Exploding the Vocabulary: Teaching the Words Students

Need for Success

Keith Pruitt, Ed.S.Words of Wisdom

Educational Consultingwww.woweducationalconsulting.com

Agenda

• Activating the Learning•How Many Words are Needed?

• The Connection with Comprehension

• Academic Purpose• Beck’s Method

• Building Schema• Exploding the Vocabulary• Prefixes, Suffixes, Roots

I’m now going to tell you everything I know about

life.

This won’t take long.

2 Minute Word Drill• Make as many words as possible in 2 minutes

from the following letters.

• B, D, H, M, N, P, C, K• A, O, I

Of the 100,000+ words in the English language, only the 2,000 most frequent words (General Service List) are necessary for

students to understand at least 80% of daily conversation and writing. If students know…, in

conjunction with 570 high frequency academic words

found on the AWL (Coxhead), they may understand close to 90% of academic text. (Nation,

2002).

Write down the words in the following reading that your

students would need to have explained.

The extrapolations led city officials to believe 24% of residents in the south side would be adversely affected by the release of carcinogenic gases from the plant. Thus they determined Hygene, Inc. to be a public hazard and suspended their operating license.

Turn and Talk

Write down the words in the following reading that your

students would need to have explained.

The extrapolations led city officials to believe 24% of residents in the south side would be adversely affected by the release of carcinogenic gases from the plant. Thus they determined Hygene, Inc. to be a public hazard and suspended their operating license.

The Underlined words seem natural

choices for teaching.

Write down the words in the following reading that your

students would need to have explained.

The extrapolations led city officials to believe 24% of residents in the south side would be adversely affected by the release of carcinogenic gases from the plant. Thus they determined Hygene, Inc. to be a public hazard and suspended their operating license.

How about these words and phrases?

How Many Words Do Students Need?

…the number of new words students learn, especially in the primary grades, is about 3,000 new words per year (Baumann & Kameenui, 1991; Beck and McKeown, 1991; Graves, 1986). From Vocabulary Acquisition: Synthesis of the Research, Baker, Simmons, Kameenui, US Office Special Education,

One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment.—

Hart CraneFrom Inside Words, Janet Allen, p.1

ESL students rely more heavily on direct instruction than native speakers.

Goulden, Nation, Read, 1990

How can I instruct enough words to make a difference?

The Connection With Comprehension

I Am ReefBy Linda Hoyt

I am reefLaden with coral in wild wonderful shapesUndersea illusions of antler, tree, or bulging brainReef-building polyps grow and connectUrchin and anemone skeletons on limestoneSpreading my reachLayer upon layerEnormous underwater city

Plants and sea creatures crowd halls and tunnelsSeeking refugeRaising their youngSeeking their preyCoral reefHuge specter of strengthI am reef. from Interactive Read-Alouds, 4-5, Hoyt, 2007, p. 196

I Am ReefBy Linda Hoyt

I am reefLaden with coral in wild wonderful shapesUndersea illusions of antler, tree, or bulging brainReef-building polyps grow and connectUrchin and anemone skeletons on limestoneSpreading my reachLayer upon layerEnormous underwater city

Plants and sea creatures crowd halls and tunnelsSeeking refugeRaising their youngSeeking their preyCoral reefHuge specter of strengthI am reef. from Interactive Read-Alouds, 4-5, Hoyt, 2007, p. 196

People’s knowledge of any topic is encapsulated in the terms they know that

are relevant to the topic. The more students understand these terms, the

easier it is for them to understand information they may read or hear about

the topic. The more terms a person knows about a given subject, the easier it is to

understand—and learn—new information related to that subject.

--Marzano and Pickering

Building Academic Vocabulary Teacher’s Manual, Marzano and Pickering, 2005, p.2-3

AcademicPurpose: Using Words

To Teach Concepts

What is a Soutache?

What are some ways I could teach the word Soutache to students?

•Could just tell them- so exciting.•I could have them look it up.•I Could tell them, show them, and have them make one.

A narrow herringbone patterned braid used as trim.

For each of the following tell your conversation partner to which content area each of these words belong.

• Supernova•Ventricle•Depreciation•Outlier•Polyunsaturated•Cyclone•Mercantilism•Photosynthesis

The more a student knows of these the more successful a student will be

academically.

Tell Your Partner What This Statement Means.

The Person Who Does All the Work in the Classroom

Has All the Memories.

The Brain Friendly Classroom, Love and Logic

Taken from Inside Words, Janet Allen, p.21

What does this glass of milk have to do with the word intolerance?

Tools Students Can Use to Learn Words

•Dictionaries•Working with the Context•Extensive Reading•Thesaurus Plus Dictionary•Internet Tools•Vocabulary Cards

Focus on Vocabulary 1: Bridging VocabularyPearson Longman

What is my level of understanding?

