Introduction
“I have observed teachers with a passionate interest in words and watched how they share
this love with children, and I find it very hard to describe how they do what they do. No book on
vocabulary instruction or set of activities can accomplish what these teachers do, spontaneously
in the classroom.” Thus, Ellin Keene in To Understand provides teachers with a reality check
before engaging with the following material.
The word study activities offered here are simply recipes for preparing students to ingest
words in a variety of ways. Choose and use what works. This guide is designed to increase word
consciousness through robust vocabulary instruction so that, in the words of one state’s
standards: “Students use the power of language ethically and creatively.”
Relying heavily on Janet Allen’s philosophy, “…as a teacher I should not be teaching one
way to teach vocabulary for all words, for all my students, for the whole year. Rather, I should
be creating a language-rich environment with lots of reading, talking, and writing in which
varying levels of instruction occur.” This guide seeks to help teachers create that environment. In
Allen’s books (Words, Words, Words and Inside Words) she lists the ingredients to help students
learn and use academic and specialized vocabulary.
If teachers desire language-rich classrooms, they need to:
 Build background knowledge
 Teach words that are critical to comprehension
 Provide support during reading and writing
 Develop a conceptual framework for themes, topics, and units of study
 Assess students’ understanding of words and concepts.
It is wise to listen to Ellin Keene again before studying the succeeding pages. She
reminds teachers that,
We have long understood the need for vocabulary instruction that creates a
conceptual base for new words, helps children build a personal set of associations
for the words they know, and encourages students to use increasingly subtle and
complex words in their spoken and written language. Sadly, there is still too much
focus in American classrooms on handing out long weekly word lists, then asking
children to look up their meanings and write sentences that use the words in an
appropriate context.
To counteract this negative focus, Keene describes a lively snapshot of teachers who
continually gift their students with the joy of words:
They pause during a read-aloud to marvel at an author’s word choice; they reread lines
just to let children appreciate the cadence of the language; they interrupt everyone during
composing to share the word one writer has chosen because it perfectly captures the meaning
he strives for. There are words and quotes posted throughout their classrooms, pulled from
children’s writing and well-loved books. They share their pleasure when the words the author
uses surprise them. They wisely select a few very relevant words to study at a given time,
helping children to build a conceptual (rather than a definitional) understanding of each
word, associating other terms with it. They create situations in which kids discover and teach
each other words, and they ensure that children are hearing—and using—an ever more
sophisticated vocabulary as they speak and write.”
Peter Johnston’s Choice Words also is a valuable guide to understanding the power of
words. It is our hope that teachers will discover new ways to enrich their students by unlocking
the power of words.
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TEACHING VOCABULARY
Adapted from Words, Words, Words by Janet Allen
Increase
A language-rich environment
The variety of instructional
approaches
Opportunities for learning new
words through wide reading
Strategies to learn unfamiliar words
Language/word awareness
Building of background knowledge
to increase vocabulary
Highlighting relationships between
difficulty of words and
comprehension
Decrease
Looking up definitions as a single source
of word knowledge
Asking students to write sentences for
new words before they’ve studied the
word in depth
Notion that all words in a text need to be
defined for comprehension
Using context as a highly reliable tool
for increasing comprehension
Assessments that ask students for single
definitions
Drill-and-practice methods
Direct instruction
Awareness that context clues vary in
degree of helpfulness to readers
Awareness that knowing a word
means more than knowing a
definition of a word
Exposure to words in meaningful
context
Immersion in vocabulary discussion
Teaching of word parts
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Instructional Strategies and Tools
Within the following pages you will find Word Study tools designed to develop word
consciousness in students. The instructional strategies and tools are not an end-all but a
suggestion for use. The expectation is that you will take them and use them in a manner that will
foster life-long word study skills.
The FRAYER MODEL
This graphic organizer takes some time, so you would probably choose it when you are
introducing a concept or beginning a unit. The teacher would directly teach the critical attributes.
This could become an anchor chart and used as a reference throughout the unit, adding
information as the learning progresses.
In the example that follows, the teacher is introducing the word “anarchist” preceding a
unit on the 1920’s.
Frayer Model
Define the Concept
Is different from similar concepts
An anarchist is someone who
advocates (supports or defends)
the absence of political authority
Someone who criticizes authority
or government, but wouldn’t want
to destroy it.
Examples of the Concept are
Nonexamples of the concept are
Sacco and Vanzetti
Emma Goldman
Some rock groups like
A patriot
A senator or representative
Anyone who votes or runs
for office
The Dead Kennedys
I’ll remember the word by
I know that “-ist” refers to a person, like a “dentist” or “pharmacist”.
