Category: Professional Development

Vocabulary Grid is part eight in an eight-part series on e-learning technical vocabulary systems. Read part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six and part seven.

Explore relationships.

This eight-part vocabulary series has focused on meaningful ways to deepen student understanding of technical vocabulary. With careful planning and creative lesson designs, you can create multiple opportunities for students to talk productively with one another. Encourage students to drive their own learning by recalling terms from earlier lessons, preventing a natural forgetting curve. Note: Each activity can be adapted to suit instruction in traditional and blended learning environments.

Our final vocabulary lesson provides opportunities for critical thinking and deep follow-up discussion among students. The vocabulary grid challenges students to think through terms and processes where several terms fall into more than one category. Further, after completing the grid, students rationalize and justify their choices — getting to the essence of critical thinking.

Students develop a more complex understanding of vocabulary words by thinking about how they relate to one another. Do this informally by calling attention to connections during class discussion. You can also add specific activities for this purpose. Graphic organizers like the attached vocabulary grid are especially helpful for defining word relationships.

Vocabulary Grid

Gist: Students record vocabulary terms in categories as they read technical text or work in the lab.
When to use: During reading of manuals, software, or other text. Or bring into the lab with clipboards.

How it works

1. Chunk the text into (X) number of groups and group your students into (X) number of groups. Assign each group a portion of text.
2. Before reading begins, call students’ attention to the categories on the grid so they know what to look for as they read:
   • Describes software or machinery
   • Indicates an action
   • Describes steps of operation
   • Indicates ways to use software or machinery
   • Predicts a successful ending of use of software or machinery
   • Describes troubleshooting actions
3. Each student group reads their portion of text, filling in their grid together.
4. There may be overlap or ambiguity about which category a term fits into. Encourage students to discuss this ambiguity. If they can articulate a reason why the term fits into more than one category, they should write it in both. The key is that they must verbalize their reasoning.

Twist

Assign each group a separate category and instruct them to fill in as many terms as possible for that one box. Then have each group share their results with the class.

Tip

Scaffold for students who need additional support by giving them a copy of the chart that is partially filled in. For students needing the highest level of support, fill in the entire grid and ask them to point out terms as they read them.

See the strategy in action.

Download the vocabulary grid for use in your CTE classes. (Note: This sample was created for use in a welding class but can be customized to suit other fields.)

Sandra Adams is a teacher and instructional coach with the Career Academy, Fort Wayne Community Schools. She co-wrote the ACTE-supported book But I’m NOT a Reading Teacher!: Literacy Strategies for Career and Technical Educators with Gwendolyn Leininger, where further detailed explanations of the strategies in this series can be found. Email her.

REFERENCE

López-Barroso, D., Catani, M., Ripollés, P., Dell’Acqua, F., Rodríguez-Fornells, A., >amp; de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2013). Word learning is mediated by the left arcuate fasciculus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(32), 13168–13173. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1301696110

Word Tree is part seven in an eight-part series on e-learning technical vocabulary systems. Read part one, part two, part three, part four, part five and part six.

Advanced literacy skills help students learn more, in any subject. The problem is, you may not have time to teach reading and writing when you have your own set of content area standards to cover. I have good news. You can do both with a, What? How? approach.

Maybe you teach graphic design, not literacy. But literacy can be the how. Leverage graphic organizers and adaptable lessons to increase critical thinking and develop creative communication skills. Use reading and writing to help students learn on a deeper level. This is called content area literacy.

Build in collaboration.

Graphic organizers promote high-quality conversation during and after activities. Students involved will collaborate and explain their thinking during the lesson. As this occurs, all students benefit; they gain knowledge from the process. Keep in mind the central planning question, “How can I encourage speaking, writing, reading and listening to include regular use of vocabulary terms?

Use writing differently.

There are hundreds of ways to write that doesn’t involve composing an essay. These include providing descriptive and directive feedback; preparing visuals, videos and graphic organizers; and creating useful content within your career field. Make writing a tool for meaning.

Word Tree

Gist: Students group words together based on their relationships and figure out the meaning of the root word.

When to use: With vocabulary words that are related in some way. Great for medical terms in cosmetology and health careers.

How It Works

1. Find a word root, prefix or suffix that relates to your vocabulary words. This is especially useful for medical terms. Place the root/prefix/suffix into the first box on the word tree.
2. Challenge students to come up with words that coordinate to the root, prefix or suffix and place them in the “branches” of the tree. For example, if you wrote the root

   -alges/algia

   Students might write:

   • analgesic
   • abdominalgia
   • adenalgia
   • erythromelalgia
   • fibromyalgia

   Encourage them to include words from their prior knowledge as well.

