Building Background Knowledge through Academic Vocabulary the research

Building Background Knowledge through Academic Vocabulary

“…the research literature supports one compelling fact: “…Vocabulary is the what students already single, strongest know about the content predictor of academic is one of for the second strongest success indicatorsstudents. ” of how well language they learn new (Kinsella, 2005) information relative to the content. ” (Marzano, 1)

Let’s Make a Vocabulary List 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. across meadow analyze synonym conjunction media parabola 8. hypothesis 9. legislative 10. executive 11. judicial 12. congruent 13. conclusion 14. acid

Why does it matter? • Read the following definition: – A charizard is a final evolution in an RPG. It is bipedal and omnivorous and flies with HM 02. Unlike the charmeleon, it will almost never be found in the wild. In contrast to the charmander, charizards can command pyrokinetics and their loyalty may waiver under neglectful conditions. Its name is a portmanteau.

Now let’s take a quiz: 1. Which evolution is the Charizard? a) b) c) d) First Second Third Last 2. The Charizard is able to fly at ____. 3. Compare the Charmeleon, Charmander, and Charizard. 4. Explain the importance of a Charizard to both offense and defense.

Why does it matter? • Compare your score on the quiz to what you feel you really understand about a Charizard. – Were some questions easier than others? Why? – Is your grade an accurate reflection of your understanding? Why or why not? To understand information… "students must be familiar with the terminology of a given topic and have some general idea as to the terms’ meanings. ” (Marzano, 32)

This knowledge of terms and ideas regarding the topic of study is called…

Ways to Build Background Knowledge • Direct Experiences – Field Trips – Mentors • Indirect Experiences – Sustained Silent Reading – Direct Vocabulary Instruction

Ways to Build Background Knowledge • Direct experiences – Field trips • Students must know what to look/listen for and how dialogue (put into words) about the experience – Mentoring relationships • Mentor takes on responsibility to build and maintain a relationship with student and family to enhance experiences and provide opportunity to dialogue about them.

Ways to Build Background Knowledge • Indirect experiences – Sustained silent reading • Students experience through fiction and nonfiction, in unlimited textual formats (Internet, magazine, linguistic & nonlinguistic texts) AND dialogue about their experiences • The difference between students who read silently and those who don’t is the 50 th to the 81 st percentile on norm-referenced tests.

Ways to Build Background Knowledge • Indirect Experiences – Direct Vocabulary Instruction • Shape the meaning of the new word through many experiences – – – Graphic or nonlinguistic representations Descriptions Parts and connections Various applications Games Dialogue and discourse

Why does it matter? • Please draw a picture (no words) of the following vocabulary: – – – – Love Hate Divorce Allegiance Egregious Détente Ephemeral

Depth of Understanding • Background knowledge does not have to be detailed and thorough to be useful. – The deeper our understanding the faster we remember, but we do not think in broad, general knowledge terms anyway… – Connections (similarities, contrasts, etc) with what we already know helps clarify what we are learning. • Referents (points of reference) allow our memory to make connections.

Three Functions of Memory Permanent Memory Working Memory Sensory Memory—temporary storage of sensory information, filtered for processing Permanent Memory—permanently stored information for active (conscious and unconscious) retrieval Working Memory—processing of conscious, active memory, retrieved from both sensory and permanent memory storage

Let’s revisit our definition: • Read the following definition: – A charizard is a final evolution an in RPG. It is bipedal and omnivorous and flies with HM 02. Unlike the charmeleon, it will almost never be found in the wild. In contrast to the charmander, charizards can command pyrokinetics and their loyalty may waiver under neglectful conditions. Its name is a portmanteau.

See if this helps… • RPG means a “Role Playing Game” where the player pretends to be a character in the game itself and other characters create a team or world with which the player will interact. • The characters in this game evolve through phases, gaining strength and powers, but maintaining their connection to the player. • A portmanteau is a word created by combing two words.

A charizard is… • Kind of like a dragon, with fire on its tail and a strong competitive spirit

What might memory processing look like? • “Information must make it to permanent memory to be part of our background knowledge. . . ” • To make it to permanent memory, information must effectively be processed in working memory… – through multiple times over time – with details added to elaborate the information – with associations to other information from permanent memory

Questions?

Ways to Build Background Knowledge • Direct Experiences – Field Trips – Mentors • Indirect Experiences – Sustained Silent Reading – Direct Vocabulary Instruction

A little more about why it matters… • Children of poverty come to school with significantly fewer academic background experiences than other children. – Field trips – Mentors – Sustained silent reading – Direct vocabulary instruction

Words Heard in an Hour Words heard on average in one hour based on the income level… • Poverty: 615 • Middle class : 1, 251 • Professional: 2, 153 Louisa Moats (2001) refers to this as “Word Poverty. ”

More about why it matters… Correlation between achievement and academic background knowledge is . 66 A middle class student gains approximately 5, 000 words each year… …an economically disadvantaged student gains 3, 000 in the same time period.

What about second-language learners? • “Language learners often don't connect their prior knowledge to the content matter they are learning in English. They may assume that their native languages and prior knowledge are too different to be relevant. ” (Dong 2009) • “…the dimension of vocabulary depth has been shown to be as important as vocabulary breadth in predicting the performance of ELLs on academic reading. ” (Wallace, 2008)

A high-performing first grader knows about twice as many words as a lowperforming one; by 12 th grade, the high performer knows about four times as many words as the low performer.

