VOCABULARY
In order to maximize literacy in the classroom, there must be explicit vocabulary instruction.
Why?
"knowing" a word is not all or nothing
strong vocabulary is correlated with reading comprehension
words do not really teach themselves
VOCABULARY CARDS
Using the Frayer Model to encourage vocabulary comprehension
Students will be put into groups and each group will get a vocabulary term from the lesson and be asked to define it, its characteristics, examples, etc., with the word at the center, and the definition, characteristics, and examples springing out of the center.
SENTENCE STEMS
Using sentence stems will allow students to gain confidence and comfortability with the vocabulary terms.
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Give students a list of vocabulary terms with sentence stem examples.
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Ex: The thesis of my paper...
Feminism is the belief that...
The _____ revolted against the ____.
WORD SORTS
Identify a set of words that can be sorted based on the topic under investigation.
Copy the words and cut paper so that each word is on its own small piece of paper. Each student will need a set of the words.
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Provide students time to sort the words and actively monitor students about their placement decisions.
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Have students paste word sorts creation into notebook for easy access to lesson by lesson vocabulary.