Robust Vocabulary Instruction: Sample Lesson!

Alright, so now that you've had some time to process all of the information I posted last week regarding robust vocabulary instruction of tier 2 words, we are ready to move on!

The robust instruction approach proposes a 5-day cycle, and while that would be ideal, it just may not be reality for many of us speech teachers as we only see our kids 1-3 times per week for only 30 minutes on average!  Here's how I try and block out my vocabulary instruction:

Day 1:  Read text selection, take Pre-Test
Day 2:  Vocabulary Journal/Introduce all words
Day 3:  Vocabulary Questions, Brainstorming Topics, Matching Comments, provide them with carryover activities
Day 4:  Review vocabulary words, Post-Test

So basically I block out TWO WEEKS for my vocabulary instruction.  Most of my language groups are 2x per week.  

To get a better idea of how I do each activity listed above, open up my SAMPLE VOCAB PACKET for the book 'The Stranger' and follow along!

Vocabulary Journal:

• I provide all of my students with the full vocabulary packet.  This is especially helpful for the Vocabulary Journal section to save on time.  I originally had the students write everything down in a notebook but it was just taking way too long.  So I typed up the journal and took out some words and added blanks instead.  This way they still had to follow along with the lesson as they had to write the appropriate word in the blank.  I don't always leave out the actual vocabulary word.  I usually pick out words important to the overall meaning or sentence.  In my sample I provided you with the entire definitions/sentences so you know what it's supposed to say! You can take out whichever words you want.

• For the first bullet point in the journal, I just show the students the page the word originated from and read the entire paragraph so provide more context.  We just write the actual sentence the word is in though.

• For the second bullet point, we talk about the definition.  We use a website called COBUILD.  This is a fantastic website that provides you with student-friendly definitions so they actually make sense to kids (and adults)!!  

• Third bullet point is an additional sentence that uses the word.  You can make one up or sometimes COBUILD provides extra sentences.

• Last bullet point allows for interaction with the word.

Vocabulary Questions:

• For this section, I either read the questions to the group and they answer out loud OR they work in a group and write down there answers before discussing with me.

Brainstorming Topics:

• For these I usually give a few examples then have the students work together to make the lists and discuss.  Then we come together as a group and talk about what they came up with.

Matching Comments:

• We usually do this section as a big group.  I say the comment and they tell me which word it goes with.

Sentence Stems:

• I actually don't do the Sentence Stems as an additional activity.  I use this task as my Pre and Post tests.  I often create the Pre and Post Tests on Edmodo which the kids love!  Check out my previous post to find out more about Edmodo (basically a Facebook for education).

Vocabulary Carryover:

• I pick a few different tasks for the students at the end of Day 3 to promote carryover.

I hope this all makes sense! Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback!

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Using Edmodo in the S/L Classroom

I found out about a website called Edmodo towards the end of last school year.  I thought it sounded cool, but didn't really know how I could incorporate it into my SL classroom.  I registered for it and then just started playing with it for awhile.  For those of you who haven't heard of it, it is basically like a Facebook for educational purposes.  It's a very safe environment as kids cannot look each other up or write on other kids' walls.  

At the beginning of this school year I added all my kids to my Edmodo class and gave them the opportunity to change their profile picture (there are images to choose from) and write a little bit about themselves.  They were all very excited to create these profiles!

I then started creating pre & post tests and other quizzes on there to get baselines for the kids.  Creating them is super easy as you can choose Multiple Choice or True/False format.  You create the questions and provide the possible answer choices.  So far I have created quizzes for Vocabulary, Story Comprehension, Irregular Verbs/Plurals, Articulation Placement, etc.  Once you create the quiz you can choose a due date and assign it to any group(s) you want.  You can also have the grades automatically added to your Edmodo grade book after the kids take it!




It's a really neat idea because my kids actually beg to take quizzes on Edmodo!! 

In addition to completing quizzes, the kids can also write on the group wall or my wall.  Sometimes we have 5 or 10 minutes left of a session so they log onto Edmodo and answer my prompt which may be "Tell me 2 things you learned today" or "What was your favorite thing you learned this week?"  This is good feedback for me as I can reflect on my lessons and figure out what things went well and what things I need to change or spend more time on.  As an extra step with answering question prompts, I always stress the need for basic writing mechanics (capital letters, periods, etc.).  


Is anyone else using Edmodo in their SL classroom? What do you use it for?

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