What does it mean? • Based on what you know about how background knowledge impacts understanding and how poverty impacts background knowledge, what might the correlations be between these two factors and… • • • Success on test scores Reading comprehension Study behavior Student engagement Student behavior

Traditional Vocabulary Instruction Ever heard (or said) this: “Class, here is this week’s (chapter’s) vocabulary. Look them up in the dictionary (or glossary or chapter) and write down the definitions. Write a sentence with each word. We will have a test on Friday (or at the end of the chapter). ”

Direct Vocabulary Instruction is a process that enables students to develop in-depth knowledge of important words.

Direct Vocabulary Instruction • Choose what words are important… • Determine what students need to know in order to really “understand” the word… (think relationships, relationships!) • Start the process of storing the vocabulary word in long term memory.

Let’s Look Back at Our List… What’s the first thing we need to do in order to turn a traditional vocabulary lesson into an opportunity for struggling students to build academic background knowledge?

Marzano’s Six Steps to Effective Academic Vocabulary Instruction Teacher… 1. Introduce the vocabulary using description, images, stories, or examples Student… (with teacher to guide and facilitate) 2. Write a definition based on the introduction 3. Create a nonlinguistic representation of this understanding 4. Develop layers of meaning through activities to interact with the vocabulary 5. Clarify understanding through dialogue and discussion with peers and teacher 6. Enrich understanding through vocabulary games over time

{vocabulary word} • Describe it. (what does it look like? feel like? sound like? ) • Tell a story about it. (How do you remember it? When did you learn it? Where does it show up in real life? ) • Give an example of it. (Where have I seen it before? What’s it like? What’s it NOT like? )

Marzano’s Six Steps to Effective Academic Vocabulary Instruction Teacher… 1. Introduce the vocabulary using description, images, stories, or examples Student… (with teacher to guide and facilitate) 2. Write a definition based on the introduction 3. Create a nonlinguistic representation of this understanding 4. Develop layers of meaning through activities to interact with the vocabulary 5. Clarify understanding through dialogue and discussion with peers and teacher 6. Enrich understanding through vocabulary games over time

Things to Remember about Step 1 • Teacher must… – Present carefully chosen vocabulary words – Use student friendly descriptions (not definitions initially) – Use explanations with multiple examples – Use both verbal and nonverbal (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) means of explanation

Things to Remember about Step 2 • Students must… – Create a definition, description, or explanation of the term • Teacher must… – Monitor accuracy of student work – Allow partially-correct definitions to stand – Use questions/prompts to promote student thinking without providing the “answer. ” – Not provide a written definition.

Things to Remember about Step 3 • Students must… – Know you’re not looking for artistic excellence – Use nonverbal representations they can explain – Be creative in making a connection between the vocabulary and their existing background knowledge – After step 3, rate their current level of understanding to self-assess learning • Teacher must… – Check accuracy of illustration. – Help students enhance their understanding through explanation and extension

Definition Characteristics Word Three Non-Examples Three Examples How is it like a paperclip?

The first 3 steps are the initial teaching of the word and developing initial understanding; the second 3 steps are for reinforcing the word and developing a rich understanding.

What category could I put this word in? Property/Characteristic Term Property/Characteristic What do I need to remember most about this term? (draw it)

Things to Remember about Step 4 • Student must… – Manipulate the vocabulary words through a variety or activities – Deepen understanding through dialogue and discussion • Teacher must… – Create/Determine the appropriate activities. – Balance paper/pencil and hands-on activities – Use various student groupings (pairs, small groups, whole class, individual)

Things to Remember about Step 5 • Student must… – Interact with the word periodically over time – Enrich understanding through dialogue and discussion – Reflect on previous interactions and revise understanding • Teacher must… – Provide a context for the discussions – Model (at least initially) the thinking process involved in discussions – Monitor discussions ensuring everyone participates – Provide opportunities for enriching understanding

Things to Remember about Step 6 • Student must… – Play with new and old vocabulary to reinforce understanding – Encounter (at least periodically) new uses for previously studied words • Teacher must… – Develop (or steal) games to play with vocabulary – Manage the class effectively during play

Having Fun with Words on a Minute’s Notice… • • Charades Play as a team Scrabble Pictionary Be creative Hangman & Scattergories Ask why… “Stump the Teacher” Mix-and-Match word parts Practice with meanings Make connections

Can you name this term?

Can you name this term?

Twenty Questions Subject:

Twenty Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (1 -10 only!)

1. What is the opening part of a story called?

2. A person in a story is a what?

3. Which property lets you move around numbers in an addition problem but still get the right answer?

4. The “inverse” of a fraction means you did what to it?

5. What’s a Punnet Square?

6. In a Punnet Square, what do the letters stand for?

7. Soldiers who used their money to protect their legs were using it as what?

8. What did both North and South soldiers call the Civil War enemy they all battled because of their lack of proper hygiene?

9. What were the Spanish explorers who came to North, South, and Central America called?

10. How is a “secondary color” different from a “primary color”?

Things associated with _________ Shakespeare Inventive Spelling Iambic Pentameter Globe Theater Sonnets Romeo & Juliet Queen Elizabeth

A website for Vocabulary games http: //www. jc-schools. net/tutorials/vocab

In closing… • Background knowledge matters for student learning because… • Mazano’s six-steps to vocabulary instruction are (in order)… • What are at least two other ways to build background knowledge to increase student learning? • Bonus: what’s a charizard?

In closing… • http: //sde. state. ok. us/Curriculum/BAV. pdf (online guide to Oklahoma’s Building Academic Vocabulary program) • http: //Class. Tools. net (online templates and games you can create for your classes) • http: //www. jc-schools. net/tutorials/vocab (online templates for vocabulary games) Graphic Organizers www. freeology. com www. teachervision. fen. com http: //www. educationoasis. com/curriculum/graphic_organizers. htm