Vocabulary Teaching Strategies

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Vocabulary Teaching Strategies

• Debby Green
• Region 12 ESC
• dgreen_at_esc12.net

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The Bad Boys!
8.16 D
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Principles of Democracy

• Popular Sovereignty
• Republicanism
• Federalism
• Separation of Powers
• Checks and Balances
• Limited Government
• Individual Rights

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Concept Circle

• Students are shown a circle.
• Each quarter contains a word or phrase.
• Student must describe or name the concept to
  which all the sections relate.
• In doing this, students have to determine the
  meaning of each of the words, analyze the
  connection among the words, and think of a
  concept or relationship that ties the words
  together.

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Concept Circles

• Describe or name the concept relationship among
  the sections
• Topic The Depression

Dust Bowl
Hoovervilles
Migrant
Hobo
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The technique also works in reverse..

• Give the students the concept.
• Then ask students to complete the concept circle
  with four things they have learned in relation to
  this concept.
• This tool lets you ascertain the connections your
  students are able to make from their learning
  about a given concept.

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Concept Circles

• Describe or name the concept relationship among
  the sections
• Topic The Civil Rights Movement

Racism
Church bombings
Violence
Stereotyping
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Opposites

• Give students a list of paired words with
  opposite meanings.
• Students scour a stack of newspapers to find and
  cut out pictures or cartoons that could represent
  the words.
• Then they glue the pictures onto a grid.
• This is a great tool for assessing whether
  students actually have a working knowledge of
  particular words.

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Social Studies Opposites A Hunt for Contrast
Popular Sovereignty
Dictatorship
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Free Association (Oral)

• Teacher calls out a target term.
• Students take turns (as a class, in small groups,
  or in pairs) saying any word they think that is
  related to the target term.
• After a few minutes the teacher says, Stop. The
  last person to say a word must explain how that
  word is related to the target.
• Require students to raise their hands and be
  called upon to ensure that they pay attention to
  others responses require that they repeat the
  previous response before offering their own.

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Target Terms

• Population density
• Conquistadors
• Alamo
• Revolutionary War
• Slavery
• Checks and Balances

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Free Association (Written)

• Have students write the responses
• When you say, Stop, they exchange papers with a
  partner and ask each other to explain any of the
  words on their lists.
• In this way, students generate their own lists
  and they are exposed to the ideas or thinking of
  their peers.

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A/B Pairing More Free Association

• Teacher calls out target term with students in
  pairs.
• One student is A and other is B.
• A talks nonstop while B listens.
• Then B talks nonstop and A listens. B
  cannot repeat anything said by A.

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A Twist on Free Association

• Play the Pyramid Game
• Pair students one faces the screen and the
  other faces the opposite direction.
• Person facing screen looks at the concept and
  begins giving content based clues that will
  solicit the answer for his partner.
• When a pair gets the answer, the person facing
  the screen signals the teacher to move to the
  next category.
• When the pair completes the Pyramid, the game
  stops while the partnership recreates the clues
  given to solicit the correct concept.

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200 pts
Bill of Rights
100 pts
100 pts
Popular Sovereignty
Separation of Powers
50 pts
50 pts
50 pts
Preamble
Federalism
Freedom of Speech
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Historical Taboo

• Create cards with one term on each card
• Write five words that cannot be used as clues
• Students cannot say any word related to the term

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Popular Sovereignty

• Monarch
• People
• Vote
• Authority
• King

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Comparing Terms (1) Sentence Stems

• This format provides sentences to be completed by
  students.
• The first set of sentences asks students to fill
  in similarities between the two terms and the
  second set asks for differences.
• Sentence stems provide very structured guidance
  for students, thus helping them avoid common
  errors in their thinking.

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Sentence Stem Examples

• ___ and ___ are similar because they both
• _________________
• _________________
• _________________
• ___ and ___ are different because
• ____ is ___, but ___ is ___
• ____ is ___, but ___ is ___
• ____ is ___, but ___ is ___

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Sentence Stem Examples

• Monarchy and dictatorship are similar because
  they both
• Are forms of government.
• Are governments with major power given to one
  person.
• Have examples from history in which the powerful
  person was a tyrant.

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Examples continued

• Monarchy and dictatorship are different because
• In a monarchy, the ruler is often in power
  because of heritage, bit in a dictatorship, the
  ruler often comes to power through force or
  coercion.
• In monarchies today, the rulers are often
  perceived to be loved by the people, but in
  dictatorships, the rulers are often feared and
  hated by the people.
• A monarchy can coexist with a representative
  government, but a dictatorship often is a police
  state.

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Comparing Terms
(2) Venn Diagrams (3) Double Bubble Map
D
S
D
D
Dictatorship
D
Monarchy
S
D
D
S
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Comparing Terms
4. Matrix

• In the column headings, students place the terms
  they are going to compare.
• In the rows, students identify the general
  characteristics on which they will base their
  comparison.
• In the cells, they briefly describe each term as
  it relates to each characteristic.
• Finally, students look at their info and draw
  conclusions about the similarities and differences

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Matrix Example
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Solving Analogy Problems

• A common format for an analogy statement is A is
  to B as C is to D.
• If only one term is missing, the field of
  possible accurate answers is narrowed
  considerably
• The Nile River is to Egypt as the ____
• is to the United States.

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Solving Analogy Problems

• When two terms are missing, analogy can be
  completed with a wider variety of answers. Many
  different perspectives can be applied to complete
  the analogy
• Davy Crocket is to the Alamo as
• ________ is to _________.

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Solving Analogy Problems

• As students solve the analogy problems, make sure
  they include a description of the relationship
  that both sets of terms have in common. (Common
  Factor CF)
• Using a graphic organizer will highlight the
  importance of defining the CF.

Synagogue
Judaism
CF a place of worship
Mosque
Islam
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References

• Thinking Maps
• Allen, Janet. Words, Words, Words Teaching
  Vocabulary in Grades 4-12. Portland, Maine
  Stenhouse Publishers, 1999.
• Marzano, Robert J. ad Debra J. Pickering.
  Building Academic Vocabulary. Alexandria,
  Virginia Association for Supervision and
  Curriculum Development, 2005.