Literacy in Content
Area Classes
Presented by Melanie Kahler, Literacy Consultant,
Ingham Intermediate School District
October 28, 2014.
Introduction
My daughter
Anna
Steve and I love Mackinac
Island
We have 3
dogs and 4
cats!
Justine
and Nate
are
expecting
a son in
November

I like to photograph
flowers
Agenda
Welcome, Learning Targets and
Group Expectations
Setting the Stage
Motivation and Engagement
Vocabulary and Content instruction
Wrap Up
Setting the Stage for Day 2
Learning Targets
At the end of today you will be able to:
 Understand the unique needs in literacy instruction for
adolescents and what that means for your classroom
 Know how to use incorporate direct instruction
techniques to increase literacy skills
 Know the literacy content indicators recommended by
the Center on Instruction
 Focus on increasing motivation and engagement for
adolescents, including struggling readers
 Focus on increasing vocabulary and content
knowledge for adolescents, including struggling
readers
 Use embedded strategies so that struggling readers
can be more successful in content area classes
Group Expectations
To make this day the best possible, we need your assistance and
participation
•
Be Responsible
– Attend to the “Come back together” signal
– Active participation…Please ask questions
•
Be Respectful
– Please allow others to listen
• Please turn off cell phones
• Please limit sidebar conversations
– Share “air time”
– Please refrain from email and Internet browsing
•
Be Safe
– Take care of your own needs
The Beginning-
Find a partner and decide who will be Partner #1 and who will be
Partner #2

Find another pair to form a small group of four

Plate Activity

Get out Note Page from packet
Adolescent Literacy is
Different!
For adolescents, literacy is more than reading and
writing. It involves purposeful social and cognitive
processes. It helps individuals discover ideas and
make meaning. It enables functions such as
analysis, synthesis, organization, and evaluation. It
fosters the expression of ideas and opinions and
extends to understanding how texts are created
and how meanings are conveyed by various
media, brought together in productive ways.
A Policy Research Brief, Produced by The National Council of Teachers of English; April, 2006
And…
Adolescent literacy is necessarily
interdisciplinary because middle and
high school students must read and
write in such fields as science,
mathematics, and social sciences as
well as English. This means that they
need to learn the forms, purposes, and
other textual demands specific to
multiple disciplines (Kucer, 2005).
A Policy Research Brief, Produced by The National Council of
Teachers of English; April, 2006
Focus should be on the skills that
students are expected to master,
rather than on what information
students should know
 An example might be that high school ELA classes in
9th grade read English Lit, 10th grade reads World Lit
and 11th grade reads American Lit.
 A mind shift would be “What do my students need
to know, understand and be able to do in order to
show mastery of the standards?”
 Texts are selected and utilized as materials
appropriate for teaching the standards.
Craig & Sarlo, 2012
So…let’s learn what
that looks like in a
content area
classroom!
Why Introduce Good Literacy Practices
Using the Adolescent Literacy WalkThrough for Principals (ALWP)
It has a specific focus on effective,
research-based academic literacy
instruction that should be observed
in reading and/or intervention
classrooms. This includes contentarea classrooms with a disciplinary
focus on science, social studies,
math or literature.
 Content-area teachers have the best
knowledge of the reading, writing,
listening, discussion, and deep thinking skills
that are required to understand texts in
their content area.
 “While it is clear that content-area
teachers cannot be expected to teach
struggling readers basic reading skills, they
can help students develop the knowledge,
reading strategies, and thinking skills to
understand and learn from increasingly
complex text in their content areas.”
Adolescent Literacy Walk-Through for Principals; Center on
Instruction, 2009
Adolescent Literacy WalkThrough for Principals (ALWP)
Center on Instruction; 2009
Vocabulary and Content Instruction Indicators
Looking
your
classroom
Provides
the studentsat
with
explicit
instruction, —
including:
---clear goals and directions
---modeling
---guided practice
---independent practice
Builds student background knowledge
Teaches domain specific vocabulary
Teaches all purpose academic words
Teaches multisyllabic word reading strategies
Teaches content concepts
Teaches content facts
Yes
No
Follow-Up Points for Vocabulary
and Content Instruction
 The probability that students will learn
new words while reading is relatively
low—about 15 percent.
