Word Wise and Content Rich, Grades 7-12

Book excerpt: This book is a natural for a teacher study group. It is well worth the time spent reading and discussing with colleagues because the ideas it holds are basic to rethinking and transforming vocabulary teaching. -Karen Bromley Binghamton University, SUNY How do you teach students the words that are crucial to unlocking the concepts in your content area? Until now "assign, define, test" has been the default strategy. But with Word Wise and Content Rich, Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey bring vocabulary in out of the cold and into the heart of daily classroom practice in English, math, science, and history. Word Wise and Content Rich offers a five-part framework for teaching vocabulary that's tailored to the needs of adolescent learners yet mindful of the demands on content-area teachers. Grounded in current research, this framework gives students the multiple encounters necessary to lock in the meaning of new words forever. Fisher and Frey's five-step modelshows you how to: Make it intentional: select words for instruction and use word lists and up-to-date website lists wisely Make it transparent: model word-solving and word-learning strategies for students Make it useable: offer learners the collaborative work and oral practice essential to understanding concepts Make it personal: give and monitor independent practice so students own words Make it a priority: create a schoolwide program for word learning. Use Word Wise and Content Rich, and close the word gap between low-achieving and high-achieving students. With its strategies, every student in your class-in your school-can access the textbook and develop the vocabulary needed for success in content-area reading. Read Word Wise and Content Rich and get the last word on great vocabulary teaching.