3. Ask students to explain the meanings of any of their “branch” words, if they can.
4. Challenge students to define the meaning of the root/prefix/suffix, based on the meanings of the related words.

Tips

• • Visuwords, an interactive visual dictionary and thesaurus, may be useful for planning a word tree activity.
  • Encourage students to create their own word tree using paper or sticky notes on the wall. These changes will engage bodily-kinesthetic learners.

See the strategy in action.

Download the word tree for use in your CTE classes.

Sandra Adams is a teacher and instructional coach with the Career Academy, Fort Wayne Community Schools. She co-wrote the ACTE-supported book But I’m NOT a Reading Teacher!: Literacy Strategies for Career and Technical Educators with Gwendolyn Leininger, where further detailed explanations of the strategies in this series can be found. Email her.

Linear Flow Chart is part six in an eight-part series on e-learning technical vocabulary systems. Read part one, part two, part three, part four and part five.

Ever played an anagram? Someone gives you a set of letters and you race to make as many words as possible. Scramble and unscramble. Focus. Concentrate. Identify new connections and patterns from the letters.

It’s a cognitive challenge!

Aren’t they fun? If you enjoy anagrams, you will love this vocabulary activity with your students.

Of course, it’s not quite the same. Students won’t simply be unscrambling letters. The flow chart activity is more about connecting terms with strategic thought. According to Daniel Pink (2009) author of Drive, the best methods to motivate students involve creating interesting challenges that offer multiple solutions. At the end of a round of anagrams, the buzzer sounds and lists are compared. Players “oooh” over other, often more complex, arrangements by their opponents.

The linear flow chart activity can work in much the same way. In the video attached for support, students are challenged to start with a word — “bradycardia” — and use its roots to form new words. They repeat until they have done this six times.

Allied health students must develop understanding of root words, prefixes and suffixes. Thus this approach for vocabulary practice works well. In the video below, one student began with bradycardia and flowed their thinking to end with the word psychosis.

Students share their lists and then natural dialogue ensues. They benefit from the opportunity to discuss meaning and connections between the technical terms. This will work in either a traditional classroom setting or in a digital setting, like Google classroom or Zoom.

Note: This vocabulary strategy should be adapted to reflect the type of thinking required for each field. The video addressed use in a health science classroom, while the steps below center automotive technology. In automotive, students conduct operations in a linear fashion. An instructor might challenge students to use the terms in progression and to follow up with dialogue about the why the flow matters.

Linear Flow Chart

Gist: Students put terms in sequential order to show a big-picture understanding of how they fit together.
When to use: When you have several vocabulary terms that all relate to the same process

How It Works

1. Create a word bank of terms that relate to a relevant process. Want to make it more challenging and fun for students? Include several extra words so they must choose which ones are part of the process. (For example: An engine fundamentals instructor might use “intake valve,” “exhaust valve,” “power stroke,” “fuel-air mixture,” and so on.)
2. Instruct students to fill in the flow chart, placing all the terms in sequential order. To engage students kinesthetically, have them create a large flow chart on the floor or wall.
3. Say, “Now we want to be able to look at this chart and read it smoothly. Turn each step in the chart into a complete sentence. Explain the process, using the terms in the chart.” (For example: “Intake valve —>gt; fuel-air mixture” becomes “The intake valve opens to allow in fuel-air mixture.”)
4. Repeat step three with each segment of the flow chart, so the student ends up with a few complete sentences that explain the process smoothly.

Download the Linear Flow Chart worksheet for use in your CTE classes.

Sandra Adams is a teacher and instructional coach with the Career Academy, Fort Wayne Community Schools. She co-wrote the ACTE-supported book But I’m NOT a Reading Teacher!: Literacy Strategies for Career and Technical Educators with Gwendolyn Leininger, where further detailed explanations of the strategies in this series can be found. Email her.

REFERENCE

Pink, D.H. (2009). Drive: The surprise truth about what motivates us. New York: Riverhead Books.

Connected Cards is part five in an eight-part series on e-learning technical vocabulary systems. Read part one, part two, part three and part four.

Metacognition is an amazing force in classroom instruction. When we compel students to think about their own thinking, they learn to reflect more deeply. Momentum grows as they begin to work cooperatively with peers. Conversations are driven by purposeful dialogue. Coupled with the experiential nature of career and technical education (CTE) — learn by doing — we find innovative ways to encourage literacy learning.

But… how, while remote learning, do CTE teachers engage students in the productive talk needed to process technical vocabulary terms?

