How to Approach the Instruction of Vocabulary and Word Consciousness Stephanie Alexander and Kelly Rizzi Shasta County Office of Education CCL November 2016

Dr. Judith A. Scott University of California, Santa Cruz U. S. Dept Dr. Judith A. Scott University of California, Santa Cruz U.S. Dept. of Education Reading & Writing Research Grant http://vineconsortium.org Word consciousness helps students become aware of words in ways that go beyond a particular set of words. 80% of the words students encounter in texts = 5,600. There are approximately 300,000 words in the English language. The remaining 20% represent different low frequency words that occur less than once per million in print.

“Instruction based on definitions and memorization doesn’t work “Instruction based on definitions and memorization doesn’t work.” “If we want students to learn the language of school we need to actively, explicitly and thoroughly marinate Students in opportunities to see, hear and use these words.”

“Shades of meaning” “Word Value”

Motivational Instruction OPEN TASKS CLOSED TASKS Choice of topics, partners or materials Personally relevant or authentic tasks related to students’ interests or goals Enough challenge to be rewarding Students can be successful at different levels Social Collaboration in which interactions expand student’s knowledge or point of view. Students have to find the right answer Task is not personally relevant or connected to students’ interests or lives Product is pre-determined by the teacher

Becoming a Word Collector Choose a book and select 12-15 interesting tier 2 words. Type the words into a table. Give one set of words to each group to cut up (or give pre-cut). Tell students to first sort the words into categories- open sort. Then create an outline for a possible story using all of the words. Share out the ideas created by each group. Now read the book/story aloud to the class and ask them to listen for the words.