Olympia High School SIP Day – January 12, 2007 Background Knowledge and Vocabulary Acquisition.

Olympia High SchoolSIP Day – January 12, 2007

Background Knowledge and Vocabulary Acquisition

School Improvement Team

Chris Embry Mohr Ruth McCartney Susan Mullen Connie Schroeder Beth Smith Robin Staudenmeier Lance Thurman

2003/2004

Articles on improving reading in high schools have been distributed and discussed.

Round table discussions on reading, reading strategies being used currently, and how to improve reading at OHS. A reading research committee was developed to make recommendations to OHS faculty as to the steps to be taken to improve reading at OHS.

The recommendation of three initiatives to implement:

Sustained Silent Reading Program Enhance library of non-textbook,

content related reading materials Training for reading strategies

2004/2005

Who: All sophomores and juniors What: Sustained Silent Reading twice per week When: Program begins on Monday, Sept. 13th

taking place on Monday and Wednesday during advisory time.

How: Reading materials driven by student choice – brought from home or from the OHS library.

Why: To develop greater motivation and an appreciation for reading.

2005/2006 Sustained Silent Reading All

grades once a week Development of book clubs Restructuring of NCA Team and process Begin Research of reading in content areas

2006/2007

Rewrite SIP plan to focus only on reading

Focus of research leads to information on background knowledge and essential vocabulary

SIP training on essential vocabulary Site visit from NCA

Cause for Alarm Approximately 32 percent of high school graduates are not ready

for college level English composition courses (ACT, 2005).

Approximately 40 percent of high school graduates lack the literacy skills employers seek (Achieve, Inc., 2005).

Between 1996 and 2006, the average literacy required for all American occupations is projected to rise by 14 percent.

Both dropouts and high school graduates are demonstrating significantly worse reading skills than ten years ago (NCES, 2005).

A Student’s ability to learn new content is dependent on:

The skill of the teacher The interest of the student The complexity of the content The student’s Background Knowledge

The Importance of Background KnowledgeThere is a strong correlation between a

person’s background knowledge of a topic and the extent to which a person learns new

information on the topic.

Knowledge is power!

The research strongly suggests that teaching vocabulary is synonymous with teaching

background knowledge.

Why teach vocabulary? Increasing demands for higher levels

of literacy in the workforce require that we do better than we have ever done before in teaching all children to read.

Perhaps the biggest misconception is that teaching vocabulary means teaching dictionary definitions.

So Many Words, So Little Time! Vocabulary knowledge accounts for over 80% of the

variance in reading comprehension scores at grade level. Research shows that most students need to encounter a word at least

12 times before they know it well enough to improve comprehension.

Researchers estimate that students learn an average of 3,000 words per year, or 8 words a day, but some learn as few as 2 a day.

Adequate reading comprehension depends on a student already knowing 90-95% of the words in a text.

Another study found that children from advantaged homes knew five times the amount of words as children from disadvantaged homes. High School Seniors near the top of their class knew about four times as many words as their low performing classmates.

What is a word?Idea

Idea

The words we know, are tags or labels for our packets of knowledge.

Idea

The Traditional concept of vocabulary has been artificially limited in its scope.

Idea

The more words we have, the more packets of knowledge, and the more background knowledge we have.

Idea

A word does not refer to a single object, but to a group or to a class of objects.

School Improvement Timeline 2007 Background Knowledge/Vocabulary

2007-08 Summarizing

2008-09 Connecting

2009-2010 Inferring

Which list of words or phrases is most likely to help students at Olympia be

successful?

honor, responsibility, loyalty mass, endothermic reaction, ecosystem government, geography, music sex, sex, MySpace.com

Impact of Direct Vocabulary Instruction

50

62

83

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

None Vocabulary ContentRelated

Do you agree with this statement?

The best way to improve vocabulary is through wide reading.

A textbook example…

What the research supports

To learn a word requires anywhere from 6 to 10 exposures to the word in context.

Low density texts provide a 30% chance of students learning words in context

High density texts provide a 7% chance of learning words in context.

A student with a high degree of background knowledge has a greater chance of learning a new word in context then a student with a lower degree.

