Category: Vocabulary

Sticky Techniques to Teach Academic Words

Traditional vocabulary strategies are passive exercises that have little impact in the long run, write Lynne Dorfman and Aileen Hower. Students need lots of exposure to a word before they can fully understand and apply it. They need frequent, engaging and meaningful encounters with words.

All the Vocabulary Help You’re Likely to Need

Under the canopy of state standards, student knowledge of academic vocabulary matters more than ever, across all the content areas. As assessment season approaches, MiddleWeb has gathered together our most popular and helpful articles about word study that sticks to your long-term memory.

25 Words That Trigger Student Understanding

Brain and learning expert Marilee Sprenger highlights the 25 most high-frequency words for learners in the English language to focus upon. “I call these words ‘essential’ because knowing and using them can boost academic success and lifelong learning.” Are they on your vocab list?

4 Vocab Steps Help Kids Grasp Information Text

Understanding concept words like ‘innovative’ can help students to make sense of complex sources. Britany Harris and Sunday Cummins share a four-step process to introduce a few new vocabulary words before reading an information text and then focus on them as kids read, talk and write.

3 Strategies for Teaching Academic Vocabulary

Although we have always known the importance of teaching vocabulary, there’s been a recent surge of interest in teaching academic vocabulary across the content areas. Author Barbara Blackburn describes three strategies she recommends to help make the new words stick.

3 Meaningful Ways to Boost Your Word Study

When it comes to learning new words, a few minutes goes a long way, says author-consultant Pam Koutrakos. Teachers can jump-start word study at any point in the year. Use her “cycle” strategy to fit vocab into the daily lesson flow and build students’ curiosity about words.

Techniques and Tools to Teach Vocabulary

When it comes to vocabulary instruction, teachers have many, many questions, for example: “How can I fit vocabulary in? How should I pick the words? What should my quizzes look like?” Literacy consultant Sarah Tantillo provides answers to these questions and more.

Brain-Friendly Strategies for Your Vocab Toolbox

How can teachers use brain-friendly strategies to help students encode, store and retrieve vocabulary words? Educator and author Marilee Sprenger shares some high-interest activities designed for each stage of learning academic words. Some just require a few minutes!

5 Ways to Assure Quality Exposure to New Words

What’s one of the best things a school day can offer? Exposure to newly learned words – provided that exposure is in context, well-timed, multisensory, and question-based. Literacy expert Amy Benjamin suggests five ways to achieve these “durable learning” goals.