 Explicit vocabulary instruction can be
divided into two major approaches
 Direct instruction in word meaning
 Instruction in strategies to promote
independent vocabulary acquisition skills
 Students also learn vocabulary through
rich discussion of text
Kamil, Borman, Dole, Krale, Salinger & Torgeson;
Improving adolescent literacy: Efffective classroom
and intervention practices; A Practice Guide, 2008
Comprehension Strategy Instruction Indicators
Provides the students with explicit instruction, including:
---clear goals and directions
---modeling
---guided practice
---independent practice
Teaches Comprehension monitoring
Explicitly teaches or models the use of:
---graphic organizers
---semantic organizers
---summarization/paraphrasing
---question asking
---question generating
---knowledge of text structure
---knowledge of text features
---making inferences
Yes
No
Follow-Up Points for
Comprehension Strategy
Instruction
 The active participation of students in the
comprehension process makes the most
difference on students’ comprehension
 It appears that multiple-strategy training results in
better comprehension than single-strategy
training
 Direct and explicit instruction is a powerful
delivery system for teaching comprehension
strategies
Kamil, Borman, Dole, Krale, Salinger & Torgeson;
Improving adolescent literacy: Efffective classroom
and intervention practices; A Practice Guide, 2008
Discussion of Reading Content Indicators
Provides the students with explicit instruction, including:
---clear goals and directions
---modeling
---guided practice
---independent practice
Provides opportunities for discussion-oriented instruction
of text subject matter including assisting and
encouraging students in:
---taking a position
---using others’ questions and comments to build
discussion
---expressing opinions
---making connections across time and subjects
---questioning the author
Yes
No
Follow-Up Points for Discussion
of Reading Content Indicators
 The theory of using discussion-based approaches to
improve reading comprehension is based on the
idea that students can, and will, internalize processes
experienced repeatedly during discussions
 Students mentioned explicitly that practicing making
predictions, clarifying confusions and paraphrasing in
small groups was a useful way to stimulate highquality discussion of texts
 Classrooms that were more discussion-oriented
produced higher literacy growth than those where
sustained discussions were less frequent
Kamil, Borman, Dole, Krale, Salinger & Torgeson;
Improving adolescent literacy: Efffective classroom
and intervention practices; A Practice Guide, 2008
Motivation and Engagement Indicators
Provides the students with explicit instruction, including:
---clear goals and directions
---modeling
---guided practice
---independent practice
Focusing students on important and interesting learning
goals
Provides a range of activity choices
Provides interesting texts at multiple reading levels
Provides opportunities for student collaboration in
discussion and assignments
Maintains a positive, rewarding classroom atmosphere
Yes
No
Follow-Up Points for Discussion
of Motivation and Engagement
Indicators
 It is possible to be motivated to complete a
task without being engaged because the
task is either too easy or too difficult
 Students respond better to teachers that
strive to increase the amount of information
that students remember and understand,
rather than teachers that emphasize good
grades
 Studies have consistently shown that students
that have learning goals are more motivated
and engaged than students that have
performance goals
Kamil, Borman, Dole, Krale, Salinger & Torgeson;
Improving adolescent literacy: Efffective classroom
and intervention practices; A Practice Guide, 2008
Expectancy x Value:
Theory of Motivation
 Expectancy Rate 10 x
Value Rate 10 = 100%
Motivation
 Expectancy Rate 10 x
Value Rate 0 = 0%
Motivation
Expectancy
Value
Motivation
10 X
10 =
100%
10 X
0=
0%
0X
10 =
0%
 Expectancy Rate 0 x
Value Rate 10 = 0%
Motivation
Where does the student
fall on this table?
CHAMPS: A Proactive &
Positive Approach to
Classroom Management;
Sprick, 2009
Learning Goal vs.
Performance Goal
Learning Goal-A statement of what students
will know and be able to do.
Marzano; 2009
Performance Goal-
(1) a goal focused on gaining favorable judgments or avoiding
unfavorable judgments by others;
(2) a goal that specifies the achievement of an end
product of performance that is relatively independent of the
performance of other people, such as running a race in
certain time rather than beating others.
The FREE Dictionary, by Farlex
Partner Work using Precision
Partnering
 Designated roles-both partners responding
 Listener has clear job/role
 Partners actively build on peers ideas
(elaborating, agree/disagree & why, etc.)
 Academic Language structured (sentence
frames/vocabulary words)
 Thinking is structured (time to think, clear
cognitive focus, modeling)
K. Feldman, 2014
Practicing Precision
Partnering
Get out handout for Frayer Model, a
good way to increase vocabulary skills
1.
Think about your assigned goal for
two minutes, putting the definition in
your own words and coming up with
an example and nonexample
2.
Write in on your paper
3.
Partner 1-tell your partner the
definition using the words, “My
definition for a ______ is…” and “An
example of a _____ would be…” A
nonexample of a ______ would
be…”
4. Partner 2-tell your partner if you understood
the definition and if the example was clear.
