Academic Vocabulary & the Common Core (Am I Doing this Right? )Erie I BOCES

November 21, 2013

Facilitator: Mary Jo Casilio

Power of Words…

Test your word knowledge

“Rhetoric is language at play – language plus. It is what

persuades & cajoles, inspires and bamboozles, thrills and misdirects.

It causes criminals to be convicted, and then frees those

criminals on appeal. It causes governments to rise and

fall, best men to be ever shunned by

their best friends’ brides, and perfectly sensible adults to

march with steady purpose toward machine guns.”

– Sam Leith, Words Like Loaded Pistols

But…

…. we can’t do any of this without words … without vocabulary

What are the categories for the Anchor Standards in Language? Reading Writing Speaking/

ListeningLanguage

Key Ideas and Details

Text Types and Purposes

Comprehension and Collaboration

Conventions of Standard English

Craft and Structure

Production and Distribution of Writing

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

Knowledge of Language

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

Range of Reading & Level of Text Complexity

Range of Writing

Shifts in ELA/Literacy

6

Shift 1 Balancing Informational & Literary Text

Students read a true balance of informational and literary texts.

Shift 2 Knowledge in the Disciplines Students build knowledge about the world (domains/ content areas) through TEXT rather than the teacher or activities

Shift 3 Staircase of Complexity Students read the central, grade appropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more time and space and support in the curriculum for close reading.

Shift 4 Text-based Answers Students engage in rich and rigorous evidence based conversations about text.

Shift 5 Writing from Sources Writing emphasizes use of evidence from sources to inform or make an argument.

Shift 6 Academic Vocabulary Students constantly build the transferable vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. This can be done effectively by spiraling like content in increasingly complex texts.

Why are we here?

- Yes, the Common Core & the Shifts… - Yes, the NYS Assessments… - But also….

Objectives / Overarching Questions What is meant by academic vocabulary?

Why is direct vocab instruction so significant?

How do we choose “the right” words?

What would a research-tested process(es) look like in action?

So… where might we begin? How do children gain words? How can teachers help? Remediate? How is SED guiding?

Language begins at Home … Correlations – SES, Talk, Vocab & IQ– Source: Adapted from Hart & Risley, 1996

Professional Families

Working Families

Welfare Families

Parent Utterances / Hour

487 301 176

Child’s Recorded Vocabulary Size

1,116 749 525

IQ Score at Age 3 117 107 79

The Word Gap – SED, Talk, Vocab & IQ– Source: Adapted from Hart & Risley, 1996

Professional Families

Working Families

Welfare Families

Parent Utterances / 4 years +

45 million words 26 million words 13 million words

Connection: Oral & Written“Beginning reading instruction is typically accomplished by teaching children a set of rules to decode printed words to speech. If the words are present in the child’s oral vocabulary, comprehension should occur as the child decodes and monitors the oral representations. HOWEVER, if the print vocab is more complex than the child’s oral vocab, comprehension will NOT occur.” – Kamil & Heibert, 2005

Thus: uneven growth ratesBy end of second grade…Source: Biemiller & Slonim research

Lowest Vocabulary Quartile of Students

Highest Vocab Quartile of Students

Root Word Acquisition 1.5 root words / day 3 root words / day

Total Word Bank 4,000 root word meanings

8,000 root word meanings

The “Matthew” Effect… “The rich get richer…” “Because poor readers tend to read less than better readers, the gap between good and poor readers in absolute number of words read becomes progressively greater as the child advances through school… Children who are good readers become better readers because they read more and also more challenging texts, but poor readers get relatively worse because they read less and less challenging texts. …” – Stahl, 1999

Turn & Talk

What do these trends tell us?

