Vocabulary Development Resources

Students depend on a base of vocabulary to comprehend increasingly difficult content. And students must maintain a solid foundation of content vocabulary to communicate mathematically with others. Vocabulary is only learned through multiple exposures. Here are my top three resources for vocabulary development in the math classroom...

#1 

Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering (2010) have completed extensive research regarding a six-step process for learning and acquiring new vocabulary terms in their book, Building Academic Vocabulary: Teacher's Manual.

• The teacher provides a description of the term.
• Students restate the explanation in their own words.
• Students draw a non-linguistic representation for the term.
• Students participate in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the term.
• Students discuss the term with one another in small groups.
• Students play with the vocabulary term in games 

#2 

Ben Taylor incorporates cooperative learning and Kagan structures in his book, Vocabulary: Making It Memorable, to expose students to academic vocabulary in a variety of settings.

#3 

The Granite School District in Salt Lake City, Utah maintains a wealth of vocabulary building ideas for all grade levels and subject areas.

The MATH-7 team will investigate vocabulary building in their next Genius Hour on January 20.
Stay tuned for more details...

Leaving a Legacy

Every child deserves a champion...an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best they can possibly be.

-Rita Pierson

Hop over to the TLAP tab to watch an 8-minute TED Talk of Rita Pierson on Relationships in the schoolhouse.

Recent Updates

The Genius Hour and MATH-8 tabs have been updated with last week's progress with MATH-8 Classroom Practices and Modeling Functions. Be sure to browse the following updates to additional pages on the blog:

Achieve the Core on CCSS

Hop over to the CCSS tab and scroll to the bottom to download grade level math focus summaries.

Buzz Math iPad App

Select the iPad Apps tab to review the Buzz Math app that contains middle school math practice.

#fjhsmath Twitter Update

Scroll down on the right sidebar of this homepage to stay updated on Twitter. This log includes each post labeled with the #fjhsmath hashtag.

ETA (11.13.13):
And now as you browse the blog the Common Core State Standards are easily accessible. Look to the right of the right sidebar for the gray "Common Core App" tab. Click on the gray tab to open and close the Mastery Connect app. If you are browsing from a tablet, you will be prompted to download the app for viewing. Caution: This app is absolutely amazing; however, the side notes included in the original document are not included in this application. (For example, Algebra 1 teachers could read HSF-IF.C.7b and think they have a lot of functions to add to their curriculum when really several listed functions are reserved for Algebra 2.)

Putting all my eggs in one basket?!?

After years of opening egg cartons to inspect the contents before placing the item in my shopping cart, I found my first cracked egg today.

Photo Credit to The Krazy Coupon Lady

Years. And my husband teased me every single time he observed my habit. Once he asked me why I insisted on opening the eggs. To which I honestly replied, "My mother always checked her eggs!" I had no other reason. I had never observed a cracked egg in my mother's shopping years. Or mine...until today.  And you can be certain I'm not going to stop inspecting egg cartons now!

Do I teach this way? Do I prepare beyond the observable characteristics or needs of my students? Do I teach concepts even when my students don't ask the "why" behind each math lesson? Or do I put all of my instructional eggs in one basket? Do I teach process really well and trust that honed skills will see my students through to the next level?

And may I be so bold as to ask one more critical question? Do I focus on concept teaching for my advanced students while dwelling in the land of process teaching for my regular students? Just because my advanced students respond better/faster/nicer doesn't mean my regular students need it any less.

Join me for Genius Hour as we reflect and collaborate via a habits of mind analysis tool so we don't wait for a cracked egg to prompt us into action!

Genius Hour Bye Week

The week of September 30 is a bye week for Genius Hour. Please spend a few minutes this week reflecting on your classroom structure and the strategies and methods you use for teaching and learning.

Photo credit to Cragin Spring

Please hop over to the Genius Hour page for more details regarding your list to submit by October 4 in preparation for our next sessions scheduled for the week of October 7...