AV and CCSS

What matters in academic vocabulary? Two research bodies

1. Marzano
What areas will be useful and matched - numbers and organization including his 6 steps

Vocabulary List Creation

This one-day training assists in the development and implementation of districtwide or statewide
academic vocabulary. The vocabulary list is based on state standards and assessments to address
achievement gaps among groups of students whose backgrounds vastly differ.
Videoconferencing sessions are a significant method of communication throughout the project.

Lists are created at the following levels:

Level 1 = K2
Level 2 = 35
Level 3 = 68
Level 4 = 912

One word per week per subject category

Categories

Mathematics
Science
General History
English Language Arts
U.S. History
World History
Geography
Civics
Economics Health
Physical Education
Arts (general)
Dance
Music
Theater
Visual Arts
Technology

2. Isabel Becks Tiers and how they help us select from the tier we need
Tier 1 Basic words that commonly appear in spoken language. Because they are heard
frequently in numerous contexts and with nonverbal communication, Tier 1 words rarely require
explicit instruction.Examples of Tier 1 words are clock, baby, happy and walk.

Tier 2 High frequency words used by mature language users across several content areas.
Because of their lack of redundancy in oral language, Tier 2 words present challenges to students
who primarily meet them in print. Examples of Tier 2 words areobvious, complex, establish and
verify.

Tier 3 Words that are not frequently used except in specific content areas or domains. Tier 3
words are central to building knowledge and conceptual understanding within the various
academic domains and should be integral to instruction of content. Medical, legal, biology and
mathematics terms are all examples of these words.

TIER 2 High Frequency Academic Vocabulary Words

accelerate, achieve, adjacent, alternative, analyze, approach, approximate, arbitrary,

assert, assess, assign, assume, authorize, automatic, chapter, compensate, complex,
complicate, comply, component, comprehend, conceive, concentrate, concept,
conclude, consequence, consist, constant, construct, consult, context, contrast,
contribute, convert, create, criterion, crucial, data, define, definite

demonstrate, denote, derive, design, devise, devote, dimension, distinct, distort,

element, emphasize, empirical, ensure, entity, environment, equate, equivalent,
establish, evaluate,evident, expand, expose, external, feasible, fluctuate, focus,
formulate, function, generate, guarantee, hypothesis, identify, ignore, illustrate,
impact, implicit, imply, indicate, individual, inhibit

initial, innovation, intense, interpret, intuitive, involve, isolate, magnetic, magnitude,

major, manipulate, mathematics, method, minimum, modify, negative, notion, obtain,
obvious, occur, passive, period, perspective, pertinent, phase, phenomena, portion,
portion, potential, precede, precise, presume, prime, principle, proceed, publish,
pursue, random, range, react

region, require, respective, restrict, reverse, role, section, segment, select, sequence,
series, shift, signify, similar, simultaneous, sophisticated, species, specify, stable,
statistic, status, structure, subsequent, suffice, sum, summary, technique, technology,
tense, theory, trace, tradition, transmit, ultimate, undergo, usage, valid, vary, verbal,
verify, vertical

They refer to words as Tier One, Tier Two, and Tier Three. Tier One words are defined as those
we use in everyday speech, the kinds of words one would find in simple narrative text, those that
readers simply have to decode in order to comprehend. Tier Three words are domain-specific
words, like osmosis and onomatopoeia. Nestled neatly between Tiers One and Three are the Tier
Two words. Tier Two words are referred to in the Common Core State Standards as general
academic words. They are the words that grant students access to academic discourse, words
that are used to discuss, persuade, and explain across disciplines, words like argument,
significance, characteristic, and question. They could also be words that describe more
specifically or that elevate tone, like writing mention instead of tell, or fortune instead of luck.

How can you help students get a leg up on Tier Two words? Think about compiling a list and
teaching the words to your students as you would any other vocabulary list. Then--and heres the
catch--follow up consistently, showing students how the same word (like determine) is used over
and over in different contexts and in different disciplines. Use the words on the list frequently in
class discussions, and draw attention to the words when you use them. Lastly, encourage
students to use the words in their own writing so that their own discourse is increasingly
academic.