Can direct vocabulary instruction help? (As cited in Marzano’s Vocab for the Common Core)

Meta-Analysis Focus Effect Size Percentile Gain

Haystead & Marzano, 2009

Effects of building vocab on academic achievement

.51 19

Elleman, Lindo, Morpho, & Compton, 2009

Effects of vocab instruction on comprehension

.50 – for words taught directly

19

What are the characteristics of “effective” direct vocab instruction? (Isabel Beck & colleagues) Frequent exposure to words Encounters in multiple texts (emphasized in

CCLS materials, modules) Active processing of the words

Defining the Shift / Direct Instruction in Practice Shift 6

So… Tier II = Academic Vocab… but which words? Importance & utility Instructional potential Conceptual understanding

…. Easier said than done! Let’s try it! Beck sample

What Not to Teach (Beck)

No formula for picking words Must be able to explain the meaning of the

words with “known terms” Must be useful, i.e. – student must be able to

find a way to use this word in “everyday life”

Marzano’s Six Step Process (see handouts) (1) Teacher provides definition

(2) Student re-states in own words (in writing)

(3) Student creates non-linguistic representation

(4) Student engages in activities with words

(5) Student discuss words

(6) Students participate in word play

Frayer Model

Definition Characteristics

Examples Non-Examples

Concept

Sample: Modified Frayer ModelSample: Modified Frayer Model

Jo RobinsonHow to Get More Out of Your Core Reading Program

Identifying Similarities and DifferencesAnalogies A is to B as C is to D = A : B :: C : D

Relationship:_______________________________________

as

is to

is to

Analogies A is to B as C is to D = A : B :: C : D

Relationship:_______________________________________

as

is to

is to

Identifying Similarities and DifferencesAnalogies A is to B as C is to D = A : B :: C : D

Benevolent Good

Malevolent Bad

Relationship:_first is more nuanced, implies tad more________________________

as

is to

is to

Analogies A is to B as C is to D = A : B :: C : D

Relationship:_______________________________________

as

is to

is to

Semantic Feature Analysis

Word Walls / Root Words (ELA eg: spec) Word Walls / Root Words (ELA eg: spec)

Generative Sentences

Given a word and conditions about the placement of the word, write a sentence.

Forces attention to grammar, word meaning, and academic language

“Volcanoes” in the 4th Position

“Volcanoes” in the 4th Position

“Volcanoes” in the 4th Position

Let’s try it …7 word sentence that begins with “I believe” and has “volcanoes” in the 7th position

7 word sentence that begins with “I believe” and has “volcanoes” in the 7th positionI believe that there are many volcanoes.I believe gases erupt from shield volcanoes.

Let’s try it . . . .

Write/say a 7 (or greater) word sentence that begins with “The text states” and uses the word volcanoes.

Write/say a 9 (or greater) word sentence that uses “Contrary” as the first word, has a comma, and uses the word volcanoes.

Write/say a 13 (or greater) word sentence that begins with “Despite the fact that,” has a comma, and uses the word volcanoes.

Oral LanguageInside/Outside Circles

Class is divided (some students face out, some students face in).

Teacher asks a question, students think of an answer.

Outside circle shares with partner first.

Inside circle shares. Teacher monitors. Outside circle moves to the

right ONE person and the process is repeated.

Post SENTENCE FRAMES

Think SPEED DATING!

Sentence Framing

Do you agree that_______________________?

Why or why not? I do/do not agree that _________ because

_______________ . Even though _____________ , I think

___________ .

How do you get students to use school language in your classroom?

** Since _____________ , effective teachers ___________________ .

** Contrary to _______________ , I believe that __________________ .

More Sentence Framing (They Say, I Say – Graff) In discussions of ____________________,

a controversial issue is whether to ____________.

While some argue that ______________, others contend that _________________.

Of course, some object that _______________. Although I concede that _______________, I still maintain that ________________________.

But so many words…What about indirect instruction? Wide Reading?? Thematic building?

But so many words…What about indirect instruction? Wide Reading?? Thematic building? Yes! Marilyn Jager Adams – “Advancing Our

Students’ Language & Literacy, The Challenge of Complex Texts”

Introducing Vocab / Building Thematically

Additional Resources

EngageNY.org

Questions?

Feel free to contact me –

Mary Jo Casilio

mcasilio@e1b.org