“an-“ means without and “-arkos” means ruler.
In comic books there sometimes is an “arch” villain. An anarchist would maybe not care if
others got hurt if they got in the way of the overthrow of authority.
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CONCEPTS AND VOCABULARY: CATEGORIES AND LABELS
This activity helps students focus on the particular vocabulary for a unit or novel by
asking them to see connections, patterns, and relationships between the words. They decide how
to categorize the words into logical groups.
One of the best ways to use this strategy is to have the words on cards and allow the
students to work in groups. As they arrange the cards, they will explain, argue, persuade, and
teach themselves and each other a great deal. This involvement with the words will help them
create a structure to remember the words.
This procedure is a good way to introduce a unit or to review at the end. The following
chart can be used instead of, or along with, the cards. Once a group has their organizational
pattern completed, they can present their rationale to the whole class. Many different possibilities
provide further awareness of how the words relate to each other and to the topic itself. If this is
an introduction, students can create questions about the possible use of the words.
The example that follows could be used by a teacher introducing or reviewing a unit on
the Civil Rights Movement. Multiple categories are possible.
Concepts and Vocabularies
Categories and Labels
Read and think about each of the words you have been given. Now, group the words into
categories that make logical sense to you. Ask yourself which words would logically go together.
After you group the words, give each list a label. Be ready to explain or justify the rationale
behind your groups and labels.
Words:
Lunch counter sit-ins
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rosa Parks
Separate But Equal
Jackie Robinson
KKK
Labels and Categories:
Bus boycott
Emmett Till
Brown v. Board of Education
Little Rock Nine
Garbage Workers’ Strike
George Wallace
Events That Brought About Change
Lunch Counter sit-ins
Bus boycott
Emmett Till
Brown V. Board of Education
Garbage Workers’ Strike
March to Selma
Four Little Girls
Langston Hughes
Ruby Bridges
March to Selma
4 Little Girls
Jim Crow Laws
Lyndon Johnson
Negative forces
Inspirational People
More Info Needed
KKK
MLK, Jr.
Lyndon Johnson
Separate But Equal
Rosa Parks
George Wallace
Little Rock Nine
Jim Crow laws
Langston Hughes
Ruby Bridges
Jackie Robinson
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LEAD: EXPERIENCE-BASED VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION
The three steps in this strategy are:
L
List specialized or academic vocabulary related to the topic
EA
Provide students with an experience activity where they would use the
specialized words highlighted
D
Discuss the topic using the specialized vocabulary
This might be a good way to introduce students to the intricate vocabulary of The Scarlet
Letter, The Odyssey, or Great Expectations. The teacher would first go over the specialized
words; then provide an activity that generates involvement with the words; and then, through a
discussion, create even more interaction with the new vocabulary.
The following LIST is planned to introduce the Queen Mab speech in Romeo and Juliet
to students before they see the film clip of that scene.
LEAD
EXPERIENCE-BASED VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION
L = Listing
EA = Experience Activity
D = Discussion
List
Queen Mab
Romeo
Mercutio
Mercurical
Anon
Rosaline
parson
monologue
courtiers
dreams
midwife
fairies
agate stone
traces
atomies
court’sies
plagues
tithe
parson
suit
breaches
ambuscadoes
Spanish blades
benefice
fathoms
Experience Activity
Work with members of your learning group and discuss what you know about Mercutio and
Romeo so far. How many of these words can you figure out? Has any one seen a pirate movie?
Which would fit swashbucklers? Mercutio is not a pirate, but he uses some crazy images to
distract Romeo from his latest crush (not Juliet!) See if you can figure out any of these words
before we watch the film clip.
Discussion
After viewing the famous Queen Mab scene, how many of these words can your team figure out
now? Anyone know anything about dream interpretation? Do you believe Mercutio? Does
Mercutio believe himself? Could you draw this fairy midwife?
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VOCAB-O-GRAM
In this strategy, students are given a list of words for a story they are about to read. They
then make predictions about where these words will be used within the structure of the story.
Working in groups, they speculate about the elements of the story and make connections
between and among the words in the word bank. Any words that don’t seem to fit anywhere can
be placed in the Mystery Words box.
In the following example, the students are preparing to read The Scarlet Letter.
VOCAB-O-GRAM
Use the vocabulary words in the word bank to make predictions about the book we are reading. You can use the words more than once to make
your predictions. Think about how you think the author of the book will use the words in the story. Help each other define the words. If you use a
dictionary, you may have to do some interpretation.
