My district has spent a great deal of time looking into new reading programs for the elementary schools. While this discussion and research was going on, the school improvement team in the middle school was developing NCA goals that would also directly benefit our students and their needs. One of those goals was improving vocabulary. Even though the entire middle school staff decided on a goal, the means to the end were never truly identified and a plan for implementation developed. Imagine having a common goal, six or seven different departments and more than a dozen different opinions on how this goal could be reached. Getting everyone to agree on a strategy or approach that can be used consistantly across subject areas can be daunting. That is a wicked problem!
I plan to identify and use a proven research-based vocabulary strategy/system that will offer vocabulary lists that are subject area specific. Once I have identified the vocabulary lists, I plan to create a collaborative website (using Weebly) that is divided into subject areas and contains the vocabulary lists for that specific subject area. Teachers will be given editing rights to this website to begin creating their own personal vocabulary lists and divide/separate them however they see fit for their individual lesson purposes. This will allow teachers to not only create/modify their own lists, but give everyone complete transparency and access to the work being done in all of the other subject areas throughout our building. The final step in the process would be to give students the URL address so that they could also have access to their vocabulary words for each subject area. I believe that having a single point of reference for all of the vocabulary is critical in getting students to use the resource. If the students know that they can find all of the vocabulary for every course in a single location, it will streamline the process for everyone creating a common, shared and easily accessible resource. Using a wiki website would allow teachers to creatively organize and display their information in whatever format they desire. This would also foster a collaborative learning environment for teachers who were less tech savvy by giving them the opporturnity to see what others are doing and be able to ask their peers "how did you do that?"
Logistics: Since I have already purchased the professional version of Weebly for about $40.00, there would be no cost for the software. Teacher access is not an issue either as anyone with an email address can be set up as an adiministrator with full editing rights to a Weebly webpage. Student access is not an issue either; simply give out the URL and students can view the webpage. I believe that there is a real opportunity to develop a comprehensive website that benefits, not only the teachers in my building, but the students that they teach. The impact should be quantitatively meassurable in test scores, demonstration of fluency in the vocabulary in and out of class as well as in the MEAP scores. Developing the website for each subject area will take some time. However, vocabulary comes in units and could be created in units as well. Meaning that teachers could develop their lists throughout the entire school year and populate the website with the information in smaller chunks. This would allow for the project to be spread out over the course of the entire school year and make the input of information more manageable. Expanding the scope of the project into the following year would allow teachers the opportunity to do more creative things with the information in their subject area. An example of this might be for them to create interactive pieces for each section like crossword puzzles, word scrambles, etc. Either way, the website would allow for a common resource that could be continually developed, improved upon and updated.
I plan on creating the main website that will be used for this collaborative vocabulary project. This will include pages for all of the different subject areas as well as an introductory home page. I also plan on populating the technology/computer portion of the website with the relevant vocabulary lists in this subject area. Past the scope of this course, I plan on providing a professional development training on the use of Weebly for all of the teachers who will be using the webpage as well as creating screencasts for the more common issues relating to the project (like how to embed code, how to insert links, how to add and delete information, etc). One of the indicators for success will be complete population of all of the subject areas in my building. If everyone has been successful in creating a complete product, then this collaboration will be successful. If students use this site and the traffic levels to the site are high, then that should indicate that students are finding the information helpful. High traffic volume should also be and indicator of success. Student and staff surveys will be conducted to determine success and identify changes that might be beneficial to both groups. This will also allow me to evaluate the technology solution itself and determine if there may be a better solution for this collaborative project.
Resources and Additional Software:
Collaborative Model Development for Vocabulary and Guidelines
Marzano Research Laboratory Building Voacabulary
Integrating Technology into the Classroom using Instructional Strategies
My Integrating Technology Journey
Strategies for Effective Vocabulary Instruction
Related Articles:
Blackowicz, C. & Fisher, P. (1996). Teaching Vocabulary in All Classrooms.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Blackowicz, C. & Fisher, P. (2003). Best practices in vocabulary
instruction: what effective teachers do. In Best Practices in Literacy
Instruction (2nd ed.). Morrow, L.M., Gambrell, L.B., Pressley, M. Eds. New York:
Guilford Press.
