• Teachers: Those who directly teach students in K–12 classrooms will benefit from the straightforward definitions and practical examples; instructional implications; instructional strategies for elementary, secondary, and special populations; and resources found within this book and online. We’ve observed that teachers often have a difficult time integrating digital tools to support literacy instruction. However, as responsible teachers, we must prepare students to become literate in using digital technology to support their independent learning and ultimate success in higher education and the workplace. Throughout this book, we provide guidance for you on using digital tools for instruction as well as for professional development and collaboration.
• Literacy leadership teams and collaborative teams: This book supports in-depth study and conversation about best vocabulary practices. We’ve included next steps at the close of every chapter that you can use to support a book study and to help implement research-based, instructional practices. We’d be thrilled to join you in a Twitter chat or other online forum should you choose to have an online book study.
• Principals and district leaders: This resource provides the nuts and bolts for you as building and district leaders to select, teach, and assess vocabulary across classrooms. Specific to your role, we also address how to build and sustain a culture of word learning, which we have found critical for sustainable implementation and success.
• Instructional coaches: This book is designed to support your efforts as the individual who trains and supports teachers. You can easily divide this resource into manageable chunks of content suitable for staff meetings, professional learning days, or meetings with grade-level teams or professional learning communities. Additionally, many of the blog posts we refer to throughout the book can serve as online resources providing additional examples, images, and resources.
What You Can Expect From This Book
Vocabulary plays an undeniable role in the reading success of students. The NGA and the CCSSO’s Common Core State Standards, along with many state and provincial standards, emphasize the role of vocabulary and word learning. Students who continually build a broad, enriched vocabulary become abler learners and achieve at higher levels than those who don’t. As educators who support teachers, we firmly believe that learning more about effective vocabulary instruction and refining current practices deserve our attention. The chapters that follow provide information and strategies for implementing effective school- or districtwide vocabulary instruction.
In chapter 1, we begin by discussing the importance of establishing a culture of word learning and providing guidance for literacy leadership teams to begin this work in their schools and districts. Chapter 2 details our proposed blended vocabulary model for conducting intentional vocabulary instruction, outlining other valuable instructional models we have drawn from. We provide background information about tiered vocabulary words and suggestions for ways you can approach the task of choosing the vocabulary words teachers will teach in their classrooms in chapter 3. Chapter 4 then explains effective instructional and assessment methods to teach and evaluate students’ vocabulary knowledge. Chapters 5 and 6 provide several specific strategies you may employ in elementary and secondary classrooms, respectively, to intentionally teach vocabulary, including direct and indirect instruction, review, and digital tools. Similarly, chapter 7 offers strategies that are appropriate to use with English learners (ELs) and students with disabilities. At the close of each chapter, we also feature a list of digital tools applicable to the chapter’s content that you can integrate into your instructional activities and independent practice. In appendix A (page 107), we provide in-depth reviews of these digital tools. They show great promise to enrich your vocabulary instruction through practice and review, and deepen independent word learning. We specifically include this resource in the hope that you will find it helpful and to provide the background you need to begin integrating digital tools and apps that support word learning into your comprehensive approach to literacy. Appendices B and C offer additional recommendations of texts that support vocabulary learning.
How You Can Use This Book to Advance Schoolwide Vocabulary
There are numerous ways you can use this book to implement a schoolwide or districtwide vocabulary framework. We suggest the following types of activities to help you move forward.
• Establish a literacy leadership team to guide and support effective vocabulary practices.
• Discuss the urgency for vocabulary instruction and the vocabulary gap that exists among many of our students.
• Engage in a faculty-wide book study to increase background knowledge and understanding of effective vocabulary instruction. Select collaborative tools to promote sharing resources and continuing engagement and conversation. Encourage other schools to do the same and engage in an online Twitter chat to share ideas. (Be sure to ask Kimberly or Angela to join in.)
• Discuss what it really means to know a word and how that impacts instruction and assessment.
• Discuss how to create a word-learning culture that supports vocabulary acquisition.
• Discuss how current vocabulary practices relate to research-based, effective instructional practices.
• Determine how to select words to support your students’ academic content learning.
• Select instructional strategies suitable for elementary, secondary, and special populations.
• Integrate digital tools into word learning to practice and review general and academic vocabulary.
• Determine how to implement and support a blended vocabulary program that includes direct strategies, indirect strategies, and digital tools and games.
We provide a wealth of information and strategies in this book to support teachers, literacy teams, and professional learning communities as you discover, learn, and implement instructional strategies. However, if you begin to feel overwhelmed, keep in mind that sometimes simpler is better. You can break this process down into a few basic elements. Following are five simple steps that will help make selecting and teaching vocabulary easy yet effective as you begin to implement common schoolwide practices (Tyson, 2013c).
1. Understand the key characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction (see chapter 2).
2. Identify and sort vocabulary into the three-tiered vocabulary framework (see chapter 3).
3. Create a print-rich environment to support word learning (see chapter 4).
4. Identify and master evidence-based vocabulary strategies (see chapters 5, 6, and 7).
5. Choose digital tools that support word learning (see chapters 5, 6, and 7