 | In preparation for the new school year, I am reading a vocabulary instruction book that I absolutely love: Bringing Words to Life. This book moves away from definition based vocabulary instruction and demonstrates how to teach students using “Robust Vocabulary Instruction”—a method that places emphasis on learning words in different contexts (not in the traditional “context clue” way), student friendly meanings, and oral use of the words with repeated practice. Research shows that “Robust Vocabulary Instruction” teaches a student how to use and retain new vocabulary. |
In this blog I’m going to outline how to introduce new words. This is how I’m going to use “Robust Vocabulary Instruction” in my classroom. The September blog will provide an update on this method including follow up activities and assessment information.
Since my classes meet every other day with 90-minute block scheduling periods I’m going to introduce 3-4 words at a time over two days and then spend two weeks on instruction with an assessment the final day. If we met every day I would shorten this to a Monday-Friday routine. One final note, the selected vocabulary are Tier 2 words based on my class readings and words that students need to know to complete assignments. Bringing Words to Life devotes an entire chapter to word selection if that is an area of need.
Introducing New Words
Day 1 Words: summary, evidence, influence
Step 1. Create a student friendly definition. Use COBUILD (learner’s dictionary), Longman (learner’s dictionary), and onelook.com (consensus dictionary) as starting points for your definition and to make sure you capture the essence of the word. A longer definition using words that students are already familiar with is best. Be sure to include “something, someone, or describes” so students know how the word is used. Finally, It is okay to fold in an example.
“Today we’re going to look at the word summary (project on PowerPoint). Let’s all say it together: SUMMARY. Please raise your hand if you have heard this word. Please raise your hand if you can give me a definition of the word. Please raise your hand if you could teach the word to the class. Okay, so we have a range of familiarity with the word, but it’s the beginning of the school year, and a review won’t hurt us, so I’m going to give you a definition, and I want you to write it down in the vocabulary section of your folder. Please copy the underlined portion (project on PowerPoint): A summary is something that gives you the most important information without all the details and usually answers the questions what, who, when, where, and why. For example, if a teacher asks you what you did this summer and you tell them you went on a two week vacation to Las Vegas to visit your grandma, but you don’t tell them that you got a bug bite. You are giving the important information (what, who, when, where, why) without all of the unimportant details (bug bite).
Step 2. After you provide the meaning begin to elicit examples in different contexts. Your goal is to build many different connections at this point and have students use the word. The activity I’m planning is a vocabulary interview, but I highly recommend that you research “Robust Vocabulary Instruction” for a list of activities.
“Okay we are going to ask our partners some questions about this vocabulary word. The question stems and sentence frames are on the board:”
Partner B: Will you give me a summary of what you did yesterday?
Partner A: A summary of what I did yesterday is _____________________.
Partner A: Will you give me a summary of your favorite movie?
Partner B: A summary of my favorite movie _______________________ is _______________________.
Partner B: Will you summarize what we spent the last 10 minutes of class doing?
Partner A: To summarize the last 10 minutes of class we __________________________.
Partner A: If I told you that I got up to throw something away should I include that in my summary of class? Why or why not?
Partner B: You should/should not include that in your summary of class because ________________________________.
Note to teachers: When I do this I will model with a partner and then I will set a timer for one minute for each exchange only projecting one at a time. If students are early finishers then they can reverse roles. If they are really early finishers they can practice it repeatedly so they can do the exchange for the class without looking at the frames.
This concludes the introduction of one vocabulary word. My goal is to introduce three in one day, (for the sake of this blog let’s say that I have introduced all three words: summary, evidence, and influence). Then the final step is to close with concluding activities that deal with these words.
Evidence
· Say the word
· Rate your familiarity
· Copy down student friendly definition
· Activity: Students Vote Convincing vs. Weak Evidence
Influence
· Say the word
· Rate your familiarity
· Copy down student friendly definition
· Activity: Applaud for what influences you most
Step 3. Concluding Activities- in concluding activities your goal is to use all of the vocabulary words together. This might be as simple as asking students to respond to a question.
“Okay, today for our concluding activity first, I’m going to ask you to vote. Please raise your hand if you think that school hours should be from 9:30-4:30. Please raise your hand if you think school hours should stay the same: 8:00-3:00. Okay without saying anything take 1 minute of think time to come up with your reason (set the timer). I would like to hear from four people two from each side. (Let students share). Vote again.
“Now, please answer this question in writing in the vocabulary section of your folder: “Provide a summary of the evidence that influenced you to vote for school hours from 9:30-4:30.”
OR
“Provide a summary of the evidence that influenced you to vote for school hours to stay the same 8-3:00.”
Homework (provided to student on a slip of paper)
1. Create a word web for each word: summary, influence, evidence
(Teachers here are some links about word webs/semantic mapping: YouTube & Word Webs)
2. Answer the following questions about each word in complete sentences, and use the new vocabulary word in each answer.
· Who is the person in your life that influences you the most? Why?
