Selecting and Prioritizing Vocabulary Words

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Selecting and Prioritizing Vocabulary Words

• Silver and Strong
• Thoughtful Classrooms

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Vocabulary LessonsThe Past

• Assign
• Define
• Test

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Transfer?

• Bourgeois
• Mephitic
• Nacreous
• Nugatory
• Scissile

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KidCommunication

• Hand gestures
• Body language
• Grunts
• Sighs
• Abbreviations

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Dolch List for Kids

• Whatever dawg the bomb duh
• Yaright my bad cool thats
  bad
• So? No doubt puh-leez that
  rocks
• Wassup? Straight up later word
• YO! Kid thats phat
  true-dat
• As if what it is awesome
  whaddup?
• Like NOT dissin
  borrrring

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Where Kid Language Comes From

• Television
• Radio
• Music
• Words used with them by parents, peers, AND
  TEACHERS
• Not from ASSIGNMENTS

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Prioritizing Vocabulary Words

• Vocabulary is central to learning.
• Its impossible to teach every word a student
  needs to know.
• Vocabulary words have to be put into three
  categories to make units of study managable
  Essential, Important, Nice to Know.
• Time spent on specific words varies according to
  the category.

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To think about this more deeply, consider these 3
figures from the Civil War

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Level One Word Recognition

• We know these words only superficially. We know
  what they look and sound like, and we can
  probably connect them on a superficial level to
  three or four words in the same topic area. For
  instance, you might know that Gen. McClellan
  fought for the North during the early days of the
  Civil War. So Gen. McClellan connects to the
  Union Army and the first part of the Civil War.

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Level Two Word Description

• We know these words at a slightly deeper level.
  We can probably connect words like these with
  8-10 other words from the same unit of study and
  start to organize them. In addition, we may have
  several more or less detailed images related to
  the word. So if you havent quite deep processed
  Grant, you have at least processed something.
  For instance, you probably know what Grant looked
  like and could even pick him out of a lineup.
  You know that he is generally accredited with
  winning the war, went on to become a not very
  successful President, is buried in NYC. But
  unless you are currently studying American
  history, you probably cannot describe his
  military strategy at the major battles nor the
  key policy developments during his administration.

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Level Three Word Expertise

• When we know words at this level, we know them
  richly and well. We can connect them with 12-15
  other words in the same topic area and organize
  those words into major topics. Also, thanks to
  frequent exposure and use, we have likely deep
  processed these words, as evidenced by fairly
  detailed images, ideas and feelings you probably
  associate with Abe Lincoln, as opposed to
  McClellan and Grant. And odds are, while you
  have probably had at least some practice or
  exercise with all three figures, you have likely
  had many more encounters with Lincoln.

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At the Word Recognition Level, a modified
matching exercise might work just fine

• Draw lines connecting Gen. McClellan to three of
  the four items on the right. On your line,
  describe the nature of McClellans relationship.
• a. Vicksburg
• Gen. b. Presidential Election of
  1864
• McClellan c. confrontation
• d. Battle of Bull Run

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At the word description level, students must
think about words in a way where they provide
more connections or a deeper form of explanation

• Describe 3 critical differences and 3 important
  similarities between the careers of Ulysses S.
  Grant and Robert E. Lee

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At the word expertise level, you will want to
provide students with opportunities to think in a
still more deep and rich way about the words
meaning and its connection to other key
vocabulary words.

• Select 2 of the following
• Construct a timeline showing 6 major events in
  Lincolns career. Then select the one you
  believe to be the most important and write a
  brief essay justifying your choice.

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• Write 2 letters, one from a Union soldier, one
  from a Southern homemaker. In each letter, have
  the writers think back about how Lincoln and the
  Civil War have affected their lives.
• Any Presidents career is, in part, an expression
  of his values. Lincoln wrestled constantly with
  two values preservation of the Union and human
  equality. Which did he value more? Write an
  essay in which you discuss Lincolns choices in
  this area.
• Thinking about Lincolns presidency, would you
  say that Lincoln as a President was more like a
  strong wall, a beautiful tree, a song, or a star.
  Select one of these metaphors and use it as the
  basis of a 5 stanza poem that meditates on his
  legacy. Include at least 5 references to events
  in his career.

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Level One Word Recognition

• The Nice to Know Words
• Spend minutes on these kinds of words

• Simple leaf
• Compound leaf
• Annuals
• Biennials
• Perennials

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Level Two Word Description

• The Important to Know Words
• Spend hours on these kinds of words
• Chlorophyll
• Flowers
• Leaves
• Fruit
• Buds

• Conifers
• Cross-pollination
• Self-pollination
• Roots
• Shoots
• Deciduous
• Evergreen

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Level Three Word Expertise

• The Essential to Know WordsThe Central Concepts
• Spend days on these words.

• Life cycle
• Meiosis
• Mitosis
• Photosynthesis
• Classification

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Earth Science Activity

• Categorize the words into three groups
• Word recognition (nice to know words)
• Word description (important to know words)
• Word Expertise (essential to know words)

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Vocabulary Embedded in the Unit of Study

• Frame the unit of study using the Know,
  Understand, Skills, and Habit page to get to the
  essential questions. Youre framing your unit
  conceptually.
• Decide upon your assessment next and ask
  yourself, Which words do students need to be
  able to understand, speak about, and write about
  well?.

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Vocabulary Embedded in the Unit of Study

• Make a list of all the words you think students
  need to understand in order to read the resources
  or listen to your lectures. What do you want
  them to write about as they demonstrate
  understanding?
• Look to see if words can be chunked into
  categoriesessential, important, and nice to
  know. The essential words are the categories,
  themselves. The important words support your
  speaking and writing about the essential words.

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Vocabulary Embedded in the Unit of Study

• EXAMPLE PROPERTIES is an essential word when
  talking about MATTER, because its how we
  classify things. PROPERTIES is an essential word
  in Kindergarten and the important words they use
  to speak/write about properties are as follows
  Size, Shape, and Color.
• In a 3rd grade class, PROPERTIES is still an
  essential word, but the important words THEY need
  to communicate about PROPERTIES are Mass,
  Density, Solubility, and Magnetizism.

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Why?

• Properties must be essential to speaking,
  writing, reading, and listening to the standards
  because so many other ideas are related to it.
  Primary students must become word experts when it
  comes to the concept of properties.

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Why?

• Think of it this way if you could only give
  students 5 words to carry with them the rest of
  their lives from a unit of study, what would
  those 5 words be? These are your essential
  words. The other words are important and/or nice
  to know, because students need them to
  communicate what they understand about the
  essential words.

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Remember

• You spend time on all the words, but the
  essential words are words you will really invent
  in. Whole lessons or even units.
• Nice to know words, you may spend only 5-10
  minutes on.