The pedagogy behind the proven elementary word study program, Words Their Way, has now been extended for middle and high school. The program builds on the foundation established in the elementary grades and provides engaging vocabulary lessons for secondary students. Instruction addresses vocabulary standards by teaching strategies and word relationships, while focusing on acquiring and using age-appropriate vocabulary.
Extreme Vocabulary Lesson
A flexible plan allows either a 5-day or 3-day per week implementation. Each lesson can be completed in just 15-20 minutes per day! There are instructional routines and assessments for 60 lessons plus 6 review week lessons. Additional teacher resources provide cross-curricular connections and support.
Teach Generative Vocabulary (word parts and meanings), develop General Academic (Tier 2) Vocabulary, and increase Domain-Specific (Tier 3) Vocabulary. Lessons incorporate 600+ vocabulary words with explicit strategies for determining meaning. Multiple exposures to words in varied contexts, anchor words, and relevant connections lead to success.
How do you develop independent word learners in your classroom? Watch the recorded Webinar in which Author Kevin Flanigan shows how to teach morphology and improve vocabulary in ELA classrooms and across content areas. Explore vocabulary activities such as concept sorts, word histories, and digital vocabulary resources.
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Some good ESL students usually want the teacher to give them something they can use to study alone at home. They usually like to do the grammar & vocabulary exercises at home and use the classroom lessons to improve on their communicative skills. Here are some great homework companions for your students.
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Chinese is an easy language to learn to speak. Using our free Mandarin lessons online, you can quickly learn Chinese through free mp3 audio lessons, video slides and several interactive games and quizzes. It is increasingly important to learn Chinese so as to take advantage of the many economic opportunities that China provides. You can also quickly expand your vocabulary by looking at these lessons for beginners and elementary Chinese learners.
Teaching vocabulary is complex. What words are important for a child to know and in what context? In this excerpt from Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction, the authors consider what principles might be used for selecting which words to explicitly teach.
Adding the seven target words to young students' vocabulary repertoires would seem to be quite productive, because learning the words would allow students to describe with greater specificity people and situations with which they already have some familiarity. Note that these words are not simple synonyms of the familiar ones, however, instead representing more precise or more complex forms of the familiar words. Maintain means not only "keep going," for example, but also "to continue something in its present condition or at its present level." Benevolent has the dimension of tolerance as well as kindness.
The decision about which words to teach must also take into account how many words to teach in conjunction with any given text or lesson. Given that students are learning vocabulary in social studies and science as well as reading or language arts, there needs to be some basis for limiting the number of words so that students will have the opportunity to learn some words well.
The rest of the words do not play key roles in the story, nor is their unfamiliarity likely to interfere with comprehension. So, which other words are attended to, if any, is simply a matter of choice and convenience. That is, a decision as to the number of words taught might be made on the basis of how many a teacher wants to make room for at the moment. Factors in this decision may include, for example, how large the current vocabulary load is in the classroom, the time of year, and the number and difficulty of other concepts presently being dealt with in the curriculum.
Now let us consider a text that does not seem to offer much for vocabulary development because all of the words in the text are familiar to students. An approach in such a case could be selecting words whose concepts fit in with the story even though the words do not appear. For example, if the story features a character who is a loner, introduce the words hermit, isolated,or solitary; if a problem is dealt with, present it as a dilemma or conflict; if a character is hardworking, consider if he or she is diligent and conscientious. Think in terms of words that coordinate with, expand, or play off of words, situations, or characters in a text.
A couple of points should be emphasized here. The words were selected not so much because they are essential to comprehension of the story but because they seem most closely integral to the mood and plot. In this way, the vocabulary work provides both for learning new words and for enriching understanding of literature. This decision was made possible because there was a large pool of words from which to choose. Sometimes choices are more limited, and sometimes the best words are not so tied to the story. In such cases, a decision might be made to select words that seem most productive for vocabulary development despite their role in the story.
There are two reasons we decided that vocabulary activities for young children should occur after a story. First, if a word is needed for comprehension, since the teacher is reading the story she is available to briefly explain the word at the point in the story where it is needed (e.g., "A ukulele is a kind of guitar"; or "When ducks molt, they lose their feathers and can't fly until new ones grow"). Second, since the words that will be singled out for vocabulary attention are words that are very likely unfamiliar to young children, the context from the story provides a rich example of the word's use and thus strong support for the children's initial learning of the word.
A concern that surfaces in deciding which words to teach is whether words are appropriate for students at certain grade levels. Key to this concern is to understand that no formula exists for selecting age-appropriate vocabulary words despite lists that identify "fifth-grade words" or "seventh-grade words." There is simply no basis for determining which words students should be learning at different grade levels. For example, that coincidence is an "eighth-grade word" according to a frequency index means only that most students do not know the word until eighth grade. It does not mean that students in seventh or even third grade cannot learn the word or should not be taught it.
Keep in mind that there is no formula for selecting age-appropriate vocabulary words despite lists that identify "fifth-grade words" or "seventh-grade words." As long as the word can be explained in known words and can apply to what students might talk or write about, it is an appropriate word to teach.
As students get into different types of reading, being able to determine word meaning is important. I enjoyed learning the different ways to use them during instruction and engaging the students. A teachers understanding of how to use the tiers for vocabulary words will help readers grow as independent learners.
I liked the idea of putting vocabulary into the three tiers. I use illustrations in my art class and have the students use words to describe what they see. I now can introduce higher tier words to my classes depending on the grade level.
There is a wealth of research indicating that building life-long readers is more likely to happen when children are given choice in their reading. Some of my fourth graders have read Charlotte's Web as early as second grade, and the vocabulary words listed would be ill-suited for them. On the other hand, some would find this a difficult (or not-interesting) book, so having them read it would discourage them from reading rather than keep them motivated to read more. There are so many well-written books out there, with words that are challenging and new to our readers, I am hopeful that we can allow kids to discover and be excited about their reading lives and the words they can add to their own vocabularies.
I like using vocabulary activities with the words after the story has been read, this sounded like a great way to get vocabulary going for students and for them to be able to connect the words and meaning to better comprehend the story.
I really like the idea that the vocabulary explored has been customized for the needs of the individual student. Building understanding on existing vocabulary to learn new vocabulary. This is scaffolding at its best. Really this is the only way to really teach; build that understanding of the individual student's need and build a plan around that.
It seems that the real concept is to create a teachable moment which encourages the students' curiosity about various text, words and concepts that would enable them to more accurately express themselves. I am very impressed with the research that seems to focus on the students' environment and culture. Thank you! You have given me a very useful technique to lesson plan development.
The reading was very informative and will prove beneficial as I will be applying these concepts regularly. The categorization of words in the three tiers distinguished and simplified how vocabulary can be selected when teaching. 2ff7e9595c
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