· Provide a summary of that person’s personality.
· What evidence can you find to prove that person is a good person?
Reminder to Teachers: Have a class copy of vocabulary so if students leave their vocabulary at home they can make a copy.
Since my classes meet every other day with 90-minute block scheduling periods I’m going to introduce 3-4 words at a time over two days and then spend two weeks on instruction with an assessment the final day. If we met every day I would shorten this to a Monday-Friday routine. One final note, the selected vocabulary are Tier 2 words based on my class readings and words that students need to know to complete assignments. Bringing Words to Life devotes an entire chapter to word selection if that is an area of need.
Introducing New Words
Day 1 Words: summary, evidence, influence
Step 1. Create a student friendly definition. Use COBUILD (learner’s dictionary), Longman (learner’s dictionary), and onelook.com (consensus dictionary) as starting points for your definition and to make sure you capture the essence of the word. A longer definition using words that students are already familiar with is best. Be sure to include “something, someone, or describes” so students know how the word is used. Finally, It is okay to fold in an example.
“Today we’re going to look at the word summary (project on PowerPoint). Let’s all say it together: SUMMARY. Please raise your hand if you have heard this word. Please raise your hand if you can give me a definition of the word. Please raise your hand if you could teach the word to the class. Okay, so we have a range of familiarity with the word, but it’s the beginning of the school year, and a review won’t hurt us, so I’m going to give you a definition, and I want you to write it down in the vocabulary section of your folder. Please copy the underlined portion (project on PowerPoint): A summary is something that gives you the most important information without all the details and usually answers the questions what, who, when, where, and why. For example, if a teacher asks you what you did this summer and you tell them you went on a two week vacation to Las Vegas to visit your grandma, but you don’t tell them that you got a bug bite. You are giving the important information (what, who, when, where, why) without all of the unimportant details (bug bite).
Step 2. After you provide the meaning begin to elicit examples in different contexts. Your goal is to build many different connections at this point and have students use the word. The activity I’m planning is a vocabulary interview, but I highly recommend that you research “Robust Vocabulary Instruction” for a list of activities.
“Okay we are going to ask our partners some questions about this vocabulary word. The question stems and sentence frames are on the board:”
Partner B: Will you give me a summary of what you did yesterday?
Partner A: A summary of what I did yesterday is _____________________.
Partner A: Will you give me a summary of your favorite movie?
Partner B: A summary of my favorite movie _______________________ is _______________________.
Partner B: Will you summarize what we spent the last 10 minutes of class doing?
Partner A: To summarize the last 10 minutes of class we __________________________.
Partner A: If I told you that I got up to throw something away should I include that in my summary of class? Why or why not?
Partner B: You should/should not include that in your summary of class because ________________________________.
Note to teachers: When I do this I will model with a partner and then I will set a timer for one minute for each exchange only projecting one at a time. If students are early finishers then they can reverse roles. If they are really early finishers they can practice it repeatedly so they can do the exchange for the class without looking at the frames.
This concludes the introduction of one vocabulary word. My goal is to introduce three in one day, (for the sake of this blog let’s say that I have introduced all three words: summary, evidence, and influence). Then the final step is to close with concluding activities that deal with these words.
Evidence
· Say the word
· Rate your familiarity
· Copy down student friendly definition
· Activity: Students Vote Convincing vs. Weak Evidence
Influence
· Say the word
· Rate your familiarity
· Copy down student friendly definition
· Activity: Applaud for what influences you most
Step 3. Concluding Activities- in concluding activities your goal is to use all of the vocabulary words together. This might be as simple as asking students to respond to a question.
“Okay, today for our concluding activity first, I’m going to ask you to vote. Please raise your hand if you think that school hours should be from 9:30-4:30. Please raise your hand if you think school hours should stay the same: 8:00-3:00. Okay without saying anything take 1 minute of think time to come up with your reason (set the timer). I would like to hear from four people two from each side. (Let students share). Vote again.
“Now, please answer this question in writing in the vocabulary section of your folder: “Provide a summary of the evidence that influenced you to vote for school hours from 9:30-4:30.”
OR
“Provide a summary of the evidence that influenced you to vote for school hours to stay the same 8-3:00.”
Homework (provided to student on a slip of paper)
1. Create a word web for each word: summary, influence, evidence
(Teachers here are some links about word webs/semantic mapping: YouTube & Word Webs)
2. Answer the following questions about each word in complete sentences, and use the new vocabulary word in each answer.
· Who is the person in your life that influences you the most? Why?
· Provide a summary of that person’s personality.
· What evidence can you find to prove that person is a good person?
Reminder to Teachers: Have a class copy of vocabulary so if students leave their vocabulary at home they can make a copy.
| Planning Reference Sheet from the Authors |
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