Teaching and DevelopingVocabulary

by: Coach McDowell

Perhaps the greatest tools we can give students forsucceeding, not only in their education but moregenerally in life, is a large, rich vocabulary and theskills for using those words. Our ability to functionin today’s complex social and economic worlds ismightily affected by our language skills and wordknowledge. (Pikuluski and Templeton, 2004)

Four Vocabularies

Important Points

• First Five Years – Meaning Vocabulary/Literate Vocabulary

• Literate Vocabulary Grows

• Formal Vocabulary Development

• School Curricula

• Third Grade Readers

• US Student Perfomance

Comprehensive Approach

Use “instructional” read-aloud events.

Provide direct instruction in the meanings of clusters of wordsand individual words.

Systematically teach students the meaning of prefixes, suffixes,and root words.

Link spelling instruction to reading and vocabulary instruction.

Comprehensive ApproachTeach, model, and encourage the application of a word-learningstrategy.

Encourage wide reading.

Create a keen awareness of and a deep interest in language andWords

Teach the effective, efficient, realistic use of dictionaries, thesauruses, and other reference works.

The Vocabulary-Rich Classroom: Modeling Sophisticated Word Use to Promote Word Consciousness and Vocabulary Growth.

A Tale of Two Classrooms

Ms. Baker

• Kindergarten

• “Calendar Activities “

• Goal: General to specific concepts Vocabulary development

Ms. Riva’s

• Fourth Grade

• Morning Meeting

• Goal: classroom management building classroom community learning in engaging ways sophisticated synonyms

What should our goal be?

• Reading, writing, and speaking

• “Word Consciousness”

• Aware and interest

• Sophisticated Language

Conclusion

“Words, so innocent and powerless as they are, standing in a dictionary; how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to choose and combine them.”

— Nathaniel Hawthorne