Presentation at the 2017 AP Annual Conference on vocabulary instruction

1. Reviving
Vocabulary
“Gracious words to
revive…drooping
thoughts”
Jenna Gardner, Meadowcreek High
July 2017

2. • Teaching vocabulary for production
requires different strategies from teaching
vocabulary for recognition.
• Production requires knowledge of
meaning and use.
• Creating conditions for both acquiring and
learning vocabulary is necessary.
• Word lists don’t work; multiple exposure to
targeted vocabulary items does.
• Active involvement with the targeted
words is crucial.
• Both oral and written production matter.
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Guiding
Principles for
Genuine and
Generative
Vocabulary
Instruction

3. • Direct instruction of individual words:
(production over simple recognition)
• Teaching word learning strategies
• Multiple exposure through a variety of
methods
• Promoting varied, extensive, and close
reading
• Fostering of word consciousness
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Approaches
for Genuine
and
Generative
Vocabulary
Instruction

4. 4
Visualizing
Vocabulary
Concepts such as
• Hamartia
• Foreshadowing

5. 5
Visualizing
Vocabulary
Words such as
• Contrarian
• Welter

6. Visualizing
Vocabulary
Digging into words to
create analysis
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7. Visualizing
Vocabulary
Words to analysis
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8. Art to
Explore
Tone
Words
• Students then move on to a poem
on this subject—Atwood’s “Siren
Song”. Students explore the poem
examining for the diction the
‘colors’ the poem. The compare
the poem to the two paintings and
discuss which image best mirrors
the tone that Atwood employs in
her poem.
Students look at words such as
seductive, threatening, urgent,
obsequious, pleading,
provocative and apply them to
the painting they feel these
words describe.
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9. Linear Arrays:
Shades of
meaning
• For example, students work with words
that suggest different intensities of fear—
scared, startled, anxious, insecure,
overwhelmed, frightened, terrified, etc.
• This is a great way to explore the words
in depth through group work and
discussion.
Paint chips from home
building and paint stores
are great tools for students
to work visually with
vocabulary and investigate
shades of meaning in
synonyms.
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10. Concept
Attainment
Using the Concept
Circle students
determine the meaning
of words or phrases,
analyze the connections
between them, and
hypothesize the
relationship that binds
them together.
Students then read the opening of Edgar Allan Poe's “The Fall
of the House of Usher.”
Student then hypothesize what this tone suggests about what
will happen in Poe’s tale.
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oppressive dreary
insufferable melancholy

11. Semantic
Feature
Analysis
Willy Linda Biff Young
Biff
Happy Young
Happy
approbation
jovial
mercurial
crestfallen
surly
subdued
evasive
befuddled
agonized
philandering
insecure
trepidatious
Allows for repetition of direct
instruction vocabulary as a
springboard into character
analysis and analytic writing.
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For example, with Death of a Salesman
the use of vocabulary from the play
itself allows students to dig deeper into
the characters, examine attributes that
they share and then use their findings
to write about these characters and the
tragedy that forms around them.

12. Semantic Mapping • Instruction that involves activating prior knowledge
and comparing and contrasting word meanings is
likely to be more powerful than simple combinations
of contextual information and definitions
• The best known and most widely researched
techniques falling in this category are semantic
mapping, and research indicates that semantic
mapping leads to significantly higher
comprehension scores than more traditional
vocabulary instruction.
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Tone
Literature
musicart
a musical or vocal
sound with reference
to its pitch, quality,
and strength.
the general character or attitude
of a place, piece of writing,
situation, etc.
Tone in an artistic context
refers to the light and dark
values used to render a
realistic object, or to create
an abstract composition.

13. Using Focused Cloze
as Vocabulary
Development and
Literary Analysis Primer
EXAMPLE
There is a striking amount of _____________ throughout
the poem, especially within the first section in that each
of the first four lines contains _____________ as seen in
the following examples: “We…world,” “coyness...crime,”
“we would”/ “which way,” and “long love’s.” The first
stanza continues to utilize _____________ in lines 16
and 18 to continue his playful wooing by showing off his
intellect before his argument _____________ to a
manipulative approach in the second stanza. For the
most part the speaker abandons the device of
_____________ until returning to it with a flourish in the
last two lines emphasizing is further with the
_____________ of the “m” sounds in “make”. This use of
_____________ with the increased tempo of the
_____________ ends his ‘seize the day’ argument with
an impressive, energetic, and yet violent finale. Marvell
has his speaker use _____________ to make his words
more alluring when wooing his lover, but he dispenses
with it when contemplating the reality of death in order to
make his words more chilling. Life is after all fleeting.
The goal is for students to analyze how
these devices are used and use terms
as apt vocabulary describing the
author’s choices and their impact on
meaning.
In order to help my students in
engaging in analysis, we read a short
passage and poem. We annotate and
discuss the text as a class. In
discussion, I use the vocabulary that I
will give student as a Word Bank to use
in their Forced Cloze.
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14. Forced
Association
to Build
Deeper
Understanding
Vocabulary evince encroach obviate compel meddle
misanthropist
boor
miser
rustic
reprobate
As a gifted instructional strategy, Forced Association, pushes
students to find similarities between items or concepts that seem
unrelated. By utilizing this technique with vocabulary instruction,
students can gain a deeper understanding of vocabulary or a
concept, and explore the function of literary devices.
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15. Forced
Association
• Concept is placed in the center:
character, setting, imagery, tone, etc.
• Vocabulary is placed in the radiating
segments
• Through forced association and
sentence combining students create a
sentence using the two words to
create a sentence on the concept.
• Students use sentence to create
paragraphs and essays.
Generating Gyre
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16. Vigorous
Vocabulary
Many of our students are second language
learners or are first generation students who
hear a language other than English as their
home language. Frequently that language is
Spanish. The connection of Latin roots to
high-frequency Spanish language cognates
can be an effective way to allow students to
connect meaningfully with language through
building on existing knowledge base.
Through Strategic Prefix,
Root, and Suffix Word
Instruction
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Root Meaning English Examples Spanish
Example
ACRI,
ACER
sharp, bitter acrid, acid, acerbic acido
ACT do action, enact, activate acto
AMICUS friend amiable, amicable amigo
AUD hear audible, audience, auscultation audible
CHRON time synchronize, chronic,
chronological
cronico,
cronológico
CORP body corpse, corporeal, corpulent
incorporate
cuerpo
CRED believe credence, credit, credulous,
incredulous
credito, creencia
DIC speak edict, dictate, contradict dictar, dictado
FID trust, have
faith
fidelity, confidant, diffident fiel
FLU to flow fluid, affluent, influence, fluency,
mellifluous
fluido
GREG flock, herd gregarious, congregate,
segregate
congregarse
LUC,
LUMEN
light lucid, elucidate, luminous lúcido, lucir,
iluminar

17. Extensive Reading
Builds Vocabulary
Promote independent
reading
Choice is Key!

18. Independent Reading:
Contemporary Titles
List of Contemporary Titles Listed on the AP Exam
RWN (Reader/Writer Notebook)
Close Reading for Independent Reading
(Decoding, Visual Learning, Literary Elements,
Structure, Analyzing Writing Craft)

19. Thank
You.
Contact me with any questions:
Twitter: @JennaGLit
Email:
Jenna Gardner
jenna.gardner.aplit@gmail.com
Go to website for Copies of handouts
http://jennagardneraplit.wixsite.com/room4212/resources-lessons