List words that you think will go with each category of the story structure. Then use those words to make predictions and answer the
questions about the structure. If there are words your group can’t use because they are too unfamiliar, list those words at the bottom as Mystery
Words.
Word Bank:
throng
sepulchers
portal
illegitimate
scaffold
blighted
calamity
edifice
dank
oracles
amiss
paternity
Setting
How will the author describe
the setting?
hussy
primeval
melancholy
depraved
beadle
parishioner
penitence
imp
spectre
gallows
physiognomies
retribution
It will be dank and blighted…It’s primeval.
Characters
What predictions can you
make about the characters?
There’s a hussy and she’s probably melancholy. There’s an
Illegitimate child. A parishioner might be involved.
Conflict
What will the conflict be?
Who will be involved?
We think the paternity suit is the conflict.
The hussy! A crowd (throng). Something’s amiss.
Plot
What will happen in the story?
Resolution
How will the story end?
Some calamity will take place. Is there a portal to another
world? Maybe that’s where the imp comes in…and the beadle.
Badly! Someone might get hanged in the gallows. Someone
Who is depraved gets retribution!
Questions
What questions do you have
about the story?
Is there time travel? (oracles?) Are there ghosts? (spectre)?
Dead bodies? (sepulchers)?
Mystery Words
physiognomies..that’s a mouthful!
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PORTABLE WORD WALL
This strategy needs little explanation. Use it with any subject at any time. Students can
collect words they want to know or that the teacher wants them to record during a unit.
WORD SORT
This is an activity where students are asked to sort words into categories by placing
words into groups where the words have a common element. The teacher creates a bank of words
that will be used in a unit of study.
The data collected can be a valuable springboard for conferring with students about their
choices for grouping and their thinking for their decisions.
Sample Word Sort (7th grade)
Participant’s Name
Word Sort Title
Word Sort Grouping
Jade
Suffixes (-nch, -elch, -tch,
-ouch, -each)
Moran
Suffixes (-nch, -elch, -atch
-ouch, -each)
Tim
Word endings (-tch’s,
-ach’s, -ch’s)
Jo
ABC order and sounding
the same
hunch, branch
belch
catch, match, hutch
couch
reach, teach, beach
branch, hunch
belch
catch, match, hutch
couch
beach, reach, teach.
match, catch, hutch
beach, coach, reach, teach
belch, couch, hunch
beach, belch
branch, match
catch, couch
hunch, hutch
teach, reach
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SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
This helpful tool allows students to interact with the vocabulary to gain a better grasp of the meaning in a
text. It could be used before reading and annotating. In this approach, students are required to determine which word
would not survive with the others in a given list. The teacher formulates word clusters containing at least one word
from the work (synonyms and one antonym). Working in small groups, students discuss which words would be
eliminated and why.
Dictionaries and thesauri can be used. The teacher may require students to formulate a new word to replace
the eliminated one. A last step could be to have the students decide as a group how they might label the clusters.
Survival of the Fittest
Read and discuss the words in each of the clusters of words. Determine which word does not fit with the other words
in each cluster. Eliminate that word and then create a label that would include the words that are left in the cluster of
words. For a challenge, generate a new word that would replace the eliminated word and fit with the remaining
words in the cluster.
“Casey at the Bat”
“Largest Amount”
1. extreme
severe
limited greatest
maximum
intense
utmost
“Dead colors”
6. pallor
bloodless
pastiness
sallowness
ruddiness pale
colorlessnesss
“Circular”
2. wreathed
curved
turned
rounded
looped
straight ring-shaped
“Never-ending”
7. eternal
endless
infinite
lasting
terminable forever
enduring
“Physical Features”
3. featureless aspect
appearance
looks
visage
countenance
features
“Hurt”
8. harmed
well unwell
injured
stricken
wounded
overcome
“Minimum”
4. minute
rare
straggling
many
less
sparse
middling
“Helpful”
9. supporters
well-wishers
patrons
backers
fans
opponent helper
“Large Group”
5. mob
slew
horde
oodles
handful many
“Beforehand”
10. go before
pave the way
preceding
followed lead
go in advance
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LIST-GROUP-LABEL
This brainstorming and categorizing activity provides students with an opportunity to
think about, discuss, categorize, and label words related to a central concept. This allows
teachers to assess students’ background knowledge prior to beginning a novel or unit of study.
List: Each student brainstorms and lists at least seven words they think of when they hear certain
terms relating to a theme.
Group: Students then work with a small group to discuss and group their lists into logical
categories. Looking for word patterns allows students time to think about the concept. The goal
is to have one list encompassing all words, and for all students to achieve a better grasp of the
themes.
