ISTE 24 Denver: Slay Vocabulary with your Student

This was my favourite session by far! Vocabulary development is a hurdle I am faced with every year. Like many of us I find the words our learners use in class never seem to appear in writing samples, and the vocabulary in PAT assessments are the catalyst to the lower scores that simply do not reflect the ability shown in the room. I am really excited to introduce the ideas below to my students as I hope this helps them make stronger connections to a wider variety of words they can recall and use independently.

Presenter: Gabriel Carillo

Session Description: Learn five vocabulary retention strategies that go deeper than just "understanding." Participants will go through these interactive and engaging strategies as a student to have the student experience. They will then create their own activities and learn how to best utilize them with students.

Great American Race/Marathon - Slides 4-12

• Create eg: 40 blank slides - Students must have edit access

• Give our cards… If you have card 1 go to slide 1 - each card has a word on the front and a number on the back

Sushi

1

 

• Go to numbered slide and describe in own words 

• Can find an image but can not use the word on your card

• Can research/define

• Give a short time limit

• Remove edit access to stop anyone adding things after times up

• IEP students do not get the more challenging words

Class then guess words from the clues

Go through as a class

T to edit and add to word bank - this can be topic based

Pic 1 = sushi

25,000 - 25K Pyramid - Slides 12-15

• Find a partner - one is A and one is B

• A look at screen

• B face back wall

• Give clues for partner to guess words in pyramid - can’t say the words but can give clues 

• You have 1 minute to guess all the words

• Repeat throughout units using different words

Flashcard Factory - Slides 15-17

• joinpd.com - takes you to pear deck - generates a code to enter - free site
• Puts chn into partners
• Ptnr A gets the term and definition - must write in a sentence
• Ptnr B must draw it

You collaborate online to complete the card and it falls from the list

‘Quality control’ to share with class - review and decide if sentence makes sense then tick yes or no

Cards are anonymous

Ship - export to Gimkit Live - creates a quiz using flashcard set

Peardeck - flashcard factory - word: Democracy click on definitions in dictionary.com, or chatGPT - out words and definitions in a google sheet - copy word list/definitions and paste in peardeck

Emoji Vocabulary - Slides 18-35

• Guess the word based only on the clues provided by the  emojis

• Emoji + emoji + emoji + emoji + emoji (chicken + fries + ham + cheese = chicken cordon bleu)

• Based off these emojis what moment in history, what maths, what…

Climb a Mountain - Slides 36

• Nearpod.com

• Free feature - like quizziz, kahoot

• Students asked a question or given a definition.

• They have 3-4 options to choose from

• Students enter their response at speed

• When the time allocated is up the avatars of those who responded quickly jump and begin the climb the mountain

• Can pull up a report

• Click time to climb 

• Teacher to put in terms and definitions 

• Will need to copy and paste can’t import 

1. Focus on key concepts and vocab terms not the vanity of the tools

2. Be creative as activities can be mixed and differentiated

3. The tech tool is not the centre of the activity, the interaction is

      

Implement and Try#2: Word Gifting...

I have been approaching my inquiry into word consciousness as a whole language focus and not simply looking for opportunities to strengthen spelling skills. This term I have actively planned for opportunities to adopt the word gifting strategy that Sylvia Ashton-Warner used to elicit key vocabulary. 

Making Reading Meaningful - Sylvia Ashton-Warner and the Language Experience Approach by Sherron Killingsworth Roberts points out that by embracing some of the guiding principles for practice of Sylvia Ashton-Warner’s work in developing the Language Experience Approach (LEA) we can strengthen the connections our tauira have to the more challenging topic based vocabulary needed to make sense of new learning. The principle that resonates most with me is to offer ongoing, authentic language and literacy experiences, including lots of opportunities to speak, listen, read, write, and think about their own and others’ words.

In my reading program this term I have been focusing on the concept of representation in texts. This unit was designed as part of the T-Shaped literacy PLD that I have been on with the University of Auckland for the past two years. In each unit there is a vocabulary component that we up until now have unpacked as a class. This time around I decided to make a few changes, with the most powerful change being to gift the content specific vocabulary to my learners. 

The first thing I did was to create a list of the words and their definitions. These were then cut up and placed face down in front of the groups. After everyone physically selected their card the next challenge was to find the their partner by matching the word to its meaning. We needed to establish ownership of these words so the challenge to use their specific words twice each reading lesson was laid down. To ensure this happened my learners were asked to bring their word to every time we had reading. These word cards were not pretty or laminated but became a part of every reading lesson as along with ownership came a sense of responsibility.

