TEACHING CONTENT AREA VOCABULARY

H810-C

Becky Brown, Caroline Hendryx, Valerie Spencer, Dan Sussman

WORKSHOP PURPOSE AND AGENDA

Overlooked Point of Entry to Vocabulary Instruction

Consideration of ELA as a Content Area Agenda:

6:00-6:05: Introduction 6:05-6:15: Activity in Small groups 6:15-6:25: Small Group Presentations and Discussion

6:25-6:30: Conclusion and Reflection

DEFINITION OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

Teaching vocabulary in a content area means expanding students' access to word meanings in order to maximize the learning that occurs as they construct their understanding of the content through reading, writing, listening, and speaking activities.

WORKSHOP FOCUS: WHAT IS ELA CONTENT AREA VOCABULARY, AND HOW IS IT SELECTED?

WORKSHOP FOCUS: WHAT IS ELA CONTENT AREA VOCABULARY, AND HOW IS IT SELECTED?

If reading comprehension is taught in all content areas, what is the vocabulary that is specifically needed in Language Arts?

Is the process of vocabulary selection different for different content areas?

CRITICAL IDEAS, ISSUES, AND QUESTIONS

Challenges of Content Area Vocabulary Copious Vocabulary Abstractness of Content Area Vocabulary Multiple-Meaning Words New Labels for Unknown Words

Do all of these apply to ELA vocabulary?

In limited classroom time, what are the most essential words for students to learn in an ELA class?

There are multiple entry points for selecting vocabulary in the ELA classroom

ACTIVITY: VOCABULARY SELECTION

Group 1: Words For Reading Comprehension April, Michael, Haslinda

Group 2: Words For a Literary Learning Goal Setting Magdalena, Jenny, Kelsey

Group 3: Words for General Academic Vocabulary Melissa, Alicia, Kirstin, Anna

SHARING

What do you notice about the word lists?

What challenges did you experience in picking the words?

DISCUSSION

What words did your group select? Why?

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Content Area Literacy Teaching for Understanding Inquiry as Reading and Writing Pre, Guided, and Post Learning Knowledge of the Reader Knowledge of the Text Independent Strategies

REFLECTION Considering the activity, select one of the following questions and jot down your answers individually Focus on one of the three presented perspectives (one that you found the most or least valuable). Consider how they could work or clash with each other. What kind of perspective do you take in your own teaching, and what perspective have you seen your colleagues take?