Label: The last step requires students to label their categories. These categories could then
become a basis for the creation of a word wall.
List-Group-Label
My brainstorming list for tolerance
putting up with people
accepting
willing
no fighting
conflicts
patience
ignore differences
attitude
Word patterns our group discovered…
Tolerance
temper
willing
patience
accepting putting up with people
Ignore differences
listening
cool down
conflicts
no fighting
Based on our words and labels, we can make the following statements
about this topic:



Tolerance is ignoring differences among people
You have to accept and be willing to be tolerant
Tolerance is putting up with people
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“I’M THINKING OF A WORD….”
Need to review vocabulary, terms, events, characters? This charades-style review
activity is engaging enough to sustain the interest of the students and “solidify their
understanding of specialized vocabulary words (Allen, 2007). The teacher chooses words,
concepts, and terms taught during a unit or from the Word Wall. It is an excellent formative
assessment; the teacher can quickly identify student needs to determine future lessons.
Janet Allen gives the following explanation:
The activity begins when the teacher says, “I’m thinking of a word….” The teacher completes the
thought by providing students with a context, such as “I’m thinking of a word that we discussed in our
study of colonial events in America.” Or “I’m thinking of a term authors use to….” Or “I’m thinking of a
word that we often use in math class.”
The teacher allows a few wild guesses and then moves forward by giving students examples and
non-examples and continuing to repeat each previous clue (following the graphic organizer). At this
point, students will probably have several guesses. If they have guessed the word and can explain or
describe the word’s meaning in the context the teacher has created, then the teacher moves on to a new
word and begins the game again.
After a few example and non-example clues are given, the teacher would provide a richer, more
detailed context by saying, “This word would always/usually….” and “This word would never….”
By this time, the students will have narrowed the possibilities and should be able to name and define the
word.
“I’M THINKING OF A WORD….”
I’m thinking of a word (device) that…
…playwrights use to reveal a character’s thoughts and feelings.
Examples of the device are…
Non-examples of the device are…
…Mercutio’s speech in Act 1.5
…Romeo and the party-goers
…Romeo and Juliet’s first
conversation at the end of Act 1
Any ideas?
This device would always/usually….
The device would never….
…be spoken to characters on stage
…be one or two lines long
The word is and it means…
…monologue: a long speech delivered by an actor to others on stage
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I SPY: A WORD SCAVENGER HUNT
This is an engaging activity designed to “provide students an opportunity to apply and
discover…” vocabulary, terms, concepts in a more “real-life context.” This activity is based on
the belief that middle and high school students should have “deeper explorations with language’”
(Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, 2002). “I Spy” provides the multiple exposures needed to shape
word meanings to increase student understanding and the ability to actually use the word
fluently.
Have you every played “I-Spy”? Then you know basically how “I Spy: A Word
Scavenger Hunt” works. Students are given a list of words or concepts and must find examples
of the word somewhere. In the example provided, students chose unfamiliar words from Heart
of Darkness and formed a Word Wall. At the end of the novel, students generated a list of their
10 favorite words and went on a scavenger hunt. For one week they actively sought these words
in their reading (academic and leisure) and listening (conversations and television).
Modified Steps from Inside Words by Janet Allen:
1. Create a list of words or concepts that are specific to the text or unit of study.
2. Options:
a. Give students the list of words and explain that they are looking for
examples of the word and the actual word. It is a bonus if they find
the actual word, but you really want to discover the word in action.
b. Generate a list of vocabulary or, as in the example provided, have
students generate a list of words and hunt for the word in action.
3. Students work in groups and as a class, documenting where they discovered
the word.
4. If possible, students bring an artifact to show the word in a new context
(When studying Franz Kafka, students found and shared Kafkaesque
examples). The artifacts could be anything from newspaper clippings to
photographs to television or online videos.
5. Individually, students write what connection the target word in a new context
has to their understanding of the word or concept.
6. If you have a word wall, artifacts can be displayed under each of the target
words as a visual reminder of the word, its meanings, and its applications.
Examples from students’ work with Heart of Darkness were “tumultuous, fisticuffs,
lugubrious, jocose, diaphanous, sagacious, obsequious, harlequin.”
This activity is engaging for students and teachers. Here they go beyond memorization
and discover the words and concepts that often seem inaccessible are accessible. The words and
concepts are “brought to life” and, in turn, fluency is increased.
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PREVIEWING CONTENT VOCABULARY
What does it mean to know a word? Inside Words by Janet Allen lists these “Levels of
Word Knowledge”:
1. I’ve never seen the word before.
2. I’ve heard the word, but I don’t know what it means.
3. I recognize it in context and know that it is connected/related to _________(word or
concept).
