Tag Archives: academic vocabulary

7 Word Facts and Implications for Instruction

In a presentation for Reading Plus, University of California professor and http://www.textproject.org founder Dr. Elfrieda H. Hiebert shares her “best stuff” around vocabulary and the Common Core (video here and Powerpoint here). Below are some highlights from her speech entitled, … Continue reading

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Core Task implementation Project Session 6–Foundations and Academic Vocab

Session 6 of the Core Task implementation Project featured three activities to strengthen Tier 1 instruction. The first was a blast from the past in which participants looked through elements of NELIP (remember that?) and noted which were addressed through … Continue reading

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Dr. Catherine Snow’s Video Presentation on Vocabulary and Content Knowledge

In a video linked here (start at minute 38:46) Harvard Professor and Validation Team Member of the Common Core State Standards Dr. Catherine Snow makes the case that the vocabulary deficit that plagues highly impacted students is as much a … Continue reading

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Instructional Move Number 9: Keep It Or Junk It

Two years ago I posted on a move titled, Keep It or Junk It. The approach has students identifying vocabulary from a text they feel is relevant to answering a focus question instead of the teacher prioritizing words for the … Continue reading

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SAT Exam Overhaul

In announcing that the SAT would change, College Board President David Coleman noted that the SAT should reflect “worthy challenges” instead of “artificial obstacles.” This would mean that students would be reading more source documents and retrieving evidence. Likewise, there … Continue reading

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Vocabulary and Complex Texts

Dr. Freddy Hiebert, in a video webinar posted here, explains the importance of vocabulary in determining the complexity of text. Hiebert notes that ten percent of the words in text are considered complex with text, used to inform, having a … Continue reading

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Shift 6 Focus: Direct and Indirect Vocabulary Instruction

“Students who have a high vocabulary, tend to be very good comprehenders” begins a video on the value of vocabulary instruction by Dr. Nell Duke.  In the six-minute clip, several important strategies are suggested with evidence to support. They include … Continue reading

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Enough Vocabulary?

Are your kindergarteners working with enough vocabulary? Research by Wright and Neuman, and recently published in the Elementary School Journal, concludes that children are not. Specifically, most reading programs expose children to 2 words each week and it is recommended … Continue reading

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Expanding Vocabulary

In a piece for City Journal, E.D. Hirch writes about the importance of vocabulary and rich non-fiction text. He notes that the, “correlations between vocabulary size and life chances are as firm as any correlations in educational research.” Academic vocabulary … Continue reading

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The impact of CCSS on Instruction

Carol Jago, former president of the National Council of Teachers of English and current AP Literature content advisor for the College Board, shares insights into the Common Core and the impact they will have on instruction. Key points are addressed … Continue reading

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