Best Practices in Vocabulary Instruction:Modified Self-Selected Vocabulary in Action

Wendy Otto Pliska, Hamilton School District

wendy_otto_pliska@yahoo.com

Introducing the kids…

This activity takes place in my Freshman Seminar class.

This is a freshman study skills/reading course open to at-risk freshmen based on recommendations from 8th grade teachers and counselors.

Students generally struggle with organization, study skills, and reading, but are usually not EEN, although some are ELL

My class size varies from 12-17 per semester

Goals of the Program

Help students to regain self-awareness when they don’t understand a word

Give students choice Expose students to unfamiliar words Teach students vocabulary acquisition

strategies they can use on their own in other classes

Help students think metacognitively about their own vocabulary learning

Goals of the Program, continued

Teach students the difference between memorizing a definition and understanding a word

Create vocabulary assessments that go beyond knowledge and comprehension questions

Encourage students to use their new words in other contexts/classes

Get students excited about new words!

The first part last: the results

Every semester, approximately 100 of our new vocabulary words are included in the final exam

Results: Spring 2009 (16 total students in class)

Average final exam score = 89% correct 1 student earned 100% 3 students earned 99% 2 students earned 97%

Fall 2008 (14 total students in class) Average final exam score = 91% correct 1 student earned 100% 1 student earned 99% 3 students earned 98%

What do we do?

Weekly schedule Thursdays: Each student contributes 3 new words Fridays: All words go on board; we discuss, vote, and

discuss our six “winners” Mondays: 6 flashcards are due (one for each new

word) Tuesdays: 6 word boxes are due (one for each word) Wednesdays: Vocab Review Game Thursdays: Take Weekly Quiz, bring 3 new words

Thursdays: 3 New Word Sheets

Fridays: Voting on New Words

Take photo of words on board and import

Mondays: 6 Flashcards due

Take photos and import

Tuesdays: Word Boxes due

Key Elements of Word Boxes

Rate Your Knowledge: K - I know it; H - I have a hunch what it means;

S - I’ve seen it but I don't know it; and N - I've never seen it before today.

Helps student reflect upon their own understanding of the word

Also helps dispel the idea that you either know a word or you don’t

(Buehl, 2005)

Key Elements of Word Boxes

Identify Part of Speech – helps to eliminate misuse of words within sentences

Common Context and Usage – helps students identify words that are usually only used in a certain context (i.e. legitimate is often used when discussing legal issues)

Key Elements of Word Boxes

Meaning and Examples When discussing words with students, I

actively discourage them from just writing down the dictionary definition

Instead, talking about how a word is used, examples, synonyms, characteristics, etc., can help a student gain a more mature understanding of the word

(Buehl, 2009, p176)

Key Elements of Word Boxes

Two-Part Create Your Own Sentence: First… Who would use this word?

This helps students think about actual word usage

Using this prompt first helps avoid bland, vague sentences (i.e., “Bob is legitimate”)

Next… How would s/he use this word? Students then write a sentence from the point of

view of the speaker they’ve identified (Buehl, 2009, p177)

Key Elements of Word Boxes

Identifying the context clues in the student-generated sentence helps students focus on: Creating specific, descriptive sentences What context clues are

Side Note on Assessment Policy

Inspired by the work of Ken O’Connor (How to Grade for Learning), I have a No-Zeroes, No-Excuses homework policy

If a student does not have his or her vocabulary practice work done on time, s/he will owe me the time it takes to complete the work. This can be after class, during lunch, and/or after school.

This guarantees that students complete the formative work needed to learn words

This policy also trains students to do their work; since they will be completing it anyway, they are much more likely to get it done on time

In addition, I only include summative assessments (weekly vocabulary quizzes) in the grade book… this allows students to take risks and make mistakes on the practice (formative) work without being afraid of bad grades

Wednesdays: Vocabulary Review

Most Popular and Easiest = Vocab Bingo

Simply have students write one vocabulary word in each square

You read off definitions, examples, synonyms, etc… and if a student has that word, they mark it off

Helps students review words in a fun way!

