Am I Doing this Right? )
Erie I BOCES
November 21, 2013
Facilitator: Mary Jo Casilio

Power of Words…
 Test your word knowledge

“ Rhetoric is language at play – language plus.
It is what persuades & cajoles, inspires and bamboozles, thrills and misdirects.
It causes criminals to be convicted, and then frees those criminals on appeal.
It causes governments to rise and fall, best men to be ever shunned by their best friends’ brides, and perfectly sensible adults to march with steady purpose toward machine guns .”
– Sam Leith, Words Like Loaded Pistols

But…
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
…. we can’t do any of this without words
… without vocabulary

What are the categories for the Anchor
Standards in Language?
Reading Writing
Key Ideas and
Details
Craft and
Structure
Text Types and
Purposes
Production and
Distribution of
Writing
Integration of
Knowledge and
Ideas
Research to Build and Present
Knowledge
Range of Reading
& Level of Text
Complexity
Range of Writing
Speaking/Liste ning
Comprehension and Collaboration
Language
Conventions of
Standard English
Presentation of
Knowledge and
Ideas
Knowledge of
Language
Vocabulary
Acquisition and
Use

6
Shifts in ELA/Literacy
Students read a true balance of informational and literary texts. Shift 1 Balancing Informational
& Literary Text
Shift 2 Knowledge in the Disciplines Students build knowledge about the world (domains/ content areas) through TEXT rather than the teacher or activities
Shift 3 Staircase of Complexity Students read the central, grade appropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more time and space and support in the curriculum for close reading.
Shift 4 Text-based Answers
Shift 5 Writing from Sources
Shift 6 Academic Vocabulary
Students engage in rich and rigorous evidence based conversations about text.
Writing emphasizes use of evidence from sources to inform or make an argument.
Students constantly build the transferable vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. This can be done effectively by spiraling like content in increasingly complex texts.

Why are we here?
-
-
-
Yes, the Common Core & the Shifts…
Yes, the NYS Assessments…
But also….


Objectives /
Overarching Questions
What is meant by academic vocabulary?
 Why is direct vocab instruction so significant?

How do we choose “the right” words?
 What would a research-tested process(es) look like in action?

So… where might we begin?
 How do children gain words?
 How can teachers help? Remediate?
 How is SED guiding?

Language begins at Home …
Correlations – SES, Talk, Vocab & IQ –
Source: Adapted from Hart & Risley, 1996
Professional
Families
Working
Families
Welfare Families
301 176 Parent Utterances
/ Hour
487
Child’s Recorded
Vocabulary Size
1,116 749 525
IQ Score at Age 3 117 107 79

The Word Gap – SED, Talk, Vocab & IQ –
Source: Adapted from Hart & Risley, 1996
Professional
Families
Working
Families
Welfare Families
Parent Utterances
/ 4 years +
45 million words 26 million words 13 million words

Connection: Oral & Written
“Beginning reading instruction is typically accomplished by teaching children a set of rules to decode printed words to speech. If the words are present in the child’s oral vocabulary, comprehension should occur as the child decodes and monitors the oral representations.
HOWEVER, if the print vocab is more complex than the child’s oral vocab, comprehension will
NOT occur.” –
Kamil & Heibert, 2005

Thus: uneven growth rates
By end of second grade…
Source: Biemiller & Slonim research
Root Word Acquisition
Total Word Bank
Lowest Vocabulary
Quartile of Students
1.5 root words / day
4,000 root word meanings
Highest Vocab Quartile of Students
3 root words / day
8,000 root word meanings

The “Matthew” Effect…
“The rich get richer…”
“Because poor readers tend to read less than better readers, the gap between good and poor readers in absolute number of words read becomes progressively greater as the child advances through school… Children who are good readers become better readers because they read more and also more challenging texts, but poor readers get relatively worse because they read less and less challenging texts. …”
– Stahl, 1999

Turn & Talk
 What do these trends tell us?