Explain why or why not, using the words, “I
did/did not understand the definition of
______ because…” and The example for
_____ was clear/not clear to me because…”
5. Partner 1, make any changes on the Frayer
Model to refine your use of this vocabulary
word
6. Reverse roles, discussing the other goal and
using the Frayer Model again
Notice, these four things are what all
of the areas of Literacy in Content
Areas have in common!
Yes
Provides the students with explicit instruction, including:
---clear goals and directions
---modeling
---guided practice
---independent practice
No
Why?
Look at John Hattie Effect Sizes in
Visible Learning for Teachers
Feedback
0.75
Direct Instruction
0.59
The Need for Explicitness, even
at High School
The connections between literacy
instruction and content area learning
must be explicit especially for struggling
readers.
Provide explicit reading and writing
instruction with multiple opportunities
for practice within authentic and
relevant reading and tasks.
Improving Adolescent Literacy; Craig & Sarlo, 2012
Explicit Instruction=
Modeling
Modeling
There are eight essential components of this instructional
technique:
1. Concept/skill is broken down into critical features/elements.
2. Teacher clearly describes concept/skill.
3. Teacher clearly models concept/skill.
4. Multi-sensory instruction (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic)
5. Teacher thinks aloud as she/he models.
6. Teacher models examples and non-examples.
7. Cueing
8. High levels of teacher-student interaction
First Steps- Student-Teacher
Interactions/Motivation and
Engagement Indicators
Why?
Look at John Hattie Effect Sizes in
Visible Learning for Teachers
Teacher-student relationships
0.72
Teacher credibility in the eyes of the students
0.92
Student expectations for their own learning
1.44
The Care and Support of
Teenagers
“We can help middle and high
school students deal with the
pressures of adolescence by
giving them strong bonds with
teachers, a sense of community,
and consistent routines.”
“The Care and Support of Teenagers” by Colleen Swain
Educational Leadership, Online June 2011, Volume 68
Suggested Building Blocks
 Learn students’ names during the first week
of school (if you can’t master that show
them that you are trying)
 Welcome students as they enter your
classroom
 Help students think about long-term goals
 Have students make a career list and list
their role models for their chosen careers.
Integrate this into classwork.
 Celebrate the culture of each student (in
addition of ethnicity you could talk about
music, art, literature preferences)
 Build a sense of classroom community
 an example could be setting norms for learning with
the class (See handout from Reading for
Understanding)
 Help students get to know one another
 Walkabout Bingo
 Set common goals
 Establish and teach procedures and
routines

How to enter and leave the classroom

How to submit and retrieve papers

How to ask and answer questions
“The Care and Support of
Teenagers” by Colleen Swain,
Educational Leadership, Online June
2011, Volume 68
Using Walkabout
Bingo
Back to Our Checklist
Motivation and Engagement
Indicators
Focusing students on important
and interesting learning goals
Learning goals convey to students the
destination for the lesson—what to learn,
how deeply to learn it, and exactly how to
demonstrate their new learning. In our
estimation (Moss & Brookhart, 2009) and
that of others (Seidle, Rimmele, & Prenzel,
2005; Stiggins, Arter, Chappuis, &
Chappuis, 2009), the intention for the
lesson is one of the most important things
students should learn.
Regardless of how important the content,
how engaging the activity, how formative
the assessment, or how differentiated the
instruction, unless all students see,
recognize, and understand the learning
target from the very beginning of the
lesson, one factor will remain constant:
The teacher will always be the only one
providing the direction, focusing on
getting students to meet the instructional
objectives. The students, on the other
hand, will focus on doing what the teacher
says, rather than on learning.
“Knowing Your Learning Target” by Moss, Brookhart & Long
Educational Leadership, 68(6), 66-69
Non-Example of Directions with
Embedded Learning Goals
Today, as you read the next chapter, carefully
complete your study guide. Pay close attention to
the questions about Bertha— Mr. Rochester's first
wife. Questions 16 through 35 deal with lunacy and
the five categories of mental illness. The next 15
questions focus on facts about Charlotte Brontë's
own isolated childhood. The last 10 items ask you
to define terms in the novel that we seldom use
today—your dictionaries will help you define those
words. All questions on Friday's test will come
directly from the study guide.
“Knowing Your Learning Target” by Moss, Brookhart & Long
Educational Leadership, 68(6), 66-69
Example of Directions with
Embedded Learning Goals
Today we will learn more about how Brontë uses her
characters to explore the theme of being unwanted.