A possible solution

Plan strategically to encourage productive talk during online instructional sessions. With the use of the connected cards strategy, students learn to speak up, to take on an active role in the lesson. Rather than making occasional participation requests, create the expectation of continual talk and discussion. Pause to highlight a term or concept in any given lesson; then challenge students to make a connection with a previously learned term. As each student takes a turn, dialogue increases naturally. It becomes the essence of productive talk. The power in this approach lies here: Students have opportunities to examine the relationship between multiple terms, over multiple units.

Connected Cards

Gist: A game a bit like Apples to Apples, in which students must find a way to connect a previously learned term with a random term from the current lesson

When to use: To help students connect new learning to previously learned information. Also as test preparation, when terms have been covered but students need to practice

How It Works

1. Write several previously learned vocabulary terms on a set of notecards. Create a second set of notecards with terms the students are learning currently. (Scaffolding Note: If you wish to emphasize definitions, include those on the backs of the cards.) Instruct students to create their own sets of cards.
2. When the remote learning session begins, identify two students who will go first. Ask one student to pull a card from their stack of new terms. The other selects a card from previously learned terms.
3. Say, “Students, converse about these terms.” The expectation is they will work together to reflect on their learned experience and make connections. Invariably, their classmates will think of the connections they themselves would make.
4. The rest of the students give a thumbs up if the interaction created a memorable way to understand the new term. Majority rules. If most thumbs are up, the two students who made the connection each get a point.
5. Remind students during play that this game is not about placing the word itself into its proper category. Instead, it is about finding a clever way to connect what they’ve learned in one category to what they’ve learned in another.
6. Repeat until all students have participated in pairs.

A student’s perspective

“This game is a real challenge, but it’s fun! Using the new terms in a sentence about something I already know helps me remember.”

See the strategy in action.

Sandra Adams is a teacher and instructional coach with the Career Academy, Fort Wayne Community Schools. She co-wrote the ACTE-supported book But I’m NOT a Reading Teacher!: Literacy Strategies for Career and Technical Educators with Gwendolyn Leininger, where further detailed explanations of the strategies in this series can be found. Email her.

Refine and Define is part four in an eight-part series on e-learning technical vocabulary systems. Read part one, part two and part three.

Embrace complexity.

Contemporary students need is critical literacy. Critical literacy empowers the reader to question the author’s perspective and motives (McLaughlin >amp; DeVoogd, 2004). Encourage students to direct their own thinking. Challenge them to explore the nuances of whatever material they examine. This means no two lessons will be the same. The students will drive the lessons, and their interactions will move the class in different directions.

We must continue to provide opportunities for students to engage with material on a complex level. The Refine and Define vocabulary approach achieves critical literacy in an interesting way. Many teachers are incorporating video demonstrations for students to observe, analyze and question. Consider the following exercise to increase the complexity of this activity.

Refine and Define

Gist: Students use the Refine and Define worksheet to help them write definitions in their own words.

When to use: Practice writing skills while reinforcing vocabulary understanding. Refine and Define is great for classes that use complex terminology. Conduct this activity as a class, in small groups or individually.

How It Works

1. Begin with a technical term.
2. Challenge students to write a concise definition of the term. The definition should be easily explained to a third party. In five steps, ask students to complete the worksheet and hone their definition.
3. First, they should write the word and its dictionary definition (or a technical definition from the text).
4. Then ask students to choose one word or phrase in the dictionary definition to put in their own words. Ask them to write a new version of the definition.
5. Repeat until the definition is written completely in their own words.
6. Invite students to share and discuss any term they choose. For an added challenge, ask students to think of uses in context.

When students share their own unique definitions with classmates, all benefit from the opportunity to reinforce vocabulary usage and understanding. Students will be actively engaged in the development of listening, speaking and writing skills. The possibilities are limitless for incorporating literacy learning into CTE.

See the strategy in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8YLbULG4mY>amp;t=33s

Download the Refine and Define worksheet for use in your CTE classes.

Sandra Adams is a teacher and instructional coach with the Career Academy, Fort Wayne Community Schools. She co-wrote the ACTE-supported book But I’m NOT a Reading Teacher!: Literacy Strategies for Career and Technical Educators with Gwendolyn Leininger, where further detailed explanations of the strategies in this series can be found. Email her.

This is part three in an eight-part series on e-learning technical vocabulary systems. Read part one and part two.

When I first encountered professional development on the concept of disciplinary literacy, I thought,

It’s made for CTE!

Built on “the idea that literacy and text are specialized, and even unique, across the disciplines” (Shanahan, 2017), disciplinary literacy emphasizes how thinking is influenced by the vocabulary we use. The greater a vocabulary, the greater thinking opportunities someone has. We can more readily explore distinctions and specific situations, when we are able to describe our observations and experiences more accurately.

