Melissa & Lori Love Literacy ™

Teacher-Tested Vocabulary Strategies

• Episode 220

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Episode 220

In this podcast episode, you'll hear from:

  • Kirsten Taylor, a first-grade teacher turned literacy coach in Washington, D.C., and
  • Kory Jensen, a fourth-grade teacher in Aurora, Colorado.

Kirsten shares a powerful explicit vocabulary routine she uses with her students. She explains how to engage students in learning new words, assess their understanding, and extend vocabulary lessons beyond the initial teaching. 

Kory discusses the importance of morphology instruction. He shares practical strategies for teaching morphology, including breaking down words into their morphemes, engaging students in hands-on activities, and integrating morphology instruction across content areas. 

Resources


We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.

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Lori:

If you've ever felt like your students quickly forget vocabulary words you teach or you're unsure how to make vocabulary instruction truly stick, you're not alone.

Melissa:

That's why today's episode is all about making vocabulary instruction more engaging and effective. We're talking to Kirsten Taylor, a first-grade teacher turned literacy coach in Washington DC, and Kory Jensen, a fourth-grade teacher in Washington DC. And Kory Jensen, a fourth grade teacher in Aurora, colorado.

Lori:

Kirsten will share a powerful explicit vocabulary routine and Kory will dive into morphology and word parts.

Melissa:

So, whether you're teaching little learners or upper elementary students, this episode is packed with practical strategies you can use right away.

Lori:

Hi teacher friends. I'm Lori and I'm Melissa. We are two educators who want the best for all kids, and we know you do too.

Melissa:

We worked together in Baltimore when the district adopted a new literacy curriculum.

Lori:

We realized there was so much more to learn about how to teach reading and writing.

Melissa:

Lori, and I can't wait to keep learning with you. Today, let's hear from first grade teacher Kirsten Taylor. Hi, kirsten, welcome to the podcast. We are so excited to hear about your vocabulary routine that you do with your students.

Lori:

Yeah, welcome.

Kirsten Taylor:

Thank you so much for having me.

Lori:

We are so excited because we know how important instructional routines are in the classroom, and when a teacher has an incredible routine, we just want them to share immediately. So we know you have a vocabulary routine and we'd love for you to walk us through it step by step. What does it look like in action and how do students engage with the whole process?

Kirsten Taylor:

Absolutely so. I use this strategy during my whole group lesson. Specifically, I was a first grade teacher for six years. Now I'm a reading specialist, but I still use this in my small groups. We would focus on in our unit about five texts in our close reading unit. We would dive really deep into them and then students would show their understanding and mastery of the content through written exit tickets, discussions and projects. So what I would do then is backwards map from the unit and then find that vocabulary strategy and what words to teach unit and then find that vocabulary strategy and what words to teach. I would take a look at the writing prompts or discussion or project that I wanted students to do. At the end of the read Then I would decide what vocabulary words are important for them to know in order to be successful with the content.

Kirsten Taylor:

That backwards mapping strategy is really helpful with picking the words and it helped me really ground my lessons. So first what I would do is then sort my vocabulary words into tiers. First I would think of tier one words. So essentially those are everyday words. Most students know they use them often. I don't really need to teach them, but I do identify them because they're important them. Often I don't really need to teach them, but I do identify them because they're important, and the only time I would teach a tier one word is if I have a multilingual learner that doesn't really know the language yet. Then I would make some time to teach that word to students. Then I would think of tier three words, and those are really really content, specific. They need to be taught, but just briefly, with some visuals. Students don't really need to own these words, but they are important to go over before the lesson and I quickly review them, teach them within a few minutes and then when they come up in the text, then I'll point them out and I'll talk to them with students. Then the bulk of the words so for this strategy are those tier two words. These really guided my instruction for these lessons. I would pick just one word, just one, and that word is the word I want them to own. What word do they need to be successful with in order to do the activity, to do the exit ticket, to complete the discussion?