Remember, a theme is an underlying meaning of the
story. Yesterday, we examined Jane Eyre's life
experiences as they relate to the theme of being
unwanted. Today we will do the same for Adele, Mr.
Rochester's ward. As you read, find examples of Adele
being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, or forgotten.
Then, in your learning groups, discuss your examples and
your reasons for choosing them. At the end of class, use
your notes to draft a short paragraph that answers the
question, How does the character of Adele deepen
Brontë's theme of being unwanted in the novel Jane
Eyre?
“Knowing Your Learning Target” by Moss,
Brookhart & Long Educational Leadership, 68(6), 66-69
Thinking About Learning Targets
with the Students in Mind
Provides a range of activity
choices
Some ways to provide choice to middle
and high school students—
 Books
 Topics
 Magazines
 Order of activities
 Photographs
 Outcomes/assignments
(blog, multimedia
projects, articles, etc.)
 Internet resources
 Newspaper articles
 Leveled texts
 Type of assessment
Provides interesting texts at
multiple reading levels
The following text attributes contribute to a student’s experience of
text difficulty or accessibility. Thoughts to ponder:
 Language-think about the density of
unfamiliar, abstract, multisyllabic and
technical words
 Sentence length and complexity-long
sentences are measured as harder to
read than short sentences, but complex
sentence structure also affects difficulty
 Conceptual difficulty-the difficulty of a text
depends on how abstract its ideas are and
the amount of background knowledge that
is required
 Idea density-textbooks often pack in and
relate ideas for maximum coverage,
contributing to the reading difficulty of the
text
 Relevance-how relevant and interesting the
topic, the easier it is for students to read and
understand
Adapted from Reading for Understanding; Schoenbach, Greenleaf & Murphy, 2012
Practice with
Multiple Reading
Levels
1.
Read each of the selections quickly
2.
Choose the easiest and most difficult paragraphs with
your group
3.
Discuss each of the text attributes in relation to the
chosen paragraphs
Meeting the needs of students
at varied reading levels should
include:
Vertical Text Sets-A vertical text set presents
information about the same
topic in a variety of reading level
ranges.
An example of a Vertical Text Set is an article on a specific
topic from the World Book Encyclopedia used in conjunction
with an article on that same topic from the Encyclopedia
Britannica's Macropaedia. Both articles are on the same
topic, but the World Book article will have less detail and be
easier to read and understand than the article in
the Britannica.
Here are the steps for using
Vertical Text Sets:
1.
Collect a set of materials (4 to 6 texts in sets)
on a single topic from your text. Choose
examples at different levels of difficulty and
complexity.
2.
Give the students time in class as a group to
read and discuss the texts. Ask the students to
read and discuss the following questions:
a. In comparing the texts in the set, what makes
the text difficult to understand and why?
b.
What are the specific text features that help or
hinder their comprehension and engagement?
3. Ask the students to document this on a
poster. Then, ask the students to choose
the text that they feel most at ease in
reading and which one would be a
stretch for them to comprehend.
4. Debrief as a whole class, working from
group to group talking about their text
discoveries.
Horizontal or Thematic Text Sets-A horizontal or thematic text set
introduces different perspectives,
supplementary content and/or different
genres. This results in text that is more
accessible than a core text, and builds
schema that makes the core text more
accessible and meaningful. Horizontal
text sets can be used to build interest,
background knowledge and
vocabulary.
Adapted from Reading for Understanding; Schoenbach, Greenleaf &
Murphy, 2012
Practice with Text
Sets
1.
Each group member should read their
assigned text
2.
Write down the information you learned
about evolution
3.
When prompted, discuss what you learned
with the other members of your group
4.
Write at least three facts on the poster paper
and put it on the wall
Provides opportunities for student
collaboration in discussion and
assignments
 Using Partner Talk to Strengthen Collaboration
and Understanding
 Harkness Seminar on The Odyssey
 Collaboration Rubric for PBL
 Practice
 Divide into groups of 3
 Each group member read a different item
 Read your item, take notes, mark on paper, etc.
 Teach it to other group members and share an
example of when you might use it in your
classroom
Maintains a positive, rewarding
classroom atmosphere
Here are some tips for starters:
 Agree on classroom rules at the beginning of the year
 Three to five rules is ideal
 State them positively
 Check in with the students at the start of class
 Greet them every day
 Be clear about the purpose and learning expectations for the
day
 Be consistent about expectations
 Consistency should be maintained for activity, time of day,
among and between students
 Reinforce appropriate behaviors
 Think four positives for every negative
 Maintain student dignity
 Corrections should be unobtrusive
 Maintain your own dignity when angry
 Be neutral, not accusatory
 Ask what happened, not “why did you do that”
 Avoid jumping to conclusions
 Look for cause
 Be aware of students that act out, or refuse to participate
because they are struggling with the academic task
Get CHAMPS training
Time to Move into Academic
Literacy Skills
“Carefully scaffolded instruction
in textbook comprehension can
assist students to be
independent college and
career-ready readers.”
(Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction;
Hinchman & Sheridan-Thomas, 2014)
This includes all students, whether they are
good readers or struggling readers.
Video
Doug Fisher talks about Gradual
Release of Responsibility, or
Explicit Instruction, or
I Do It, We Do It, Y’All Do It, You Do It,
or…
A view of good
instruction from the
Reading
Apprenticeship lens—
Modeling
Guided Practice
Independent Practice
Mastery of Skills
Stating the purpose of
the lesson is not on the
continuum but occurs
before the instruction
begins
We will stress
generalization of this
teaching technique to
all of the tasks that we
talk about today, and
when we meet again
in January.
Thinking Out Loud
Thinking Out Loud as an
Instructional Technique
The Think Aloud strategy allows the teacher to model how a good
reader thinks about text while reading. The process is fairly
simple. The teacher reads aloud from an appropriate book, and
stops periodically to:
1. make predictions
2. clarify meaning
3. decode words
4. make personal connections,
5. question the author
6. summarize what has been read.
This explicit modeling of the reading strategies will benefit all students
as they strive for deeper understanding of what they read.
Explicit, Modeled and
Guided Strategy Instruction
 Students receive explicit instruction on how and when to
utilize a particular reading strategy
 Teacher models the use of the reading strategy to
understand text and/or answer a reading comprehension
question
 Students use the strategy in guided practice with teacher
or peer support and feedback
 Teacher assigns independent practice that is closely
monitored
 Students who are unable to effectively apply the strategy
independently should be provided more explicit,
modeled, or guided practice
Back to Our Checklist
Vocabulary and Content Instruction
Indicators
Builds student background
knowledge
K-W-L
LINK
Give One, Get One
Anticipation Guides
K-W-L
This K-W-L
Chart, which
tracks what a
student knows
(K), wants to
know (W), and
has learned (L)
about a topic,
can be used
before, during,
and after
research
projects.
Using K-W-L While Reading
Content Area Text
1.
Show students the text and encourage them to think
about what content might be included.
2.
Ask students to think about what they might already
know about the topic.
3.
Have them brainstorm information about the text
that they want to know, encouraging them to keep
these questions in mind as they read the text. These
can be recorded on the chart as a class or
individually.
4.
As students read the text, instruct them to revisit their
questions in the “What I Want to Know” column
every few days and answer them in the “What I
Learned” column.
This website will take you to a fillable K-W-L form.
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/printouts/K
WL%20Chart.pdf
Using K-W-L for Research
Projects
1.
Ask students to first think about what they know about the
selected topic (for example, the poison dart frog) and write
it in the first column.
2.
Students should then direct their thinking toward the
research questions they have about the poison dart frog.
These questions are recorded in the second column.
3.
Then, as students conduct research, they should add
information gathered to the column, showing what was
learned.
4.
For older students, you may want make a K-W-L-S chart, with
the fourth column focusing on what students may “still”
want to learn even after completing research.
readwritethink, International Reading Association; 2013
LINK (List, Inquire, Note, Know)
Purpose:
Through brainstorming and inquiry
students activate background
knowledge about a topic. Through
reading and discussion they will build
and revise their ‘schema’.
The procedure is available in Reading For Understanding;
2012, pg. 244 and is adapted from Joseph Vaughn and
Thomas Estes, in Strategic Teaching and Learning,
California Department of Education, 2000.
 List
 Give students three minutes to individually list
ideas, words, and phrases they associate with
a new topic.
 Without commenting, compile a class list of
ideas.
 Inquire
 Invite students to inquire into each other’s
ideas on the list. Encourage the person who
nominated an idea to respond to questions
about it.
 Compile a class list of students questions to
drive the reading and learning.
 Note
 Ask students to read one or more texts about the topic
and make notes that shed light on the topic—what they
think they know and what they wonder.
 It is helpful at this point to look over students’ notes, both
for accountability and to informally assess students’
understanding (and misunderstandings) of the topic
 Know

Ask students to reflect on how their thinking has
changed and why—what they now think they know
and questions they still have about the topic.

As a class, revisit the original list of phrases and
questions and identify prior misinformation or
misunderstandings and how students’ schema have
changed as a result of reading and processing the
text. Note lingering confusions and new questions or
wonderings promped by the reading.
