Word Nerds (part 1)

Our Latest Thoughts on Vocabulary Instruction

For those of you who just had spring break we hope it was a good one! One of the things that we have been really excited to think more about is vocabulary instruction. Once students are able to decode words, one of the next things that can get in their way as readers is understanding what the words mean. Our friend Mike Ochs has inspired us to learn more about this subject. Check out his vocabulary instruction curriculum Word Love for some amazing FREE resources! Read on for some of our latest thinking about vocabulary (this is going to be a series so stay tuned)!

Teach Words Explicitly 

One of the main ways we learn new vocabulary words is through wide reading. But there is increasing evidence that shows that one of the best ways to increase reading comprehension is to teach the meaning of individual words explicitly. Freddy Hiebert says that “vocabulary knowledge is a strong predictor of comprehension of texts and success in school and beyond” (Hiebert, 2). Many researchers now agree that we want to teach as many words as we can and teach them across subject areas (see below for research).  Essentially what we want to create is a community of kids that love to think about and learn new words- AKA a community of WORD NERDS!

Which words should I teach?

As Beck states, “there is no innate sequence” outlining when to teach specific words. (Beck, 21). Choose words that are applicable to learning and high-utility enough to support kids in and out of books. Here are a few considerations:

• Words that support both fiction reading (character emotion and traits, actions, words that support understanding of plot and other story structures) and nonfiction (descriptions, content-specific words, etc). (Walpole and McKenna, 246)

• Words that come up frequently in conversation and texts—check out Freddy Hiebert’s site, Textproject.org for lists organized by frequency

• Words that have application to students’ experiences—check out our friend and colleague Mike Ochs’s curriculum, Word Love, for lists (and charts created by our own Kimberly Fox!) that ensure multiple exposures in texts as well as real-life social situations.

Let us know how you incorporate some of these ideas into your classroom! In our next post, we’ll talk through steps for teaching words explicitly. Looking for more support? Check out our offerings or PD support here!

Works Cited

Beck, Isabel, et al. Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction. 2nd ed., Guilford Press, 2013.

Hiebert, Elfrieda H. Teaching Words and How They Work: Small Changes for Big Vocabulary Results. Teachers College Press, 2020.

Walpole, Sharon, McKenna, Michael C. How to Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction. 2nd ed, The Guileford Press, 2017.