Teaching Content Area Vocabulary
An Interactive Approach to Building your Students Vocabulary
Build your students vocabulary through an interactive process. Take your students on a fieldtrip without even leaving the classroom with a Vocabulary Visit.
Try increasing your students’ vocabulary through a fun interactive process. In a 2005 article in The Reading Teacher, Camille Blachowicz introduces a fun new instructional process to teaching vocabulary called "A Vocabulary Visit." It’s fun because it almost feels like a Virtual Fieldtrip.
First Write
Begin by selecting your content area subject. (For example the human body, skeleton.) Next have students perform a first write. This is basically having students activate their schema by listing as many words as they can that relate to the topic. (bone, skull, leg, arm, wrist, ankle, foot, ribs, brain, etc…) A picture may be included for younger children.
Group Talk
The next step is group talk. Gather students together in front of some sort of poster or visual about the topic. (A poster of a skeleton.) Then ask students, “What do you see?” (Just as a teacher would on a “Fieldtrip.”) As students call out words, record them on sticky notes and place them on the poster. This part should be teacher guided.
Generate further discussion with questions, explanations, or suggestions. (Touch your skull, what is your skull for?... “To protect your brain.”) Offer suggestions that relate to other senses than sight. (For example, if studying weather, ask, “What do you hear in a storm? What are some words for how you feel in the rain?”)
Build Knowledge Through a Read Aloud
Next, choose a read aloud book that is related to the content. As you read, have students give a thumbs-up when they hear one of the vocabulary words mentioned. After the reading, they discuss what was learned and add a few new words to the chart. If time permits, sort the words in different ways. (See how many different ways or groups you could come up with. Try to find connections with the words.)
Writing Follow Up
A short writing activity could follow, such as write something new you have learned or something that particularly interested you. Later a longer writing activity could take place such as creating a class book of information about that topic.
Final Write
Lastly, do a final write. This is like the first write, however they list all the words they now have in their vocabulary. This list should have increased greatly.
This activity will help build your students content area vocabulary through a fun interactive experience. Students won’t even realize that they are building their vocabulary. Yet the results from the first write to the final write will be incredible.
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