4. I know the word and can use it appropriately.
“Previewing Content Vocabulary” is a way for teachers and students to assess students’
background knowledge of the words and concepts encountered in a specific reading assignment
or unit of study.
Instructions modified from Inside Words:
Using the graphic organizer for Previewing Content Vocabulary or a format similar
(student journal or notebook page), guide students through this activity.
1. Read the title of the chapter, text, or name of the author and ask them to brainstorm or
freewrite words and/or concepts they think they will encounter during the reading.
2. In the example, students were preparing to read an article on the history and myth of
the Trojan War. After freewriting on the words and concepts they may encounter,
they were given the word list at the bottom of the page (Content Vocabulary). These
words were taken from the reading.
3. Before reading, students individually determined their level of knowledge of each of
the words, filling out each quadrant of the organizer.
4. Students then worked in groups to share their knowledge of the words and define
unfamiliar words.
Another use for this activity is similar to a pretest (but less intimidating). For example,
write “Literary Terms” as the title and have them brainstorm a list of all the terms they know and
can define. Then provide the list you want them to know by the end of the study, semester, or
year and complete the organizer as explained above.
This strategy allows the teacher to determine not only students’ various levels of word
knowledge, but also their general background knowledge. It is a valuable formative assessment
for how much pre-teaching might be needed. Marzano reminds us, “What students already know
about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they will learn new information
relative to the content.”
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Previewing Content Vocabulary
Chapter XII: “History and Myth Come Together: The Trojan War”
Based on the title, words I would expect to read in this text:
Based on this title, I believe that it will be about the Trojan War, so words like “war.” They
may talk about rulers and the importance of the Trojan War.
I’ve never heard the word…
I’ve heard the word, but I don’t know
what it means:
…fomenting
Capricious
I know the word…
I think the word means
or is related to…
…metropolis: paradise
…exquisite
Content Vocabulary
discord
fomenting
compelling
sinister
riveted
coveted
infinite
trivial
reverberate
comeliness
interminable
capricious
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intervening
dispirited
ingenious
valor
amassed
metropolis
AFTERWORD:
Over and over in To Understand, Ellin Keene urges us to “incorporate the most basic
instructional principles: Focus instruction on a few key concepts, teach them over a long period
of time, and have students apply those concepts in a wide variety of texts and contexts.”
If teachers genuinely want to bring students and words together, they must commit to this
mantra and especially commit to the transfer of new understanding to the next experience.
Carol Ann Tomlinson, in the Foreword to Sandra R. Whitaker’s Word Play, expresses
the feelings of teachers who love words: “It never made sense to me to ask students to memorize
lists of words. That would have been like asking them to memorize the phone book instead of
learning about the people in the town.”
Whitaker guides us further with a caution to stop “thinking that every word students will
need to understand a text actually appears in the text.” Instead, start “thinking about the
background knowledge students…need as they encounter a text.” Create a “productive
vocabulary—the words we produce to communicate our own ideas….Without transfer of new
vocabulary into speech and writing, can we really say a student owns words?”
The examples from Janet Allen’s Inside Words offered in the preceding pages were
chosen because of their supportive scaffolding. Properly assisted, students can develop their
productive vocabularies and build their background knowledge about words.
Tomlinson commends those who forego “the inclination to provide teachers with a ‘bag
of tricks’ that is rooted in nothing more than the desire to have something to do Monday
morning.” It is the hope of the builders of the Word Study portion of this literacy notebook that
these exercises will not be perceived as contents of that bag.
We agree with Tomlinson that, “[U]nderstandable as that desire [to provide the tricks] is,
it doesn’t help us grow deep roots in the disciplines we teach.” We offer these examples with this
caveat: Plant them in good soil that has been carefully prepared, or there won’t be the growth we
hope to see.
May your students and you go beyond the names and definitions of words to know the
excitement of truly owning words; they have as many stories as the people in a town.
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References
Allen, J. (1999). Words, words, words: Teaching vocabulary in grades 4-12.
Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Allen, J. (2007). Inside words: Tools for teaching academic vocabulary. Portland, ME:
Stenhouse.
Beck, I., McKeown, M., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary
instruction. NY: Guilford Press.
Johnston, P. (2004). Choice words: How our language affects children’s learning.
Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Keene, E. (2008). To Understand: New Horizons in Reading Comprehension. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Marzano, R. (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action.
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Marzano, R. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement:
Research on what works in schools. Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Whitaker, S. (2008). Word play: Building vocabulary across texts and disciplines
grades 6-12. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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