Practicing LINK
Invertebrates
Give OneGet One
Before starting to
study a subject
that students are
likely to know
something
about, having
them think about
they knowledge
they already
have and share
it with classmates
increases the
knowledge in
the room.
Reading for Understanding;
2012. pg. 246
http://freeology.com/wpcontent/files/giveonegetone.pdf
Procedure for Give One-Get
One
 Introduce a new topic.
 Have students fold a piece of paper
lengthwise to form two columns and
write “Give One” at the top of the left
column and “Get One” at the top of the
right column. Or, use a specific Give
One-Get One form.
 As students to individually brainstorm a
list in the left column of all the things they
already know about they the topic.
 Have them talk to two or three other
students about what is on their lists, adding
any new ideas they think are correct to
their “Get One” column.
 Once everyone has given and gotten
information, have the whole class discuss
the information students have listed.
 Again, have students add any new
information they get from this discussion in
the right-hand column of their lists.
 If any information is in doubt, alert students
to try to clarify it as they read and learn
more.
Practicing Give OneGet One
The Holocaust
Anticipation
Guide
An Anticipation
Guide is
appropriate for
activating prior
knowledge about
a topic, as well as
building curiosity
about the topic. It
allows the teacher
to check for
misconceptions
before designing
instruction, as well
as getting a good
idea of instruction
was successful.
http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/t
ool/anticipation-guide
Anticipation Guide
Video
Teaches domain specific
vocabulary
Two important concepts
regarding teaching vocabulary-1. Tier One, Tier Two and Tier
Three words
2. Direct vocabulary instruction is
key
Tier One, Tier Two and Tier
Three Words
 Tier One
Most basic words
Rarely require instruction in school
Examples: clock, baby, happy
 Tier Two
Words that are of high frequency for mature
language users and are found across a variety of
domains
Examples: coincidence, absurd, industrious
Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L.
(2002). Bringing words to life. New York, NY
Tier Three
Words whose frequency of use is quite
low and is often limited to specific
domains
Best learned when needed in a content
area
Examples: isotope, lathe, peninsula
Tier Two words are recommended for the most extensive
vocabulary instruction. Tier Three words should be taught as
quickly and easily as possible. They are content specific
words and not words that need to be taught in a way that
requires generalization.
Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L.
(2002). Bringing words to life. New York, NY
How Do You Select the
Words for Explicit
Instruction?
• Is
the word interesting? Useful? Will it be
useful in to know the word for other texts?
• Can you define the word using vocabulary
the students will understand?
• How does the word relate to other words
that students are learning?
• Will the word help with the major
understanding of the selection?
Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L.
(2002). Bringing words to life. New York,
NY
Use Form to Activate and
Assess Prior Knowledge
Teaching Vocabulary in the
Classroom
1. The teacher explains a new word,
going beyond reciting its definition (tap
into prior knowledge of students, use
imagery)
2. Students restate or explain the new
word in their own words (verbally
and/or in writing)
3. Ask students to create a non-linguistic
representation of the word (a picture,
or symbolic representation)
4. Students engage in activities to deepen
their knowledge of the new word
(compare words, classify terms, write
their own analogies and metaphors)
5. Students discuss the new word with
partners
6. Student periodically play games to
review new vocabulary (Pyramid,
Jeopardy, Telephone)
Based on the work of Robert
Marzano
Graphic Organizers for
Vocabulary Instruction
Teaches all purpose academic
words
We will talk about the Academic Word List
The Academic Word List
What is the Academic Word List?
The AWL is a list of words which appear with high
frequency in English-language academic texts.
The list was compiled by Averil Coxhead at the
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
The list contains 570 word families and is divided
into 10 sublists. Sublist 1 consists of the 60 most
common words in the AWL. Sublist 2 contains the
next most frequently used words and so on. Each
sublist contains 60 word families, except for sublist
10, which contains 30.
To find these words, an analysis was done of
academic journals, textbooks, course workbooks,
lab manuals, and course notes.
The list was compiled following an analysis of over
3,500,000 words of text.
