Teaching and Learning
October 31-November 4
Academic Vocabulary
·Research shows a student in the 50th percentile in terms of ability to comprehend the subject matter taught in school, with no direct vocabulary instruction, scores in the 50th percentile ranking.
·The same student, after specific content-area terms have been taught in a specific way, raises his/her comprehension ability to the 83rd percentile (Marzano).
Direct vocabulary instruction helps the following student groups:
·All Students
·Caucasian
·Hispanic
·Native American
·English Language Learners
·Special Needs
·Low Socio-Economic Students
Students need to know both academic and technical vocabulary in order to be college and career ready.
Marzano’s Six Vocabulary Steps
1—Define the term; describe (present)
2—Paraphrase/Restate (paraphrase)
3—Visual representation (picture)
4—Activity with terms (practice)
5—Social/Verbal use of terms; share; discuss (partner)
6—Games (play)
Research shows that students must be exposed to terms a minimum of ten times in order to make the words a part of their own vocabulary.