Can direct vocabulary instruction help?
(As cited in Marzano’s Vocab for the Common Core)
Meta-Analysis
Haystead &
Marzano, 2009
Elleman, Lindo,
Morpho, &
Compton, 2009
Focus
Effects of building vocab on academic achievement
Effects of vocab instruction on comprehension
Effect Size
.51
.50 – for words taught directly
Percentile Gain
19
19

What are the characteristics of
“effective” direct vocab instruction?
(Isabel Beck & colleagues)
 Frequent exposure to words
 Encounters in multiple texts (emphasized in
CCLS materials, modules)
 Active processing of the words

Defining the Shift /
Direct Instruction in Practice
 Shift 6


So… Tier II = Academic Vocab… but which words?
Importance & utility
 Instructional potential
 Conceptual understanding



…. Easier said than done!
Let’s try it!
Beck sample

What Not to Teach (Beck)
 No formula for picking words


Must be able to explain the meaning of the words with “known terms”
Must be useful, i.e. – student must be able to find a way to use this word in “everyday life”

Marzano’s Six Step Process
(see handouts)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Teacher provides definition
Student re-states in own words (in writing)
Student creates non-linguistic representation
Student engages in activities with words
Student discuss words
Students participate in word play

Frayer Model
Definition
Examples
Concept
Characteristics
Non-Examples

Sample: Modified Frayer Model
Jo Robinson
How to Get More Out of Your Core Reading Program

Identifying Similarities and Differences
Analogies A is to B as C is to D = A : B :: C : D is to
Relationship :_______________________________________ as is to
Analogies A is to B as C is to D = A : B :: C : D as is to
Relationship :_______________________________________ is to

Identifying Similarities and Differences
Analogies A is to B as C is to D = A : B :: C : D
Benevolent is to Good
Relationship :_first is more nuanced, implies tad more________________________ as Malevolent Bad is to
Analogies A is to B as C is to D = A : B :: C : D as is to
Relationship :_______________________________________ is to

Semantic Feature Analysis

Word Walls / Root Words (ELA eg: spec)

Generative Sentences
 Given a word and conditions about the placement of the word, write a sentence.
 Forces attention to grammar, word meaning, and academic language

“Volcanoes” in the 4th Position

“Volcanoes” in the 4th Position

“Volcanoes” in the 4th Position

Let’s try it …
7 word sentence that begins with “I believe” and has “volcanoes” in the 7 th position

7 word sentence that begins with “I believe” and has “volcanoes” in the 7 th position
I believe that there are many volcanoes.
I believe gases erupt from shield volcanoes.

Let’s try it . . . .


Write/say a 7 (or greater) word sentence that begins with “ The text states ” and uses the word volcanoes.
Write/say a 9 (or greater) word sentence that uses “ Contrary ” as the first word, has a comma, and uses the word volcanoes .
 Write/say a 13 (or greater) word sentence that begins with “ Despite the fact that, ” has a comma, and uses the word volcanoes.

Oral Language
Inside/Outside
Circles

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
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Class is divided (some students face out, some students face in).
Teacher asks a question, students think of an answer.
Outside circle shares with partner first.
Inside circle shares.
Teacher monitors.
Outside circle moves to the right ONE person and the process is repeated.
Post SENTENCE FRAMES
Think SPEED
DATING!

Sentence Framing
 Do you agree that_______________________?
Why or why not?
 I do/do not agree that _________ because
_______________ .
 Even though _____________ , I think
___________ .

 How do you get students to use school language in your classroom?
** Since _____________ , effective teachers ___________________ .
** Contrary to _______________ , I believe that __________________ .

More Sentence Framing
(They Say, I Say – Graff)
 In discussions of ____________________, a controversial issue is whether to
____________.
 While some argue that ______________, others contend that _________________.
 Of course, some object that
_______________. Although I concede that _______________, I still maintain that
________________________.

But so many words…
What about indirect instruction?
Wide Reading??
Thematic building?

But so many words…
What about indirect instruction?
Wide Reading??
Thematic building?


Yes!
Marilyn Jager Adams – “Advancing Our
Students’ Language & Literacy, The
Challenge of Complex Texts”

Introducing Vocab /
Building Thematically

Additional Resources
 EngageNY.org
Questions?
Feel free to contact me –
Mary Jo Casilio mcasilio@e1b.org