Likewise, career and technical education (CTE) students deepen their own experiences and recount peer experiences and thinking more accurately.

As technical vocabulary expands, students develop a better sense of what specific career field thinking looks like. For instance, “How would an automotive technician see this problem?” “How would a health care professional react to this situation?” “When an IT professional faces this situation, what is their lens they see through?”

This is the heart of disciplinary literacy. Technical vocabulary usage is vital.

Forced Lab Conversations

Gist: Students describe aloud exactly what their classmate is doing, and why, using technical terms.

When to use: During lab or classroom work when students are given an opportunity to use and explain vocabulary terms in context. The Forced Lab Conversations exercise is great for use in any CTE class.

How it Works

1. Group students in threes (or more) during lab work.
2. Say, “Today we will incorporate conversation into our lab work. Take turns doing the [lab activity]. The group members who are not doing the activity will then have a conversation describing what their partner is doing and why.”
3. Give students a word bank, or simply specify a number of vocabulary words from their list that they should use during the conversation. You might assign one person to keep track of vocabulary words used by each group member.
4. Direct the conversation so students incorporate questions, explanations and descriptions. They may feel awkward at first but being given a list of words to use will make it a fun challenge.
5. After a portion of the activity, have students switch so someone else can perform the lab activity. Rotate participants periodically as time allows.

Make it work for e-learning.

The following presents an example of how an early childhood education (ECE) teacher incorporated forced lab conversations in a virtual learning environment.

The unit focused on lesson plan development.

Technical vocabulary included:

• Cognition
• Social–emotional growth
• Learning stations
• Prop box creation
• Sensory learning
• Dramatic play
• Immersion
• Efficacy

During his virtual session, he introduced each term and asked the students to take brief notes on unfamiliar terms. Then the CTE teacher engaged students in a discussion about how these terms are used when teachers prepare lesson plans.

Then he shared his screen and read through a lesson he had typed.

“ECE teachers have to be creative when creating prop boxes for engaging learning stations. Your challenge is this: Take 20 minutes to create a themed station and prop box from items in your home. Be creative. When we meet back here in 20 minutes, each of you will take a turn to describe your prop box using each of the technical terms for today. Go. See you in 20.”

See the strategy in action.

Sandra Adams is a teacher and instructional coach with the Career Academy, Fort Wayne Community Schools. She co-wrote the ACTE-supported book But I’m NOT a Reading Teacher!: Literacy Strategies for Career and Technical Educators with Gwendolyn Leininger, where further detailed explanations of the strategies in this series can be found. Email her.

This is part two in an eight-part series on e-learning technical vocabulary systems. Read part one.

Career and technical education (CTE) teachers have quickly adapted to leading lectures, discussion and question-and-answer sessions in virtual classrooms. They have replaced traditional learning environments for most of us. A lot has changed but some things remain the same. Teachers still struggle with student engagement and productive talk. It is more important than ever to learn virtual differentiation techniques.

Many CTE teachers use note cards to teach students how to study with note cards they create themselves. But how do we engage students with those stacks of cards from a distance? In part 2 of our series on e-learning vocabulary systems, we explore a strategy that challenges students to think critically, be creative and communicate.

Let’s use a simple example to get started. Take these terms from different units in an early childhood education (ECE) vocabulary set, covered August–February. This is important to note. Do not pull terms from the same units. The multi-part methodology being used to develop systematic vocabulary instruction is not accidental. When vocabulary lessons are systematized, there is a high potential for student achievement gains (Hattie, 2009).

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Research on forgetting supports Hattie’s assertion. Simply put, our memories are dominated by both primacy and recency effects (Myers >amp; DeWall, 2015). We have a natural tendency to recall the first and last information learned. What does this mean for vocabulary systems? Teachers support learning when we design deliberate activities to pull technical vocabulary terms spanning the whole year.

Note Card Chunking

Gist: Note Card Chunking, to encourage productive talk, is both collaborative and cooperative. Students are challenged to define terms in their own words. The teacher then leads students in discussion and provides feedback on written definitions. Presents a great opportunity for re-teaching to build deeper connections.

When to use: This exercise is an excellent tool for conducting frequent knowledge checks.

Make it work for e-learning.

1. Ask students to prepare scrap paper for a vocabulary activity. Share a set of terms that appear unconnected (e.g., ECE terms listed above).
2. Say, “When I say go, you will have exactly 90 seconds to create a thought or write a sentence that shows you can connect any two of the terms below. You may need to get creative.”
3. When the given time has elapsed, ask each student to share their connections made. Encourage all students to interact and discuss. Some students will love the challenge, trying to connect as many terms as possible. Some may even take up friendly competition: Who can make the most connections?