Kirsten Taylor:

This word can be applied to other texts in the unit. It can be even applied to other content areas throughout the day, and then I use an explicit vocabulary routine to teach them this word on the day one of the lesson, because we read the book usually for about three to four days and the goal really I keep in mind when finding this word is what word would help my students get a higher order understanding of the text or concept and then be able to then use that word in other activities? So once I pick the word, I use an explicit vocabulary routine and a Freyer model. So I'll kind of walk you guys through. Like what those look like A Freyer model is what students actually see. So when I'm teaching on my smart board it's essentially a four square and the vocabulary word is right in the middle and then the top left square gives a student friendly definition of the word. The top right gives the word in a sentence and I try to keep the sentence related to the content that they're learning. The bottom left of the square are visuals of examples, so within the content, but also like other areas and other meanings, and then the right square are non-examples which are pretty cool. So what are some things that do not mean this word? Some are kind of obvious, but some also are a little tricky for kids. So now I'll things that do not mean this word. Some are kind of obvious, but some also are a little tricky for kids. So now I'll kind of walk you guys through what each step of the routine is. It's pretty cool because the routine takes about five minutes. I love it because when I show my teachers this I say it doesn't take long. It's actually a five-minute routine and it's pretty engaging for kids to follow along.

Kirsten Taylor:

So first I say the word. I have students repeat me okay. Then I say let's pronounce the sounds, let's think of the phonemes and let's say all the sounds in the word. Kids say it with me. Then I show them. I say this is what the word looks like. We discuss the spelling, we discuss the syllables, the morphemes or meaningful word, parts within the word and even parts of speech. And this is all on that four square, on that Freyer model. So they're seeing it. Then I read to them okay, this is a definition of the word. I read it to them, the students repeat me and I'm really intentional about the definition to make sure I know my students and what they can grasp and I make that definition cater to them. Then I read it in a sentence and they repeat me it's related to that content. Then I just talk more about the word. I give lots of examples. This is what this word means here. Here's another example of this word.

Kirsten Taylor:

Then we play a fun game and I say I want you to think of this word. I'm going to say something. If you think that's an example of blank, give a thumb up. If you think it's not an example, give a thumb down. And what I love about this game is kids get really into it because they start to really think, okay, I want to, I want to win this game, I want to be the teacher. And sometimes I get really enthusiastic and they're like, yes, that's the word. And sometimes they're like no, that's crazy, that's not the word. And after we play that for a few examples, then I end with a turn and talk because it's so important for kids then to take that vocabulary word and then apply it. So I do turn and talk partners in advance to make sure like language levels are appropriate so that I don't pair a student that doesn't talk much with another student that doesn't talk much.

Kirsten Taylor:

I try to just be really intentional and students will either use that word in a sentence or give another example of the word or sometimes even give non-examples, which is pretty fun.

Kirsten Taylor:

Then I have them share out. And then I sometimes do an extension where we have a vocabulary journal and they write the word in their journal with the example and a visual. One key point that I always ground this in is I say the vocabulary word probably 15 to 20 times. I'm constantly saying it in the routine. Kids are repeating it and by the end they really should know at least how to say the word, because they hear me say it so many times. And then after the lesson, essentially then we read our text and I say while we're reading, I want you to listen for this word. If you hear it, I want you to give your I agree. And then I pause and then we discuss it and then in future texts we make sure I review it again, we talk about it again and then the goal is then, by that writing prompt or by that final discussion, they're using that word and they're owning that word.

Lori:

Such a great routine, kirsten, I'm thinking about that thumbs up, thumbs down that you mentioned in the routine. Is that a helpful formative assessment for you in the moment, first to see which students grasp it and then do you just like make note of that, like what happens in your brain, in your teacher brain?

Kirsten Taylor:

from there, yeah, that's a great question. So as I'm watching, if I see a student that maybe thought something was an example and it's not, then in a moment I actually correct it and I say oh, I see what you were thinking there, but let me tell you why and then I'll explain it. So I think about it, as this is a really good teaching moment and that little informal assessment then allows me to stop, re-explain it and then make sure I clear that up for them.

Lori:

Yeah, I love that in the moment, because then they don't march forward into the text with that incorrect idea that you're just and it's also, it feels like, very normalized for students to feel okay, you know, feel safe, you know, putting the wrong thumb up and then being like, oh, that was silly, you know I, I should be this, okay, thanks, you know. Um, I also have one more question that goes back to something that you said in the very beginning and I'm thinking about, you know, my teacher self having to only select one tier two word. How do you select just one?

Kirsten Taylor:

That's a great question. It's hard. Sometimes you have a text where it's pretty easy, but some I've worked with my team and we're like what word are we picking? This is hard. These are all so important. What I try to think about when I do this is what word is going to come up in the other text following it. So, for example, we did an animal adaptations unit and the word that we did was protect, and we decided to choose that in one of our texts because we realized, oh, looking at all these other texts, all the other animals protect themselves. We're going to see this come up again, and that was our rationale for thinking it. See this come up again, and that was our rationale for thinking it. If it doesn't come up in another text, then I think what's a word that really is like almost like the main idea of the text and that kind of helps me pick it. And even if it's not used in the next text, it could be used in another unit or even like another subject throughout the day.

