Program Overview. Introduction. Program Components and Philosophy. Program Philosophy

Transcription

1 Program Overview Introduction This guide explains how to use Vocabulary Their Way : Words and Strategies for Academic Success to help students in middle grades meet the rigors of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts related to vocabulary acquisition and use. Program Components and Philosophy Learn about the program components and program philosophy as well as the organization of the program and explore a lesson. Vocabulary Their Way provides a flexible, manageable, and targeted supplemental vocabulary program for middle-grade classrooms. The program is intended primarily for use by English language arts teachers, but it includes resources to extend vocabulary instruction to the content-area teachers in the domains of science, social studies, and mathematics. The program provides a flexible supplement to any language arts curriculum, and teachers can easily implement it in just fifteen to twenty minutes per day. Students learn the words in rich context and then practice them with engaging activities. The program components include the Teacher Edition, Teacher Resource DVD, Student Edition, Student Games DVD, and a set of Vocabulary Routine Cards. Program Philosophy Vocabulary knowledge is the single best indicator of a student s reading ability, comprehension, and academic success. The goal of Vocabulary Their Way is to enable students to acquire the vocabulary and vocabulary strategies critical for success in college and 21st century careers. 1

2 The program focuses on the three types of vocabulary highlighted in the Common Core State Standards. The first type is generative vocabulary, which is based on Greek and Latin roots and affixes. The program also focuses on general academic vocabulary, which includes the words that students need to understand for success in school. This type of vocabulary is also known as Tier 2 words. 2

3 Additionally, the program focuses on domain-specific vocabulary, which is vocabulary specific to each content area. Domain-specific vocabulary is also known as Tier 3 words. By emphasizing these types of vocabulary, students are equipped with the means to understand how language works. Vocabulary Their Way incorporates many strategies for vocabulary acquisition and use. By learning strategies, students will be able to determine or clarify the meaning of unknown words they encounter. Teacher Edition The Teacher Edition not only provides robust, but easy-to-manage instructional routines and assessments for sixty lesson plans and six review week lessons, but it is a go-to resource for professional development related to vocabulary instruction. 3

4 Flexible options for an instructional path are included to meet your individual needs for instruction. Also, differentiated support is provided for each lesson plan so that you can confidently meet the needs of each student. Author quotes within the lessons as well as a library of professional development articles in the front matter of the Teacher Edition will support you in establishing best practices for vocabulary instruction. Teacher Resource DVD The Teacher Resource DVD contains a wealth of materials to support you. Resources include self-assessments, weekly and six-week assessments and answer keys, graphic organizers, an observation guide, word part cards, and record-keeping charts. Additionally, the student games are included. 4

5 Student Edition The Student Edition features lessons that incorporate over 600 vocabulary words. The lessons feature explicit strategies for determining meaning and multiple exposures to words. Student Games DVD Vocabulary Their Way offers two engaging games to support smallgroup instruction and individual student practice: Word Hero and Word Builder. These games are also available for download at PearsonSchool.com/VTW. Routine Cards Routine Cards create the opportunity for content-area teachers to reinforce the vocabulary instruction occurring in English language arts. Domain-specific Routine Cards guide teachers of each content area on the best practices for vocabulary instruction within their specific content area. The Routine Card guides teachers to incorporate the following strategies to set a routine for vocabulary acquisition: define the word use context clues use text features point out word parts demonstrate use reference materials apply The back of the routine cards provide a list of content words taught in the Vocabulary Their Way lessons along with relevant Greek and Latin connections. 5

6 Program Organization Vocabulary Their Way offers flexible pacing options for easy implementation. Each week teachers can choose which lessons and vocabulary to teach and which pacing plan to follow three days or five days. Instructional Routines provide students with multiple exposures to words in varied contexts. Either option provides the opportunity to incorporate vocabulary instruction seamlessly into English language arts instruction. Weekly Instructional Path Lessons are organized into six-week cycles. During the first five weeks, lessons are taught. Then, the sixth week is used for review and assessment. 5-Day Plan 3-Day Plan In the 5-day plan, two lessons are taught each week. The fifth day is used for review and assessment. In the 3-day plan, one lesson is taught each week, alternating between a generative vocabulary lesson and a general academic vocabulary or domain-specific vocabulary lesson. The third day is used for review and assessment. 6

7 Assessment Monitoring the progress of students is essential to vocabulary instruction. Vocabulary Their Way offers both informal and formal vocabulary assessments. One of the key informal assessments is teacher observations. The Teacher Resource DVD contains an observation guide to make the most of this informal assessment. Other informal assessments include reviewing students notebooks, self-assessments, practice activities, games, and speaking and writing samples. Vocabulary Their Way also includes formal assessments. These include weekly assessments and the 6-week cumulative review assessments. Explore a Lesson Choose Instructional Plan Here s a look at a Grade 8 Generative Vocabulary lesson to get a better sense of what instruction will look like. After reviewing the materials needed for the lesson, the first step is to choose an instructional plan. In this example of a 5-day plan, a generative vocabulary lesson and a domain-specific vocabulary lesson will be taught this week. In the 3-day plan, the teacher would teach one of those lessons this week and teach one the following week. We could also choose to teach only generative vocabulary lessons or only the paired general academic and domain-specific vocabulary lessons throughout the school year. 7

8 Vocabulary Their Way program uses shapes to easily distinguish between the lesson type and the instructional plan. The circles are an indication of the 5-day plan. The number inside the circle lets us know that this is the first day of the 5-day plan. Materials Vocabulary Routine The materials for the lesson are clearly identified. Student Edition pages are identified. The game from the Student Resource DVD and the relevant materials from the Teacher Resource DVD are also identified. In the first day of the lesson, the teacher introduces the lists of words and teach the meaning of the words. Students also have a chance to practice. To provide a more comprehensive instruction of the words, the teacher can use this vocabulary routine to go through each word. The teacher will say each word, define it, demonstrate it, and apply it. Students can also play an active role in completing this vocabulary routine after the teacher has modeled it. During the second day of the lesson, students are applying their knowledge of the words they are studying and engaging in more practice. Author Quotes Differentiated Support Throughout the lesson, program authors reinforce best practices for vocabulary instruction. Each lesson provides differentiated support for struggling readers, advanced readers, and English learners. For example, it is suggested that the teacher breaks apart words for English learners. Point out the difference between the long a sounds in the first syllables of matriarch and matrix and the short a sound in the first syllable of matrimony. 8

9 Anchor Word The associated Student Edition uses anchor words to help student remember the morphological element. For example, for the root frat, which means brother, students are given the anchor word fraternity to help them remember the meaning of the root frat. It is likely that students have an understanding of the anchor word and can use that knowledge to help them figure out meanings of other words with the same root. Feature In every lesson in the Student Edition, there is a feature that helps explain a strategy for studying and learning more about words. For example, one feature is Etymology study. Features also include topics like Synonym Study or Using a Glossary. 9

10 Did you know? Throughout the Student Edition, there are avatars, which are used to incorporate tidbits of interesting information. In this sample lesson, the avatar s Did you know? shares with students the Latin root for the word sister. Review This guide explained how to use Vocabulary Their Way : Words and Strategies for Academic Success to help students in middle grades meet the rigors of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts related to vocabulary acquisition and use. 10