Working Together to Strengthen Students’ Vocabularies

Focused vocabulary instruction has been shown to benefit children of all socioeconomic backgrounds (Neuman & Wright, 2014) and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) essentially require teachers to integrate such instruction across content areas (LaBrocca & Morrow, 2016). One way this might best be accomplished is through collaborative partnerships between enrichment specialists, classroom teachers and literacy specialists. In an article featured in The Reading Teacher, researchers LaBrocca and Morrow (2016) call for exactly this type of concerted communication between faculty members as a means of enhancing elementary students’ content vocabulary. In reference to a thematic art unit focusing on content vocabulary, the two explain how art teachers may be limited in their knowledge of instructional literacy best practices while classroom teachers are likely unfamiliar with the ways in which the “domains  of knowledge in the arts are structurally different” from other disciplines (p.150).

LaBrocca (art teacher) consulted domain specific books, other sculpture resources, and The Oxford Dictionary of Art to generate a list of 19 content words she considered essential to facilitating critical aesthetic discussions.  Below are four vocabulary building strategies LaBrocca successfully implemented within her 14-week hollow clay sculpture thematic unit (designed for use with 3^rd grade students):

1. Word Knowledge Rating Scale: LaBrocca invited students to first rate their knowledge specific to each of the 19 content words using the following ratings: “I do not know the word,” “I think I know the word” and “I know the word.”
2. Word Walls: Students participated in open sorts where they were asked to compare and contrast words making inductive connections. Organized words were then displayed on the wall where illustrations and photographs were added to further facilitate meaning. Students referred to the word walls throughout the unit in their discussions and writing.
3. Vocabulary Building Games: LaBrocca infused her teaching with vocabulary games such as Cunningham’s (1978) Be a Mind Reader. In this game, students are provided clues and have to guess the vocabulary word card the leader holds.

Do you partner with other specialists to create thematic units for students? Do find this to be a helpful way of encouraging literacy learning across content areas? We would love to hear your stories.

Cunningham, P.M. (1978). Decoding polysyllabic words: An alternative strategy. Journal of Reading, 21(7), 608-614.

LaBrocca, R., & Morrow, L. M. (2016). Embedding vocabulary instruction into the art experience. Reading Teacher, 70(2), 149-158.

Neuman, S.B., & Wright, T.S. (2014). The magic of words: Teaching vocabulary in the early childhood classroom. America Educator, 38(2), 2-13.