Vocabulary Strategies

Teaching students every word in the English language is impossible. But teaching students how words work leads students to unlocking many other words.

After teaching a new concept, it's necessary to assess students' overall understanding and comprehension. When the instruction includes a heavy dose of new vocabulary, a cloze strategy works well.

If students do not accurately interpret the function of general academic words, they will miss points on standardized tests--not because they didn't understand the passage but because they didn't understand the question.

Some teachers struggle to identify the 30 core terms to target in any given content area. Here are three tips that might be helpful in whittling down the list.

In the past, class time was used to pre-teach words to students by looking words up in the dictionary and then using them in sentences. This practice can take away much needed class time from actually reading a text.

The game Hedbanz, an entertaining guessing game, can be adapted as a vocabulary review activity in the classroom. Using vocabulary terms from any content area, this fast-paced activity helps students move recall from deliberate to automatic

Students should maintain their thinking about discipline-specific terms in an on-going resource--like a vocabulary notebook. Every time you work with a word, the students can jot this information into their vocabulary notebooks.

Vocabulary provides background knowledge and connections to comprehension. Robert Marzano�s research stresses direct vocabulary instruction follows a 6-step process.

Relating terms to synonyms can be a powerful tool. By connecting an unfamiliar word to an already known word, students can begin to understand the meaning of the new term.

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Leading provider of reading and writing professional development. Services include 6 traits of writing, writer workshops, and reading and writing mini-lessons. Locations in Indiana and Illinois.

Turn those extra few minutes of class into valuable time to review vocabulary or content or to reflect on recent learning.

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