See the strategy in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viqpfKO4tSs>amp;t=25s

Sandra Adams is a teacher and instructional coach with the Career Academy, Fort Wayne Community Schools. She co-wrote the ACTE-supported book But I’m NOT a Reading Teacher!: Literacy Strategies for Career and Technical Educators with Gwendolyn Leininger, where further detailed explanations of the strategies in this series can be found. Email her.

Are you searching for ways to increase student participation in your virtual classroom sessions?

We might have an answer for you. Consider e-learning sessions from the student lens. Some students have video and some only have audio, which can inhibit full participation. Also keep in mind that most of us are new to the e-learning world and we’re all a little intimidated. We want to explain how old tried and true systems of technical vocabulary best practices can help you stage a lesson for a lot of student-generated productive talk.

First, a quick note on integrated vocabulary

This is the first in an eight-part series that explores the power of systematized vocabulary instruction for overall student academic success. Teaching vocabulary through a planned system allows students repeated opportunities to deepen their use and understanding of terms; the best approach to technical vocabulary is not “one and done.” Vocabulary instruction does NOT have to be boring! Each week we will introduce a new method for developing powerful technical vocabulary experiences.

The way you structure your vocabulary program can have a great effect on the success of the rest of your lessons. Your approach to teaching vocabulary can set the tone for the learning to happen in your class. Remember, many career and technical education (CTE) students enroll because they want a nontraditional approach to learning. You want student engagement, so create a vocabulary program that is student-driven. According to Hattie’s (2009) meta-analysis, the most effective vocabulary programs

• “Provide both definitional and contextual information
• Involve students in deeper processing
• Give students more than one or two exposures to the words they are to learn”

Annotation >amp; Numbered Heads

Gist: A classroom-wide system for annotating text that is an excellent tool

When to use: Instead of front-loading technical vocabulary — the traditional practice of giving students a list of terms to define through text or PowerPoint — teach students to identify terms by annotating while they read. It is important to give them a process for doing so. Here are some ideas. We recommend choosing only three when you begin, but always include the circling of unfamiliar words.

Your Annotation Toolbox

? = Ask a question, something that puzzles you
“The text mentions a DNA study. What does DNA stand for?”

!!! = Note an interesting or very important phrase or paragraph
“I didn’t realize that tapeworms can grow to 23 meters!”

C = Connect to another text or piece of evidence
“The Ebola virus is like the AIDS virus we read about yesterday because….”

*= Access prior knowledge; I already knew that!
“I knew that photosynthesis requires water.”

X = Challenge your own thinking, new information
“I had no idea that Nobel invented dynamite.”

Box it/Circle it = Remember words you don’t know, are repeated, or you just like

How It Works

In our traditional classroom environments, annotation systems work to create a uniform system for reviewing text. The instructor explains the purpose of the exercise: to focus on increasing attention and enable better collaborative conversations. This exercise presents a great opportunity for CTE teachers to push students to think deeper while reading relevant material such as a manual or a journal article. Before students approach a complex text, the instructor provides suggestions and direction for annotating based on the chart above; then they read and, when finished, you can begin to develop the critical reading skills with a numbered heads activity.

Of course, now we need to consider how this system could still work with e-learning.

Make It Work for e-learning

1. Ask students to have read a section of text ahead of your scheduled class time. Explain to them the function and purpose of the exercise; ask them to annotate the text with at least three of the symbols/tasks identified in the chart; and expect that they come prepared to discuss. (Note: If students cannot print or cannot write in their textbooks, instruct them to make the notes on a separate sheet of paper to use during the digital meeting time.)
2. Once students are all online, assign them each a number to remember throughout the whole session (1, 2, 3… 14). Then, to encourage full-class participation rather than waiting on students to volunteer, question them with numbered heads. For example, “Number 11, can you share any of the terms that you circled or highlighted that were unfamiliar to you?’ Wait for #11 to reply. “Number 6, can you add to what she had listed? Do you know any of the terms?”
3. To make the session more interactive and fun, choosing students at random, encourage their classmates to pose questions about the reading, lecture and terms. Rotate, repeating this until all students have been asked at least one question. This is a great way to devise student-led learning in a live setting or on a digital discussion board.

See the strategy in action.

Sandra Adams is a teacher and instructional coach with the Career Academy, Fort Wayne Community Schools. She co-wrote the ACTE-supported book But I’m NOT a Reading Teacher!: Literacy Strategies for Career and Technical Educators with Gwendolyn Leininger, where further detailed explanations of the strategies in this series can be found. Email her.