Characteristics of Effective Direct Vocabulary Instruction

1. Effective vocabulary instruction does not rely on definitions

How do you typically teach new vocabulary?

Teacher provides or has students look up a definition in a dictionary.

Student writes the definition Student uses the new word in a sentence to

demonstrate the understanding

Base: The expression that is used as a factor in repeated multiplication.

Does this description of the term help?

Pictures can demonstrate deep understanding.



2. Students must represent their knowledge of words in linguistic and non-linguistic ways

What the research shows

For information to be placed in permanent memory, it must be dual-coded: linguistic and non-linguistic

Non-linguistic approaches produce a gain of – 37 percentile points higher than by having

students review definitions– 21 percentile points higher than having students

generate their own sentences

Types of Non-linguistic Representations

Draw the actual thing

Draw a symbol

Draw an example

Represent with graphics

Dramatize the term

Teaching Students to Write Descriptions and Draw Images

It’s going to be slow at first…..

Pick one of these terms and try describe it and draw it

English: context clue Science: control Business: compound interest Math: variable expression PE: range of motion Health: osteoporosis Music: pitch Visual Arts: negative space Civics: self-evident truths



2. Students must represent their knowledge of words in linguistic and non-linguistic ways

3. Effective Vocabulary instruction involves the gradual shaping of meanings through multiple exposures

What the research shows

Multiple exposures => full and flexible knowledge

During repeated exposures learning is enhanced if the students interact with vocabulary in a variety of ways– Description– Non-linguistic representation– Identify similarities and differences

Ways to Identify Similarities and Differences

Compare (and contrast) Classify Create Metaphors Create Analogies

Compare and Contrast

Classifying

Helps students better understand the content that is classified and helps them see the

content in different ways

Talk a Mile-a-Minute

Things Associated with Outer Space

SunOrbitsMars

VenusSaturnGalaxyMeteorsStar Trek

Artists

Vincent Van Gogh

Michelangelo

Picasso

Leonardo da Vinci

Monet Rembrandt

Andy Warhol

Charles Schultz

Parts of Speech

NounVerb

AdjectivePrepositionConjunction

AdverbPronoun

Expletives

Creating Metaphors

Metaphor activities help students better understand the abstract features of a concept by identifying the general principles or basic patterns that are shared between terms that are not

related literally.

Creating MetaphorsComponents of the Cell

Term General Description

Metaphor

Components of the Cell

Factory

Nucleus contains the DNA and the coded instructions

Supervisor

Ribosomes Assemble proteins Workers on the line

Components of the CellTerm General Description Metaphor

Components of the Cell

Factory

Golgi Apparatus Modify, sort, and package substances for storage or export

Mail sorter

Lysosomes Filled with enzymes that digest substances

Garbage man or janitor

Analogies (a is to b as c is to d)

Analogical thinking is perhaps the most complex activity involving similarities and differences and requires in-depth analysis

of the content.

One term missing

Bone is to skeleton as word is to _______. Inch is to foot as millimeter is to _______. Martin Luther King Jr. is to civil rights as

______ is to women’s rights.

Two Terms Missing

Harry Truman is to World War II as _____ is to _____.

Rhythm is to music as _____ is to _____. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is to

Native Americans as ______ is to _____.

Analogy Graphic


4. Teaching Word parts enhances student’s understanding of terms

– Helps students figure out words for themselves

– Not the best strategy for new learners



5. Different types of words require different types of instructions

6. Students should discuss the terms they are using

7. Students should play with words

Word Play

Use as sponge activities Research

– Games provide manageable challenges– Arouse curiosity– Arouse fantasy



5. Different types of words require different types of instructions

6. Students should discuss the terms they are using7. Students should play with words8. Instruction should focus on terms that have a

high probability of enhancing academic success – word frequency is not the guide

Where Do We Go From Here?

Identification of 25 – 30 essential terms per course especially in grade 9 and 10 courses

Spring semester– Classroom goals – Department goals

Faculty meeting updates Next years’ goals

Olympia High School SIP Day – January 12, 2007 Background Knowledge and Vocabulary Acquisition.

Documents