No one immediately connects to a word so each pair was given the challenge of introducing their word to us. The details of the challenge are on the slide below.

What I found was that strong connections were made by the owners of these words. This was evident in reading responses, extended discussions and questions asked. What I wasn't expecting was that every student in the group could use every word accurately and in context. The example below from team 1 shows how these words were used in context accurately and effectively.

With the success I found in reading using this strategy, I decided to transfer this challenge to our science inquiry. Again, ownership meant connections and connections meant explanations of experiment outcomes were explicit. This is definitely an activity I would use again as it was unique, purposeful and fun.

Growing vocabulary knowledge...

This term I have been exploring ways I can grow my learner's vocabulary knowledge and awareness. I say awareness as many of them had not made the connection between the norm of high frequency words and their more powerful synonyms. 

Today I used the poem 'Two Day Wonder' by David Hill to explore juxtaposition and vocabulary choice. This poem (shared by Kiri) looks at two days through the eyes of the same character. Verse one describes a dull and gloomy day which links directly to the character feeling unwell, whereas verse two sees the character recover from his illness ready to venture into the bright new day ahead. 

Once we had explored the language used in the text I used the idea pf juxtaposition to open the door wider to let the synonyms (and antonyms) in. This search provided us with a much broader word pool, and introduced the students to new vocabulary that did not require any dictionary meanings to be located as the connections between the words made sense.

To strengthen the connections to the new vocabulary I introduced the idea of creating word clines. This was a huge success and prompted some very rich discussions as thinking was justified as to why one word was more powerful than the other. To put the learning into context we then used our new word knowledge to write our own contrast poems that describe waking up in the morning and coming to school in summer versus the same journey in winter. As the teacher in this learning opportunity it was extremely rewarding to see learners who usually struggle move beyond the security of their 'go to' high frequency words create writing that was powerful and rich.

Example 1 written by two of my target students:

In summer I get dressed for school and make sure my arms see the sunlight.

The street awake and chattering.

Trees motionless and attractive.

Birds are flying and whistling.

Clouds high in the sky and far, far away from humanity.

Carefree people laugh and smile.

The bell goes but no one hurries to class.

In winter I get dressed for school and make sure my arms are hidden from the darkness.

The street asleep and silent.

Trees moving and unsightly.

Birds are hiding in their nests.

Heavy clouds are low in the sky, nearly touching the earth.

Downcast people moan and whine

The bell goes and everyone hurries to class.

Observation Opportunity in LS2...

I work in a shared learning space with Kiri Kirkpatrick but rarely get an opportunity to formally observe her teaching practice, so when an opportunity arose I grabbed it with both hands. 'Teachers who share their love for words (logophilia) and who provide engaging opportunities to interact with words across all content on a daily basis will ignite this word learning passion in their students' (Keys to Literacy blog). This is something that most definitely happened in our learning space this week.

Kiri introduced her group to a shared text using the sophisticated picture book, 'Memorial' written by Gary Crew. Throughout the sequence of lessons Kiri introduced her learners to a wide variety of vocabulary that not only explored the content but also the layout of the text and the hidden meaning behind the images. 

Learning Through Talk cites Blachowicz et al, when defining word consciousness as being 'an awareness of words and their meanings, an awareness of the ways in which meanings change and grow, and an interest in and motivation to develop new word knowledge...'(p73). Kiri used this strategy to explore a wide variety of themes the learning was most definitely not 'dumbed down'. 

The vocabulary explored like the text was sophisticated. Each new word was unpacked through paired and whole class discussions, defined and explored in context, and linked back to something the learners could use their prior knowledge to forge a strengthened connection to. What this meant was that her learners were motivated and connected to the content. To grow and develop this new word knowledge Kiri used questioning throughout to revisit the language which ensured each word was not only seen and heard, but also used. 

The DLO below is an example of the follow up tasks that reflect the content covered.

My takeaways:

• The teaching strategies in our shared learning space are aligned through the use of a shared language of instruction. This sets our learners up for success regardless of who the teacher is in front of them.
• To introduce my focus students to more sophisticated vocabulary to help ignite the passion for wanting to develop new word knowledge (eg: peritext, juxtaposition)
• To look for opportunities to use sophisticated picture books as a mentor text in writing lessons
• When looking at language features and vocabulary in mentor texts ask questions like:  'How do/does ... add to the text?' and 'Would the story make sense without...?'