Choose a graphic organizer or concept mapping activity from Adolescent Literacy. This activity should also be student directed. Th

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Choose a graphic organizer or concept mapping activity from Adolescent Literacy. This activity should also be student directed. That is, learners should be developing maps, not just filling in pre-drawn organizers. Think of this activity as a way for lear

Context:

Common Core Standards and text exemplars emphasize the acquisition and use of increasingly difficult vocabulary as a central means to developing deep understandings of complex concepts. Our readings tell us that there is a close association between vocabulary acquisition, readings scores, and academic achievement. And adolescents will encounter almost 90,000 new “words” (in our context, “vocabulary” includes both single words and also phrases—those terms that identify important concepts, information, and factual knowledge [even the names of people, places events] in our academic or professional fields).

So, how do we support learners in acquiring and using this conceptual vocabulary? In this assignment, we focus on student-directed activities in which they acquire and use vocabulary that they choose.

Directions

• For each of the three activities below, write out the directions as you will give them to students when you first introduce these activities. You want to make the directions engaging, clear, straightforward, and focused. The directions must also anticipate likely difficulties that students might run into, so that they can use these as a reference guide as they get into the activity.

Part One—Teacher-Directed Vocabulary/concept Instruction

• Choose: 5 “Headwords” from our “Academic Vocabulary List” (in the Assignment Folder) that are
1. technical terms. That is, they represent concepts specific to your field.
2. important to your unit.
3. unfamiliar to your students, or likely to be.

Part Two—Student-Directed Vocabulary/concept Acquisition

• Choose an appropriate vocabulary activity from those discussed in Adolescent Literacy or one in our BB readings. By “appropriate” I mean that students should be able to choose words to learn independently, in which they have some choice over content and direction. Choose one that you think would work well in your content area for the students in our case-study class.

Part Three—Concept Development and Organization

• Choose a graphic organizer or concept mapping activity from Adolescent Literacy. This activity should also be student directed. That is, learners should be developing maps, not just filling in pre-drawn organizers. Think of this activity as a way for learners to begin organizing the concepts that they have acquired—connecting them to each other and identifying ways that they relate to each other.

Reflection

• Write out how you will integrate these activities into the class’s work. Consider the following elements:

Engagement

What will you do to make sure that students are actively involved in meaningful activity with the vocabulary?

Repetition

What will you do to help students have the 8-10 meaningful interactions that they need to “acquire” a new term?

Assessment

How will students engage in meaningful self-assessment to identify progress & direction?

How will you assess students’ progress and suggest direction?

How will this activity “count” towards the students’ quarterly grade in a way that does not undermine its student-directed emphasis?