It Is ... Inspired Teaching Inspiring Students

Best Practices for Vocabulary Instruction in the Elementary Classroom
(Elementary)

Overview

In this course, participants will examine best practices for direct vocabulary instruction in order to build the breadth and depth of students’ vocabulary for both comprehension and written expression in grades three through five. Participants will learn the importance of creating a word-conscious learning environment that encourages motivation and interest in learning new words. Participants will learn how to model and encourage independent word-learning strategies that students can apply while engaging in wide and varied reading. They will also explore the value of instructing students to infer the meaning of words from context and word parts. For their final project, participants will incorporate components of a balanced vocabulary program by designing a vocabulary lesson based on a classroom text—either fiction or non-fiction.

Goals and Products

In this course, participants will explore best practices for engaging and motivating students in grades three through five to build vocabulary. Participants will examine teaching strategies for building both the breadth and depth of students’ vocabulary for comprehension.

This course will enable participants to:

• Create a learning environment that encourages motivation and interest in learning new words—word-consciousness
• Encourage independent word-learning strategies while engaging in wide and varied reading
• Design explicit instruction in the definitional and contextual meanings of words
• Evaluate text and select words to study that are critical to comprehension and frequently appear in a wide variety of texts
• Design vocabulary instruction to teach concepts central to content area studies
• Implement instruction that addresses how to infer meaning through structural analysis, including inferring meaning from common Greek and Latin roots
• Informally assess students’ vocabulary knowledge to inform further classroom instruction
• Incorporate a balanced vocabulary program into their language arts and content area curriculum

Format and Requirements

This course is divided into six one-week sessions, each of which includes readings, activities, and an online discussion among course participants. The time for completing each session is estimated to be four to six hours.

The outline for the course is as follows:

For the final project, participants will design a lesson based on a fiction or non-fiction classroom curriculum text. Participants will select words by using the criteria presented in the course and plan for explicit instruction in both the definitional and contextual meaning of the words.

Prerequisites

This is an introductory course for teachers, curriculum specialists, professional development specialists, or other school personnel. Participants are expected to have regular access to computers. In addition, participants should be proficient with using email, browsing the Internet, and navigating to computer files.

Content and Technology Standards

This course will help participants to support their students in meeting the following NCTE standards:

Standard 5. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meanings and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context and graphics).

Standard 8. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.

Standard 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

In addition, this course will help participants meet the following ISTE Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for All Teachers(http://edtechleaders.org/documents/NETSAdminTeachers.pdf)

II. PLANNING AND DESIGNING LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS AND EXPERIENCES.
Teachers plan and design effective learning environments and experiences supported by technology.

• Identify and locate technology resources and evaluate them for accuracy and suitability.

V. PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE.
Teachers use technology to enhance their productivity and professional practice.

• Use technology resources to engage in ongoing professional development and lifelong learning.

Reproduced with permission from Education Development Center, Inc.,
Copyright (c), 2000-2006, all rights reserved (http://www.edtechleaders.org).