Melissa:

And I'm curious to follow up on that. Like, how often do you do this routine? And when you said it was five minutes, I was like, well, I mean you could do that every day. But I'm wondering if you do like, is this one where you pick a different word each day, or by the week? Like, how often do you do this routine?

Kirsten Taylor:

I try to pick one word per text. So we use a model where we read a text in our whole group for about three to four days. So essentially it's kind of like one word a week, I would say, because I don't want to overload them with too many tier two, because then I'll find they're not really owning them. But if I do one word per week or two at most, then I do see more at bats with that word and more exposure to it, more practice, and then they're owning it more easily.

Melissa:

Yeah, and so you're reading that text for that three or four days, so you're seeing it each day. It's not like you do the routine, and then they don't see that word for three or four days. Right, they see it.

Kirsten Taylor:

Exactly. Yeah, they see it, they talk about it, absolutely.

Melissa:

So I want to go back. I know our listeners probably like they're like I heard that routine, I want to rewind it and hear it again. But we're actually going to let them hear it again With an example. Can you tell us like what would be a tier two word? You might have already did, you already say it. So you've already said the tier two word, so let's go ahead with that tier two word protect. How would you walk through that, that same routine, with that word?

Kirsten Taylor:

Absolutely. So first I would tell my students we're going to learn a new word today. We're going to own a word for our new text and our text is all about frogs, right? And I'll say this is my word protect Everyone repeat me and everyone repeats protect. This is my word. Protect Everyone repeat me and everyone repeats protect.

Kirsten Taylor:

Let's say the sounds in protect, ready, p-r-o-t-e-c-t. What's my word? They're like protect, great, let me show you what it looks like. And then I show them the word protect on the board. Then I say okay, what do you notice about this word? What are some spelling patterns? You see, kids might say, oh, I see two consonants at the beginning, that P-R with the P-R. I see, oh, there's two syllables in that word. Or they might say there's a tricky sound at the end. And then we'll practice. Yeah, we saw that in our small group. Right, Absolutely. Then I say let me tell you what this means. Right, protect means to keep something safe from harm. What does it mean? To keep something safe from harm? And then they repeat me Great, let me tell you this word in a sentence, because we're going to use this today. Then I come up with a sentence from the text that I think would really help them understand. And this one actually was about turtles instead of frogs, and I said the turtle uses a shell to protect itself. And then they repeat me.

Kirsten Taylor:

I say, great, there's lots of other examples of protect that doesn't have to just do with turtles. So I'll say I use a helmet to protect myself when I ride my bike. I sometimes like to go roller skating and it's super dangerous, so I wear knee pads to protect myself. What does it do? Protect Great. My co-teacher has glasses and she has a case to protect it so that when it goes in her bag it doesn't fall and crack. It protects the glasses. I also know it's been pretty rainy lately and I have an umbrella and that umbrella protects me from the rain hitting my head. What does it do? Protect Excellent.

Kirsten Taylor:

Then I might say does anyone know any other examples? And then I hear from some of the kids and then they might share some others that I didn't think of, which is great. Then I say, okay, now we're going to play a game. I want to see if you know what it means to protect. Then I say, okay, now we're going to play a game. I want to see if you know what it means to protect. I'm going to say something, and if you think it's protecting something or it's an example of protect, give a thumb up. If you think it is not protecting, it's not providing protection, you're going to give a thumb down, okay.

Kirsten Taylor:

So then I show the visuals on the model. So the first picture might be a seatbelt right, and they're seeing it, but I'm not like pointing it out, I'm just kind of talking about it. I'll say I went in the car yesterday and I put on my seatbelt. Am I protecting myself? Yes, protect, protect, good. And then I might ask why, like why is that protecting, right? Then I'll say something like I was rushing to work and I left my phone case on my dresser. Is my iPhone protected? No, okay, someone share why? Oh, because if you drop it the glass is going to break, right? Oh, I saw the weirdest thing. I saw a turtle that didn't have a shell. Is that turtle protected from a predator? No, right. So then I go over like a bunch of those. I kind of alternate yes and no. I sometimes do maybe like five to six examples. Then I say okay, everybody.