Wednesdays: Vocabulary Review Another option: Vocab

Battleship This is played in a similar way to

the board game Battleship Students use a manila file folder

as their game board On the top flap, students “hide”

their words (one per box) On the bottom flap, students

guess at the location of their opponent’s words

If a student finds one of her opponent’s words, she must be able to correctly give the definition of the word in order to gain the point

Teacher or extra student can be the mediator

Additional Vocabulary Review

Quizlet www.quizlet.com is a

great, free website teachers and students can use to create vocabulary review lists

I create a cumulative word list (with definitions) that students can log in to and use to review

Thursdays: Weekly Vocabulary Quiz

Each weekly quiz contains 20 questions: 8 “Knowledge” questions (fill

in the blank) 6 “Application” questions

(“Connect Two” sentences) [Buehl, 2009, p. 70-72]

6 “Analysis” questions (simple analogies)

Students are given a word bank Any of the words from our

cumulative list may appear on the quiz; students do not know ahead of time which ones will be on the quiz

FAQ’s

Q: What if kids only pick the easy words? A: Most kids are pretty honest; individual

low-achievers conference with the teacher A: Most students rise to the challenge; they

actually enjoy stumping the teacher! A: See the Spring 2009 Cumulative Word

List (next slide)

Spring 2009 Cumulative Word List Amanuensis Angst Attentive Autopsy Barb Barrack Benign Besotted Blunt Bombardment Bravado Caliber Canvas Catacombs Celtic Chasm Cleft Contemplate Creatine Culpable Debonair Dilapidated Discrimination Dreary Duct

Dumbfounded Egregious Emaciation Euphoric Exasperating Exorbitant Extemporaneous Falsetto Feeble Flippantly Flirtatious Foe Foreboding Fracas Frivolous Frolic Gala Grisly Haggle Haughty Heatedly Heifer Herculean Idiosyncrasy Holistically

IncredulousIndecipherableInebriatedInsubordinateIntriguedIrascibleJapeKamikazeKeenKosherLieutenantLoquaciousLusciousMalarkeyMaulMurkyNarcissisticNilNotoriousNymphOblivionPalindromePenitentiaryPicturesque Platoon

PansyParanormalPromiscuousPrude QuizzicalReapRedundantRegimenRendezvousRevulsionRibaldSaccharineSalaciousSavvySeductiveSereneSexagenarianSlayTelekineticThrumTorridTwilightUnmoorUnrequitedVagueVandalYiddish

FAQ’s, cont’d

Q: How could you adapt this to multiple sections of a course (so that a teacher doesn’t have to create multiple new quizzes every week)?

A: My suggestion would be to let each class contribute 2 words to the cumulative list, and all classes are quizzed on the same list

FAQ’s, cont’d

Q: Why does this work? A: Several reasons:

Students must complete multiple formative (practice) activities, so they are learning and reviewing words several days/week

The word list is cumulative, so students don’t merely memorize, test, and forget

In class, we focus on talking about a word and using it in multiple ways, not just writing down the definition

References

Buehl, D. (2005, June). Learning vocabulary in context. In Reading room. Retrieved October 8, 2009, from Wisconin Education Association Council website: http://www.weac.org/ news_and_publications/ education_news/ 2004-2005/ read_context.aspx

Buehl, D. (2009). Connect two. In Classroom strategies for interactive learning (3rd ed., pp. 70-72). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Buehl, D. (2009). Student-friendly vocabulary explanations. In Classroom strategies for interactive learning (3rd ed., pp. 175-177). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

O’Connor, K. (2002). How to grade for learning: Linking grades to standards. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Rosenbaum, C. (2001, September). A word map for middle school: A tool for effective vocabulary instruction. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(1), 44-49. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database.

Ruddell, M. R., & Shearer, B. A. (2002, February). “Extraordinary,” “tremendous,” “exhilarating,” “magnificent”: Middle school at-risk students become avid word learners with the Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (VSS). Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(5), 352-363. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database.