Teaching Vocabulary in All Classrooms

Vocabulary instruction is like the weather: Everyone talks about it, but no one is quite sure what to do about it. This text is therefore written for preservice and inservice teachers ofallgrade levels and inallcontent areas who recognize the importance of vocabulary development but aren't sure what to do with it in the classroom. This text is also written, however, for teachers who have a sense of direction but who want some new, classroom-tested strategies to renew their curriculum. Focus of the Text Research and practice emphasize that attention to learning vocabulary is an important part of all content learning as well as a significant part of any literacy program. Therefore, many of the techniques for teaching vocabulary that are explored in this book have the broader goal of enhancing the acquisition of content knowledge. Also explored are independent means of learning vocabulary, such as using metacognitive and contextual cues. New features of this edition include greater attention to the ESL student and an added chapter on spelling and word structure. Also, websites for vocabulary exploration are included for each chapter. Special Features This book has the following special features to help guide the reader. Prepare Yourself.A knowledge rating activity that introduces the major content issues by asking you to evaluate your own prior knowledge. Strategy Overview Guide.A guide to the instructional strategies highlighted in the chapter. It can also be used as a quick reference tool. Teaching Idea File Cards.Shorthand references to a number of strategies and resources most practical to duplicate into a teacher resource file or curriculum resource guide. For Further Learning.Selected, teacher-friendly references that encourage greater investigation. If you are a reading and language teacher or a content area teacher, if you teach in kindergarten or in high school, if your students are gifted or at risk, this text has ideas for your classroom. If you are a student or a teacher of methods classes in reading and language, in social studies, in science, or in special needs instruction, this book will supplement your other texts by giving you ideas for handling the important vocabulary unique to your classes. We hope that you will use the ideas in the text as springboards for experimentation in your own classrooms. Acknowledgments Most of the ideas we share in this text have been developed over the years by teachers in many different classroom situations. We thank you. We have tried to give credit to our contributors wherever possible but know that ideas get adapted, modified, or changed as they meet individual classroom needs. If you, the readers, have any new adaptations or suggestions that we could credit to you in future editions, we would love to hear from you. Our thanks do also go to our colleagues and students at National College of Education of National-Louis University and to the many teachers with whom we work closely. Special thanks to Amy McCann, Becky McTague, Elsie McAvoy, Lily Rodriguez, and Joan Stahl for their ideas and assistance. We are also grateful to our reviewers whose thoughtful ideas helped refine this text: Irene Mosedale, Plymouth State College, New Hampshire; Roger Passman, Ed.D., Texas Tech University; and I. LaVerne Raine, Texas A&M University-Commerce. Lastly, we would like to thank Linda Montgomery and Mary Harlan for helping us bring our work into print. Camille Blachowicz Peter FisherBlachowicz, Camille L. Z. is the author of 'Teaching Vocabulary in All Classrooms', published 2001 under ISBN 9780130418395 and ISBN 0130418390.