The words selected for the AWL are words which
occur frequently in a range of academic subjects,
including the Arts (including history, psychology,
sociology, etc.), Commerce (including
economics, marketing, management, etc.), Law
and the Sciences (including biology, computer
science, mathematics, etc.). The AWL does not,
however, include technical words which are
specific to a given field. Nor does it contain words
which are of general use and very high
frequency.
http://www.englishvocabularyexercises.com/AWL/index.htm#what
Sublist 1
analyze • approach • area • assess • assume
• authority • available • benefit • concept •
consist • constitute • context • contract •
create • data • define • derive • distribute •
economy • environment • establish • estimate
• evident • export • factor • finance • formula
• function • identify • income • indicate •
individual • interpret • involve • issue • labor •
legal • legislate • major • method • occur •
percent • period • policy • principle •
proceed • process • require • research •
respond • role • section • sector • significant •
similar • source • specific • structure • theory •
vary
Sublist 2
achieve • acquire • administrate • affect •
appropriate • aspect • assist • category •
chapter • commission • community • complex
• compute • conclude • conduct •
consequent • construct • consume • credit •
culture • design • distinct • element • equate
• evaluate • feature • final • focus • impact •
injure • institute • invest • item • journal •
maintain • normal • obtain • participate •
perceive • positive • potential • previous •
primary • purchase • range • region •
regulate • relevant • reside • resource •
restrict • secure • seek • select • site • strategy
• survey • text • tradition • transfer
Sublist 3
alternative • circumstance • comment •
compensate • component • consent •
considerable • constant • constrain •
contribute • convene • coordinate • core •
corporate • correspond • criteria • deduce •
demonstrate • document • dominate •
emphasis • ensure • exclude • framework •
fund • illustrate • immigrate • imply • initial •
instance • interact • justify • layer • link •
locate • maximize • minor • negate •
outcome • partner • philosophy • physical •
proportion • publish • react • register • rely •
remove • scheme • sequence • sex • shift •
specify • sufficient • task
•technique•technology • valid • volume
Sublist 4
access • adequate • annual • apparent •
approximate • attitude • attribute • civil •
code • commit • communicate • concentrate
• confer • contrast • cycle • debate • despite
• dimension • domestic • emerge • error •
ethnic • goal • grant • hence • hypothesis •
implement • implicate • impose • integrate •
internal • investigate • job • label •
mechanism • obvious • occupy • option •
output • overall • parallel • parameter •
phase • predict • principal • prior •
professional • project • promote • regime •
resolve • retain • series • statistic • status •
stress • subsequent • sum • summary
• undertake
Sublist 5
academy • adjust • alter • amend • aware •
capacity • challenge • clause • compound •
conflict • consult • contact • decline •
discrete • draft • enable • energy • enforce •
entity • equivalent • evolve • expand •
expose • external • facilitate • fundamental •
generate • generation • image • liberal •
license • logic • margin • medical • mental •
modify • monitor • network • notion
• objective • orient • perspective • precise •
prime • psychology • pursue • ratio • reject •
revenue • stable • style • substitute • sustain •
symbol • target • transit • trend • version •
welfare • whereas
Sublist 6
abstract • accurate • acknowledge •
aggregate • allocate • assign • attach •
author • bond • brief • capable • cite •
cooperate • discriminate • display • diverse •
domain • edit • enhance • estate • exceed •
expert • explicit • federal • fee • flexible •
furthermore • gender • ignorant • incentive •
incidence • incorporate • index • inhibit •
initiate • input • instruct • intelligence • interval
• lecture • migrate • minimum • ministry •
motive • neutral • nevertheless • overseas •
precede • presume • rational • recover •
reveal • scope • subsidy • tape • trace •
transform • transport • underlie • utilize
Sublist 7
adapt • adult • advocate • aid • channel •
chemical • classic • comprehensive •
comprise • confirm • contrary • convert •
couple • decade • definite • deny •
differentiate • dispose • dynamic • eliminate •
empirical • equip • extract • file • finite •
foundation • globe • grade • guarantee •
hierarchy • identical • ideology • infer •
innovate • insert • intervene • isolate • media
• mode • paradigm • phenomenon • priority •
prohibit • publication • quote • release •
reverse • simulate • sole • somewhat •
submit • successor • survive • thesis • topic •
transmit • ultimate • unique • visible •
voluntary
Sublist 8
abandon • accompany • accumulate •
ambiguous • append • appreciate • arbitrary
• automate • bias • chart • clarify •
commodity • complement • conform •
contemporary • contradict • crucial •
currency • denote • detect • deviate •
displace • drama • eventual • exhibit • exploit
• fluctuate • guideline • highlight • implicit •
induce • inevitable • infrastructure • inspect •
intense • manipulate • minimize • nuclear •
offset • paragraph • plus • practitioner •
predominant • prospect • radical • random •
reinforce • restore • revise • schedule • tense
• terminate • theme • thereby • uniform •
vehicle • via • virtual • visual • widespread
Sublist 9
accommodate • analogy • anticipate •
assure • attain • behalf • bulk • cease •
coherent • coincide • commence •
compatible • concurrent • confine •
controversy • converse • device • devote •
diminish • distort • duration • erode • ethic •
format • founded • inherent • insight •
integral • intermediate • manual • mature •
mediate • medium • military • minimal •
mutual • norm • overlap • passive • portion •
preliminary • protocol • qualitative • refine •
relax • restrain • revolution • rigid • route •
scenario • sphere • subordinate • supplement
• suspend • team • temporary • trigger • unify
• violate • vision
Sublist 10
adjacent • albeit • assemble • collapse •
colleague • compile • conceive • convince •
depress • encounter • enormous •
forthcoming • incline • integrity • intrinsic •
invoke • levy • likewise • nonetheless •
notwithstanding • odd • ongoing • panel •
persist • pose • reluctance • so-called •
straightforward • undergo • whereby
A Lot of Words…What to Do?
