vocabulary+2



4 Main Principles to Guide Vocabulary Instruction: ** 1. Students should be active learners 2. Students benefit from personalizing the learning of words 3. Students gain from immersion in words 4. Students increase their vocabulary through repeated exposure to words
 * Part 1: Unrau Summary:**
 * ** National Reading Panel – Relevant Findings ** (p.159)
 * Direct instruction of vocabulary words is beneficial
 * Multiple exposures to and repetition of vocabulary benefit gaining word knowledge
 * Words that appear in multiple contexts are most beneficial
 * Active engagement in a variety of learning tasks facilitates vocabulary growth
 * Incidental word learning is a critical path to vocabulary development
 * Instructional technologies enrich vocabulary instruction
 * ** Knowing a word well entails: **
 * Knowing how that word works in our language system
 * Knowing how that word is used in multiple contexts
 * Knowing what you can do with that word, not simply what it means in isolation (p.152)


 * Part 2: Strategies:

**

Uranu states, students need to process words efficiently and accurately to be able to read fluently and understand the text. If word recognition is labored, full comprehension of the text may become difficult, some students will understand more than others. To level the playing field in content area texts, readers should quickly recognize and understand the meaning of words. They must be able to string these words together understand the full concept of the sentence, paragraph and page. They must form meaning out of the words. (Unrua, 150)

Different social and economic background show vast differences in word knowledge by the age of 4 years old: · Professional families have experienced 45 million words. · Working class families have 26 million words. · Welfare families have 13 million words. (Unrua, 153)



This strategy is used as a tool by the teacher to assess how well their students know certain words. Therefore the Word Knowledge Check can be utilized as both a pre-test and post-test of sorts. In this strategy the teacher selects certain, key words, that are central to the topic or concept being covered in class. Based upon these selected words the students will then use the Word Knowledge Check to communicate their level of familiartity with the word to the teacher. The serves as a useful tool for the teacher by revealing prior knowledge and words that may need to be retaught.

A blank copy of the Word Knowledge Check Chart is availabe for you to fill in with your vocabulary, copy, and utilize in your classroom.



Uranu explains that “knowing a word well entails knowing how that word works in our language system, how it is used in multiple contexts, and what you can do with it, not simply what it means in isolation”(Uranu, 152). There are three types of Word Maps discussed in Uranu used to introduce unfamiliar terms: question maps, structured overview maps and concept-mastery maps. In this lesson we will focus on question maps.


 * Question Maps** allow students to ask questions, rather than give answers about a new word or concept. Students and teacher can safely generate important questions without the risk of feeling self conscious for not knowing the answer, since only the question is asked for. With a **Structured Overview Map** instructors provide concepts, and demonstrate how they are related or organized. A graphic demonstration of concepts might be modeled by organizing term in a triangle or tree. The words are organized by relationships. A **Concept-Mastery Map** “graphically presents information about a word or concept, how it interrelates with other knowledge, and how you might integrate it with memory-enhancing features.” (Uranu, 165)

**Question Maps** are a method of literacy instruction that forces students to question a word on multiple levels and use their own and their classmates’ prior knowledge to make meaning out of important terms. A Question Map can also invite students to include concepts and words they relate to the term. All levels of students can be successful and be a resource to each other.


 * Steps: **
 * Read through text.
 * Decide on key words, phrases and concepts in the text that will provide cues for your students or that may need clarification.
 * Hand out worksheet.
 * Write main words/concepts on the chalk board. (May be one or more depending on time constraints)
 * Have students copy them onto their worksheet.
 * Allow students a few minutes to brainstorm all the questions, ideas, and words they associate with it and write them on the worksheet. This may be completed by themselves or in groups. They may also ask others for clarification or elaboration of the words.
 * As a class volunteer your answers to be written on the chalk board
 * The question map may be revisited after reading the text.





 Unrau states that the main purpose for using this strategy would be to allow students to incorporate new words into their vocabularies. Students read a text initially and identify words that are unfamiliar to them. These words are important to their comprehension of the passage. Curiosity also provides motivation to find the meanings to these new words. The control of learning is in the students' hands.



 __**Step 1: **__ **Students are to look at a text after they have read it the first time. They are to note the words that they would like to learn (words that are important to understanding the reading). The students' will nominate a certain number of words that should appear on the vocabulary list. The teacher does the same in preparing a list of words that are important. ** __**Step 2: **__ **The students will answer several questions: **
 * Unrau states 4 steps in using this strategy: **

**Where did you find the word? ** **What do you think the word means in the context? ** **Why do you think the class should learn this word? ** **What is the importance of the word to the topic that we are reading about? ** __**<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Step 3: **__ **<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Either alone or in teams, the students will answer these questions with the words that they chose. ** __**<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Step 4: **__ **<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The teacher reviews all submissions and decides which words go on the vocabulary word lists. **



**Semantic Maps Definitio****n**: Often Semantic Maps refer to any graphic organizer that shows a relationship between words. Unrau however, is using the term semantic maps in a specific way. Unrau's format includes a theme or concept at the heart of the map, important ideas or terms highlighted with boxes or circles, and lines connecting related ideas or concepts that are not hierachically organized While semantic maps allow the students to organize their thoughts; when dealing with vocabulary the teacher is in control of the terms and concepts that the students need to learn. Semantic maps need to be modeled with the class. Part of this modeling needs to involve the 4 step process Unrau lists in his book:


 * Step 1**: Before or after a first reading write the word that you the teacher wants the students to explore on the center of the board. Then, if you want students to integrate related words, write them on an adjacent board.
 * Step 2:** Talk to your students about the central word, the meanings, use, and where the word came from in the text you are using.
 * Step 3:** Ask your students to come up with words, ideas, or examples that related to the central word. As the class progresses add your own ideas to the discussion.
 * Step 4:** Have the students copy the semantic map into their notebooks or journals so they can add to it as their knowledge of the target word expands.

Teachers need to make sure they **//model//** semantic maps with their classes before assigning the students to do one on their own. At the beginning you can give students a list of related words that they can use to integrate with the central word.

Unrau, N. (2004). Content area reading and writing: Fostering literacies in middle and high school. Upper Saddle Rive, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
 * Reference:**