1. I don’t know this word.2. Seen or heard the word

before, but not sure of meaning.

3. I understand when I hear or see word, but don’t know how to use in writing or speaking.

4. I know word and can use it in writing and speaking.

Used in Focus on Vocabulary, Pearson Longman

Beck, McKeown, Kucan

• Vocabulary must first be orally introduced.• Vocabulary is not grade specific.• Words must be explained, not defined.• Must be contextualized.• Multiple usages in a meaningful context (8-10).• Create Schema (visual representation)• Students reflect with each other• Three Tiers of Vocabulary

Working With Vocabulary

• Explain• Restate• Show• Discuss• Refine and Reflect• Apply and Learning Games

Robert Marzano, Building Background Knowledge

Explain

• Putting words in terms students already know.

How would you explain to students the word comforting?

Comforting- Something or someone that is comforting makes you feel good when you are sad or hurt.

Beck & McKeown, Elements of Reading Vocabulary, Steck Vaughn, 2004

Further explain by putting the word in a context.

A warm cup of tea is comforting when my throat hurts.My dog feels comforting when I am hurt.

Glossary terms are highlighted

Terms are defined for the students in words they can understand

Pearson Longman, Keystone, Level E

Provide purpose for reading

Working With Vocabulary

• Explain• Restate• Show• Discuss• Refine and Reflect• Apply and Learning Games

Robert Marzano, Building Background Knowledge

Using Vocabulary Journals

• Have students create journals• Words• Schema• Explanations• Reflections• Consultations

Working With Vocabulary

• Explain• Restate• Show• Discuss• Refine and Reflect• Apply and Learning Games

Robert Marzano, Building Background Knowledge

Do Not Under-estimate the power of a picture.

The Heart of the Tulip

By Keith Pruitt

Exaggerate

Beck and McKeown, Elements of Reading Vocabulary, Steck Vaughn, 2004

scheming

The cats were scheming against the birds.

Working With Vocabulary

• Explain• Restate• Show• Discuss• Refine and Reflect• Apply and Learning Games

Robert Marzano, Building Background Knowledge

The Beauty of Peer Collaboration

Working With Vocabulary

• Explain• Restate• Show• Discuss• Refine and Reflect• Apply and Learning Games

Robert Marzano, Building Background Knowledge

Reflection allows a refinement of understanding. It permits the memory file to be adjusted to incorporate new understandings.

Working With Vocabulary

• Explain• Restate• Show• Discuss• Refine and Reflect• Apply and Learning Games

Robert Marzano, Building Background Knowledge

Exploding The Vocabulary

• Through direct instruction, 5-8 words/week

• Adds approximately 160 words to reading/writing vocabularies.

• If we take the connective words for those five… look what happens.

So work becomes

Works

Worker

Worked

Working

Will Work

Labor

Job

Employment

Exert

Lazy

A Word Tree Starts with Base Word

Using Word Tree

• Those five words have become @50 words.• Now in 32 weeks we have instructed 1600

words.• Students may gain another 320-600 words via

reading.• Now we have exploded the vocabulary by a

maximum of 2200 words in 32 weeks.• In the traditional program 640 words are

instructed, but only 64-120 of them are learned. And emphasis is on spelling.

• Here are some common words taught. What other words may we teach in conjunction with these:

GlimmerVastArtisticDisturb

You Try It

Prefixes

• Un-, re-, in-, dis- are the most common prefixes and when students have learned their meanings, they can learn more than 1500 words easily.

• Start instruction with un-

• Read a selection… • Explain that un carries

the opposite meaning of the word to which it is added.

Prefixes

• UN-

Which of these are prefixes and which are not?

• Unemployed• Uncle• Unstable• Unbroken• Unicorn • Unhealthy• Unlucky• United

Prefixes

• Re-

• Can mean back or again• Which are these? And

which are not a prefix?

• Rearrange• Refund• Reply• Review• Refrigerator• Relocate• Reporter• Rewrite

Roots

• Here are some common roots and their meanings. What words could be taught? Give two examples of each.

• Dict= say• Duct=lead• Fac/fec=do, make• Ject=throw• Loc=place• Meter=measure

• Micro=small• Phon=sound• Photo=light• Port=carry, take• Press=press• Scrib=write• Sens=feel• Spec=look• Struct=build• Tele=far• Tract=drag, pull• Vis/vid=see• Voc=voice, call

Trans-

Across, through, on the other side, beyond

translucent

transfer

transferred

transferable

transference

http://www.betterendings.org/homeschool/Words/Root%20Words.htm

From Vocabulary Power, Pearson Longman

The Most

Valuable Assets

You Can Give

Your Students

Are WORDS

ThankYou

Keith PruittWords of Wisdom

EducationalConsulting

www.woweducationalconsulting.com