Irvine, J. (1990). Vocabulary Knowledge: Guidelines for Instruction. Washington,
DC: National Education Association
I plan to identify and use a proven research-based vocabulary strategy/system that will offer vocabulary lists that are subject area specific. Once I have identified the vocabulary lists, I plan to create a collaborative website (using Weebly) that is divided into subject areas and contains the vocabulary lists for that specific subject area. Teachers will be given editing rights to this website to begin creating their own personal vocabulary lists and divide/separate them however they see fit for their individual lesson purposes. This will allow teachers to not only create/modify their own lists, but give everyone complete transparency and access to the work being done in all of the other subject areas throughout our building. The final step in the process would be to give students the URL address so that they could also have access to their vocabulary words for each subject area. I believe that having a single point of reference for all of the vocabulary is critical in getting students to use the resource. If the students know that they can find all of the vocabulary for every course in a single location, it will streamline the process for everyone creating a common, shared and easily accessible resource. Using a wiki website would allow teachers to creatively organize and display their information in whatever format they desire. This would also foster a collaborative learning environment for teachers who were less tech savvy by giving them the opporturnity to see what others are doing and be able to ask their peers "how did you do that?"
Logistics: Since I have already purchased the professional version of Weebly for about $40.00, there would be no cost for the software. Teacher access is not an issue either as anyone with an email address can be set up as an adiministrator with full editing rights to a Weebly webpage. Student access is not an issue either; simply give out the URL and students can view the webpage. I believe that there is a real opportunity to develop a comprehensive website that benefits, not only the teachers in my building, but the students that they teach. The impact should be quantitatively meassurable in test scores, demonstration of fluency in the vocabulary in and out of class as well as in the MEAP scores. Developing the website for each subject area will take some time. However, vocabulary comes in units and could be created in units as well. Meaning that teachers could develop their lists throughout the entire school year and populate the website with the information in smaller chunks. This would allow for the project to be spread out over the course of the entire school year and make the input of information more manageable. Expanding the scope of the project into the following year would allow teachers the opportunity to do more creative things with the information in their subject area. An example of this might be for them to create interactive pieces for each section like crossword puzzles, word scrambles, etc. Either way, the website would allow for a common resource that could be continually developed, improved upon and updated.
I plan on creating the main website that will be used for this collaborative vocabulary project. This will include pages for all of the different subject areas as well as an introductory home page. I also plan on populating the technology/computer portion of the website with the relevant vocabulary lists in this subject area. Past the scope of this course, I plan on providing a professional development training on the use of Weebly for all of the teachers who will be using the webpage as well as creating screencasts for the more common issues relating to the project (like how to embed code, how to insert links, how to add and delete information, etc). One of the indicators for success will be complete population of all of the subject areas in my building. If everyone has been successful in creating a complete product, then this collaboration will be successful. If students use this site and the traffic levels to the site are high, then that should indicate that students are finding the information helpful. High traffic volume should also be and indicator of success. Student and staff surveys will be conducted to determine success and identify changes that might be beneficial to both groups. This will also allow me to evaluate the technology solution itself and determine if there may be a better solution for this collaborative project.
Resources and Additional Software:
Collaborative Model Development for Vocabulary and Guidelines
Marzano Research Laboratory Building Voacabulary
Integrating Technology into the Classroom using Instructional Strategies
My Integrating Technology Journey
Strategies for Effective Vocabulary Instruction
Related Articles:
Blackowicz, C. & Fisher, P. (1996). Teaching Vocabulary in All Classrooms.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Blackowicz, C. & Fisher, P. (2003). Best practices in vocabulary
instruction: what effective teachers do. In Best Practices in Literacy
Instruction (2nd ed.). Morrow, L.M., Gambrell, L.B., Pressley, M. Eds. New York:
Guilford Press.
Irvine, J. (1990). Vocabulary Knowledge: Guidelines for Instruction. Washington,
DC: National Education Association