Kirsten Taylor:

So we're going to use the word protect with our turn and talk partners.

Kirsten Taylor:

Turn to your partner and share a sentence with the word protect, give an example and if you finish early, maybe give some non-examples. So then I have them turn. I listen in on their conversations. I'm going around, I'm correcting any misconceptions. If I'm noticing like maybe someone didn't understand it, then after a few minutes we turn back and I say, ok, can someone share what their partner said? And they share what their partner said. Oh, my partner had a really good sentence about protection. And then at the end I say, great, now we're going to read a story or a text about turtles and while we're reading, we're learning about how a turtle protects itself. And there's more ways than just the shell. There's a lot of different ways we'll learn While we read. Today, if you hear the word protect or if you hear something that shows that protection, you're going to give an I agree and then we'll discuss it after the read and that's kind of it. That's kind of how I go through it on that day one.

Melissa:

I love that they're looking for not even just the actual word but the meaning of the word, even if the word's not said. They're looking for that. You know the idea of protection, even if that you know, cause it's easy to pick out the word itself, but you know thinking of the idea of protection along the way. I love that.

Lori:

Yeah, I also like that you're cuing from both the text that they're going to encounter and future texts, but also life like, making those connections for them. I also like that you gave that example of the umbrella, because to me that's kind of like a tricky one, right. Like is an umbrella? Like? What do you mean? An umbrella is protecting, oh okay, it's not like a shell, it's not like protecting from a predator, it's protecting from the rain. So it's kind of bridging their or maybe not bridging, extending their idea of protection in a way that they might not have thought, and also giving them that concrete real life example to connect it, to which we know they need all those spider webs of connections in order to really own this word, right? So I'm kind of thinking about that idea, right, of students owning the word. How do students demonstrate or show you that they've grasped the meaning of the word?

Kirsten Taylor:

Yeah, great question. So some ways they show me that they grasp it is through their writing. So we do maybe an informative writing exit ticket or maybe a shared writing activity. If I notice them using that word in their writing, that's like a huge win. I'm like great, they got it. That's one way.

Kirsten Taylor:

If we do a discourse activity where I'm having students do a discussion, maybe it's a gallery walk, maybe it's like a hot seat strategy, where there's someone in the hot seat and they're asking questions, if they're using the word protect verbally, that's also a win, which is great. But last, if I have a student that's maybe not able to use protect maybe their language isn't there yet if they're using words that are similar, like safe or giving a detail, that does mean protect, we're almost there. And then I'll ask them. I'll say great, what does that mean? Like if they're staying safe? And if they might not know it, I'll show them again. But there's definitely different levels of understanding for that. We have a lot of anchor charts in our classroom, so we'll have vocabulary words up there and even if I have a student that doesn't remember how to spell it or forgets if they're looking for that word and they could tell me they're looking for protect. That's also a win, because they're using their resources to find the word.

Melissa:

Speaking of like those anchor charts, I'm wondering. You mentioned a few things already, but I just let's repeat them, even if that's okay. If you repeat them, what happens after you're done reading all these books about protection and you know you're not really talking about the word protect anymore, but we don't want to lose that word, right? So what kinds of things do you do to kind of keep that word alive in your classroom after this unit is over?

Kirsten Taylor:

Some things I'll do in my small group lessons. I'll find some texts that would reintroduce that word. So maybe it's a decodable text and maybe students are working on phonemes, like in frog, and it's just a story about a frog but maybe the frog is protecting itself and the word protect isn't in there. I'll find a way to kind of bring that back, like remember, we learned a couple units ago about protection, like how does the frog protect itself here? So I'll try to be really intentional about connecting the whole group content building curriculum and the small group. Sometimes it's a little hard to do that, but sometimes you can find a text where you can connect it. So that's one way.

Kirsten Taylor:

We do have a writing center where students do informative writing, narrative writing, opinion writing. I sometimes will make a prompt that relates back to that word. So maybe it's another animal and I say, hey, we learned a lot about animal adaptations last unit. I want you to write a story or an informative writing piece that shows how another animal protects itself. So I try to do that as well in small group and in their center's time.

Lori:

I love those activities because they're just extending what they've already learned about this word. And you're actually making me think, kirsten, about in our book we shared this vocabulary strategy called shades of meaning and it's one of my favorites. And so I just kind of like did it real fast for this word, thinking like because you made me think of it. I was like I'm just going to do it real fast.

