nationalistic feelings, and rival alliances set the stage for a continental war.

What does scientifically-based research tell us about

vocabulary instruction?

Most vocabulary is learned indirectly.

Children learn word meanings indirectly in three ways:

Conversations with adults.

Listening to adults read and engaging in conversations about books.

Reading extensively on their own, encountering unfamiliar words.

A Focus on Vocabulary: http://www.prel.org/products/re_/ES0419.htm

Brian reads for an hour 5 days a week on an appropriate level, so he will encounter:

2,250,000 words2-5% will be unknown ( = 45,000 to 112,500 unknown words)Research says students can learn 2-5% of unknown words from a single reading, then… Brian will learn 2,250 new words each year.

This equates to approximately

17 words a day

Some vocabulary should be taught directly:

Teaching specific words before reading.

Using new words in different contexts.

Repeated exposure and active engagement.

Tier 3

Tier 2

Tier 1Play, building, love

(everyday social English)

What words should I teach?Isabel Beck’s Vocabulary Pyramid

Journey, defiant

Common academic words from school reading

Mitosis, ubiquitous

Content specific or rarely used words

What words should I teach?

Teach Tier 2 Vocabulary

Useful words that students will see or use repeatedly across content; words that can have prefixes/suffixes

Difficult words that have multiple meanings.

Important words that are significant for understanding concepts within the text. (could be Tier2 or Tier 3)

Tier 2

Gigantic is very, very big

Journey is a trip, it is when you go to a new place with your family or friend

Don’t use Tier 2 unknown to explain a Tier 2 unknown

Gigantic = enormous

Journey = excursion

Useful Words Great Instructional Potential

Benevolent/benefit/benefactor/benevolence/benevolently

Fortunate/misfortune/unfortunately/fortuitous

Exuberant/exuberance/exuberantly

Conceive/pre-conceived/ill-conceived

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/choosing-words-teach

Multiple Meaning Words

Conduct

Product

Reflect

Resource

Ruler

Make The Study of Words Fascinating

Other Vocabulary Links

http://www.tv411.org/vocabulary/dictionary-thesaurus/video-multiple-meanings

http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/profbooks/multmeaning.pdf

http://grammar.about.com/od/200homonyms/fl/20-Commonly-Confused-Word-Pairs.htm

http://sb058.k12.sd.us/multiple%20meanings/multiple_meaning_words.htm

http://www.vocabulary.com/lists/52473#view=notes

http://www.mapping.com/englishhard.shtml

Identify Tier 2 Words

Choose a text appropriate for your grade and subject

Scan and choose vocabulary based upon the scope of one class reading (5-10 pages)

Vocabulary Learning:

A few key words are taught within meaningful contexts.

Words are related to students prior knowledge in ways that actively involve them in learning.

Student-centered activities are available in classroom centers.

Students are given multiple exposure to the words.

Students are taught to identify root or base words through the use of prefixes, suffixes and other word parts.

Learning a definition is not learning a word. Students must

relate it to other concepts and words they already know.

Word Wall(s)Think of your room as a graphic organizer for words

Tier 2 Words Main focus for everyday conversation and writing

Social Studies Tier 3

(on wall, chart, etc. )

Story Tier 2 and Tier 3

words(on wall, chart, etc.)

ScienceTier 3

(on wall, chart, etc.)

Vocabulary and Comprehension … provide a mutual benefit in reading increasingly complex texts. As children’s vocabulary grows, their ability to comprehend what they read grows as well; furthermore, as their comprehension skills grow so do their abilities to learn new words from context.

Vocabulary Comprehension

William H. Rupley et. al 2003, Vocabulary instruction in a balanced reading program

Decoding a word is not comprehending a word.

Comprehension:Successful decoding is not reading..

Exiguous

Hardstand

Haploid

Lucubrate

Mufti

The Context Clues Dilemma Context clues don’t always work the way a teacher thinks. Try to determine the meaning of these words below using

the “context clues”

The exiguous fee for the tour was mentioned in many guide books.

The hardstand must be replaced. It is simply so damaged that it is now dangerous.

Haploids are less likely to mutate.

Given no other choice, Cervantes was forced to lucubrate.

Disguised in mufti, the man shocked the crowd when he pulled a gun.

Breaking Through To Comprehension Using Background Knowledge and

Vocabulary

The gobbledorph drined a bleen in the shile to rend its crill.

The Gobbledorph

Background Knowledge: Class, we’ve been learning about domestic animals like dogs and cats, and today we will learn about a breed of dog called a gobbledorph.

NOW try to break through to comprehending the gobbledorph sentence…. Can you?

One Vocabulary Word

I will define one vocabulary word in the gobbledorph sentence.

“drined” means to dig.

NOW can you break through to comprehending the sentence?

A Mardsan Giberter for Farfie

            Glis was very fraper.  She had denarpen Farfie’s mardsan.  She didn’t talp a giberter for him.  So she conlanted to plimp a mardsan binky for him.  She had just sparved the binky when he gibbled in the gorger.

            “Clorsty mardsan!” she soffed.  “That’s a croustish mardsan binky,” soffed Farfie.  “But my mardsan is on Stansan.  Agan is Kelsan.”

Add Background and Vocab

Learning about birthdays around the world….

“Denarpen” means forgotten

NOW work with your colleagues to break the code to the entire paragraph of Mardsen Giberter.

Building Comprehension…

Before Reading

Build background knowledge

Highlight vocabulary (explicit for Word Wall Worthy words or a quick explanation of a tier 3 word)

During ReadingThink Aloud – wonder aloud

Check for understanding (teach to self-monitor, “Am I getting it or not? Why? At what point did I lose track?)

Encourage responses / “wondering” questions

After Reading

Writing: response, extension, report, journal entry

“We’re never done until we write about it.”

Comprehension discussion

Extension activities beyond writing and speaking (research with more nonfiction)

Literature Circles (student-led, independent)

Takeaways

What are some takeaways you have from this session?

Contact: KellyFord102@comcast.net

Part II (later date)

Common Core/PARCCMajor Shifts

Nonfiction text structures that require students to

analyze the author’s style, motives, evidence

Today we will analyze an example of a complex text structure and the author’s

style.

Common Core Nonfiction Shift

It’s not author’s purpose in terms of inform, persuade, or entertain: it’s author’s purpose on a much deeper level that requires close reading.

Revisit texts multiple times for different purposes

20 Questions Homework

Model, model, model again

Tim Shanahan on Close Reading

“A model lesson on close reading should stress the text, not the reading strategies. And, it should focus attention on not just what the text said, but how the author expressed, reinforced, or extended the meaning through his/her choices of language and structure . http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com

Close Reading

After the first reading, students re-visit the text for close reading. Now that they understand what a text has to say, they can now determine how the text works. For example, how did the illustrations help you to understand what the author meant by adaptation? Or, why do scientists use the term “adaptation” instead of “change”?

http://www.atticacsd.org/webpages/grtc/resources.cfm?subpage=1464920

Examples