When introducing new content:
1.
Check the content for use of words that
can be found on the AWL
2.
Assess prior knowledge of the appropriate
AWL words
3.
Explicitly teach the vocabulary in the lesson
that can be found on the AWL, being sure
to teach how the same word can be used
in other content areas
Practice with
AWL
Teaches multisyllabic word reading
strategies
Reasons to teach multisyllabic word reading in your
classroom—
 4th and 6th graders having difficulty reading
longer words had significant gains when
taught to use affixes and vowels to
pronounce long words
Shefelbine, 1990
 7th, 8th, and 9th graders who were taught a
decoding strategy for reading long words
had fewer oral reading errors and increased
Lenz & Hughes,
reading comprehension
1990
What is D.I. S.S.E.C.T?
The Word Identification
Strategy used in SIM was
developed by Lenz and
Hughes(1990) and initially
tested on 12 middle school
students with learning
disabilities.
By: Michelle Williams
This strategy is intended to help
struggling readers decode and
identify unfamiliar words, and is
based on the common underlying
structure of most polysyllabic words
in English.
The mnemonic D.I.S.S.E.C.T assists
struggling readers identify
unknown words.
D.I.S.S.E.C.T.
Discover the content
Isolate the prefix
Separate the suffix
Say the stem
Examine the stem
Check with someone
Try the dictionary
Practice Multisyllabic
Decoding Instruction
Teaches content concepts
 Concept maps are hierarchical, visual
diagrams that show the relationships
among the concepts and convey even
complex information at a glance.
(Novak, 1993)
 Learner constructed concept maps can
be used to (1) assess student
understanding of the content, (2)
summarize what has been taught/read,
and (3) support study of the material.
Concept
Map
Remember that your
students will need
instruction when
beginning to use
graphic organizers.
A review from earlierModeling
Guided Practice
Independent
Practice
Mastery of Skills
Introducing a Course Map
Course Map
Semantic Mapping
 Students generate words related to a
concept, categorize the words, and
discuss relationships between words.
 It is very useful when the central concept is
complex and associated with a rich
reservoir of related terms.
 It can be used:
 Whole class
 Partner or group work
 Individual
Explicit Instruction, Effective and Efficient Teaching; Archer & Hughes, 2011
An Example of Semantic
Mapping
Semantic Feature
Analysis
The semantic feature
analysis strategy uses a
grid to help kids explore
how sets of things are
related to one another.
By completing and
analyzing the grid,
students are able to
see connections, make
predictions and master
important concepts.
This strategy enhances
comprehension and
vocabulary skills.
Wrap Up and Next Steps
1. Take two minutes to review your notes and the
materials that we talked about today.
2. Fill out the 3-2-1 Strategy Chart
3. Share your ideas with your partner
4. When prompted, decide on one or two
individual learning goals to work on between
now and when we meet again in January
5. Write your learning goal(s) in the final square of
your Note Page
6. Be prepared to share successes and challenges
in reaching your learning goal when we meet
next time
Learning Targets
At the end of today you will be able to:
 Understand the unique needs in literacy instruction for
adolescents and what that means for your classroom
 Know how to use incorporate direct instruction
techniques to increase literacy skills
 Know the literacy content indicators recommended by
the Center on Instruction
 Focus on increasing motivation and engagement for
adolescents, including struggling readers
 Focus on increasing vocabulary and content
knowledge for adolescents, including struggling
readers
 Use embedded strategies so that struggling readers
can be more successful in content area classes
Thanks for all you do!
Have a great year! If you have any
questions please feel free to contact
me.
Melanie Kahler
Literacy Consultant K-12
Ingham ISD
mkahler@inghamisd.org
(517)244-1244