Lori:

So if we think about the word protect, if you think about a paint swatch, students kind of like organizing their understanding of the word protect right, like other words, because you said students may encounter other words but not the actual word protect. So we could think about the word safe, shield, shelter, guard, defend and protect and just have students kind of like organize those or think about them as alternative synonyms to protect and just extending their knowledge there. I thought when you said they might not get the word protect but they might have other words, it's just so helpful to keep those other words in mind and what shades of meaning they convey and have students think about those other ones too. So thanks for making me think of that.

Kirsten Taylor:

Yeah, that's a great strategy. And I even thought of something else too. As you were talking, I even tried to incorporate it into my. My language is talking to them, so if they were putting their stuff away in their cubbies and I noticed like some students like drop their books, I'll say please protect your materials. I tried to really connect it to just like my informal language and use some of that academic language in there as well.

Melissa:

Yeah, I was thinking, lori, as you were talking too, like those words probably are going to come up in texts you know along throughout the whole year and you could keep bringing it back to protect. You know, if they see the word guarded or guarding right, then oh, that's, that's like protect. You know we've done that word. You can keep bringing it back, which is really lovely.

Lori:

All right. So we've talked a whole lot about tier two words today. Kirsten, I'm wondering if you have anything that you'd like to share about tier one or tier three words. How do you address those words in class?

Kirsten Taylor:

Absolutely so. Tier one I just address it. If I have maybe a newcomer, a student that's learning the language, I just talk about those words as if they would already know them. I don't give a lot of front loading, but the tier three are fun. What I do is I pick those out. Like, for example, the word camouflage is a word that would be tier three because they need to know it for the text, but it's not something they need to own. They're not going to see it come up a lot in the other texts.

Kirsten Taylor:

What I would do for that is we use Canva, which is really cool. It's a little more like student-friendly than PowerPoint and what I would do is put the tier three words so camouflage up on our Canva slide. Then I would find a few visuals of camouflage, our Canva slide, then I would find a few visuals of camouflage and then, before I would teach the tier two word because I really want that last piece of information to be that tier two before they dive into the text, I would say I'm going to teach you some tier three words. I don't even say tier three, just I'm going to teach you some words in the text that I don't need you to own, and then I would read the word for them camouflage. Repeat after me camouflage. Let me show you what camouflage looks like. Sometimes I even ask the students. I say look at some of these pictures. What do you think the word camouflage means?

Kirsten Taylor:

And they might raise their hand oh, I see they're blending in Absolutely. So we're going to notice the turtle is going to camouflage or blend in with its surroundings. When we come to this word, it might be a little tricky. I'll remind you what that means, and that word would also then be on the anchor chart. And if they use that in their writing, great, they don't need to, but that is a word that they could go back into the text and find if they wanted to take their writing a step further.

Lori:

Yeah, thank you, that's really helpful. Wanted to take their writing a step further. Yeah, thank you, that's really helpful, kirsten. Is there anything else that you think is top of mind for teachers when they think about this explicit?

Kirsten Taylor:

routine. Tier two words teaching them. Yeah, I think one thing that comes to mind is that I know this was an ELA lesson and I know this is a literacy podcast, but the strategy really can be applied to any subject. I had a math teacher at my school that learned about this strategy with me and she wanted to use it in her math class. It's really cool. It's just vocabularies everywhere. It absolutely lives in every subject, all parts of the school day, and that's something I do want to share that it can be used with all content and all curriculums and subjects.

Melissa:

Such a good point. Thank you, very important reminder. Thank you for bringing that up. It should be used in every content area for sure. Well, kirsten, thank you so much for sharing all of this with us today. I know our listeners are going to be really excited to try it in their classrooms. So thank you for your time and for everything you do.

Kirsten Taylor:

You're welcome. Thanks so much for having me.

Lori:

Now let's hear from fourth grade teacher, Kory Jensen. Hi, Kory, welcome to the podcast.

Kory Jensen:

Thanks for having me on.

Lori:

We're excited to dig into vocabulary with you today.

Melissa:

Yes, and specifically, we want to talk about morphology with you, because we know morphology, which is the study of word parts like prefixes, suffixes and what all of those mean, the meanings behind them, is really important for upper elementary, which is where you teach. So can you tell us a little bit about you? Know what does morphology instruction look like in your classroom and can you even give us, like some examples of what it looks like?

