Vocab Review 2-6-15

Marzano’s Six Step ProcessTeaching Academic Vocabulary

1. Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term. (Include a non-linguistic representation of the term for ESL kids.) 2. Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words. (Allow students whose primary existing knowledge base is still in their native language to write in it.) 3. Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representing the word. 4. Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in their notebooks. 5. Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another. (Allow in native language when appropriate) 6. Involve students periodically in games that allow them to play with terms.

Three Tiers of Vocabulary and Education

Tier #1Tier one consists of the most basic words. These words rarely require direct instruction and typically do not have multiple meanings. Sight words, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and early reading words occur at this level. Examples of tier one words are: book, girl, sad, run, dog, and orange. There about 8,000 word families in English included in tier one.

Tier #2Tier two consists of high frequency words that occur across a variety of domains. That is, these words occur often in mature language situations such as adult conversations and literature, and therefore strongly influence speaking and reading.Tier two words are the most important words for direct instruction because they are good indicators of a student’s progress through school. Examples of tier two words are: masterpiece, fortunate, industrious, measure, and benevolent. There are about 7,000 word families in English (or 700 per year) in tier two.

Tier #3Tier three consists of low-frequency words that occur in specific domains. Domains include subjects in school, hobbies, occupations, geographic regions, technology, weather, etc. We usually learn these words when a specific need arises, such as learning amino acid during a chemistry lesson. Examples of tier three words are: economics, isotope, asphalt, Revolutionary War, and, crepe. The remaining 400,000 words in English fall in this tier.

The importance of teaching Academic Vocabulary - Tier Two Words

● Tiered Vocabulary is an organizational framework for categorizing words and suggest implications for instruction. The three-tier framework was developed by Isabel Beck and Margaret McKeown.

● Tier 2 words are important for student to master and understand deeply. Why? Because academic words such as justify, expand, maximum, and barren are found in many content area texts such as social studies, Science , Mathematics, English and History texts. Understanding these terms greatly increases comprehension of academic texts.

● “Academic Vocabulary is not unique to a particular discipline and as a result are not the clear responsibility of a particular content area teacher. What is more, many Tier Two words are far less well defined by contextual clues in the texts in which they appear and are far less likely to be defined explicitly within a text than are Tier Three words. Yet Tier Two words are frequently encountered in complex written texts and are particularly powerful because of their wide applicability to many sorts of reading. Teachers thus need to be alert to the presence of Tier Two words and determine which ones need careful attention.”

Why are “Academic Words” important?

● They are critical to understanding academic texts.● They appear in all sorts of texts.● They require deliberate effort to learn, unlike Tier 1 words.● They are far more likely to appear in written texts than in speech.● They often represent subtle or precise ways to say otherwise relatively

simple things.● They are seldom heavily scaffolded by authors or teachers, unlike Tier 3

words.

Common Core State Standards, Appendix A

“The more students learn the high utility words the better they will be able to comprehend text that contains those words or similar ones.” -Steven Stahl

ActivityFirstHighlight the words within this list that you currently use in your instruction.

SecondWith the goal of challenging your students to think at a deeper level of knowledge than they do currently, highlight in a different color the words within this list that you are committed to begin using in your instruction.

Vocabulary Strategies● Tour the Ephrata Web Site

o Vocabulary page