Vocabulary Instruction

In light of the discussion in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) of vocabulary instruction, I have recently revised the way I teach vocabulary. The first modification I have made is making sure that the words I choose for direct instruction are tier two words. The CCSS define tier two words as general academic words. These are words that students will come across in many different disciplines and therefore they have wide applicability. I usually pull words for direct instruction from whatever novel, short stories, or nonfiction texts the students are about to read. Every two weeks I choose ten tier words for whole class instruction.

The second change I have made to my vocabulary instruction is how I present the words to my students. Recently I had the chance to watch a webinar on vocabulary instruction presented by Catlin Tucker, a high school English teacher in northern California. She suggested presenting the words to students in context, that is, in a sentence that provides context clues to the word's meaning. At the beginning of a vocabulary unit I provide the students with a vocabulary matrix. In the first column, I now give the students a sentence which uses the word. I have the students read the sentence out loud, and then silently guess what the target word means. Each student then turns to his/her partner and provides a guess for the word's definition. I then provide the students with a concise definition as way for each student to check his or her understanding. Exposing the students to a new word in context allows them to practice the skill of using context clues to understand unfamiliar words. Frequently students get excited when their guess matches the definition of the word.

The next change I have made is having students brainstorm other words that originate from the same Greek or Latin root. This allows me to help students identify patterns of meaning in the English language. In addition, for each one word I teach directly, I am actually exposing the students to a few other words with related meanings. This works hand-in-hand with the Greek and Latin roots curriculum I use.

These three changes have improved my vocabulary instruction. Below I have included a sample vocabulary chart and the PowerPoint I use in my direct instruction. I would welcome any feedback or other ways to make my vocabulary instruction even better.

Vocabulary Chart
Vocabulary PPT