Kory Jensen:

Yes, absolutely so. When I think about morphology I definitely think about the upper part of the reading rope, like those like semantics, syntax and those type of parts of the language comprehension. So when we do morphology we actually give students eight weekly words that go with the passage we're reading. So this week we're reading about which one is more efficient to use droids for entertainment or fireworks. So then we have different weekly words that go with it and then with those weekly words we break it into all of its morphemes, like what is the prefix, what is the root word, what is the suffix and what does this all mean, together with going into a definition right there.

Kory Jensen:

So many students I put up the word and then we go what's the prefix? And then they go the prefix is this part, right there. So the prefix might be con, the prefix might be pre, the prefix might be ab and things like that. And we do it so many times that they're starting to internalize what these words mean. Like, for example, I go what does the prefix X mean? And they go, oh, it means out, Like exit and things like that. Then we go to the root word right there, and then they find what the definition of the root word is and then sometimes it has a suffix, Sometimes it doesn't, Sometimes it has two suffixes right there. So we go with the suffix, and what does that mean? And we write down every single word. Part definition.

Lori:

Got it, Kory. Do you ever have them kind of play around with it, like taking like the root or the base and putting different prefixes and suffixes on?

Kory Jensen:

Yes. So we have different cards in the classroom that are laminated so they can always erase them right there. Green is for prefixes, yellow is for root words and red is for suffixes. So for those who are watching, they look somewhat like this. So green cards, little rectangular cards, laminated that they can write on dry erase markers and erase really easily. So then I usually give them a root word that goes with it. So let's just say the root word is specked, so they all write specked on the yellow card. Then I give them some prefixes that might go with it Con in those type of prefixes. Then I might give them some suffixes, shun and those type of suffixes right there.

Kory Jensen:

Then they each have a morphology map which is actually very similar to sound boxes and L-Conan boxes. So they just are rectangulars that fit right into a piece of paper and then they just bring down each word and try to build it as we go. And the number one question I get asked the most is is this a real word? Did I make a real word? And I'm like well, I will go over all the answers at the end of all the real words, but they're like very much playing with it being like I think that's a real word. Let me try this. Is this a real word?

Melissa:

Do you give them like for SPECT for an example? Do you give them like for SPECT for an example, do you give them the definition of SPECT? Or I'm just curious in upper elementary, like do you let them try to figure it out, like, how do they get to the meaning of SPECT?

Kory Jensen:

They each have a morphology key for those who are watching, which is just a half sheet of paper, which has all their morphemes in it Prefixes, Latin roots, suffixes, Greek forms, and then other ones. Others could include, like nocturne, which means night, dinern, which means day, vincen, which means near or neighboring things like that, Venom, which means poison.

Lori:

So what Kory's describing is a little half sheet book. It has a little magnifying glass on it and it says my morphology key and then inside are all of these definitions that students can refer to, which I think would be super helpful for an activity like this, because then they can reference rather than guess right.

Melissa:

So they're referencing while they work Right, so they would find the SPECT, the meaning of SPECT in there, right, is it to see? Is that something about?

Kory Jensen:

seeing. Yeah, so yeah, let's find out right in here what SPECT means to look at, see, observe or watch. So yeah, and it's all alphabetical right there.

Melissa:

Yeah, so that's fun and they get to play around with it. That's really fun.

Kory Jensen:

And for those teachers they're like. Well, I don't know all the morphemes. I do suggest the my Morpheme Dictionary that Lori has talked about before, with the Kids Dictionary, which has all the morphemes in there, that you can just pick and choose. Make them in alphabetical order for prefixes, root words, suffixes, greek combining forms, those type of words right there. Other type, right there.

Lori:

Are you talking about the Once Upon a Word book?

Kory Jensen:

Kory. Yes, once Upon a Word, okay.

Lori:

And we'll link that in the show notes too.

Kory Jensen:

So you can make those. Luckily I have a curriculum that does it for me, so that is very fortunate for myself, but I know very many educators do not. So you can just create your own morphology key with a packet. And we had a great discussion actually the other day. It was miss. They were looking for M-I-S-S and they were like miss is also actually a prefix as well, just M-I-S, but it's also a root word as well. So we had to have a conversation. Well, is it a prefix or is there a root word, the word miss.

Lori:

Like as in. Like, so dismiss is like, for would be an example of when it would be a base or a root.

Kory Jensen:

It would be a root word Yep. And then like mispronunciation.

Lori:

like obviously with the one less S would be the prefix, or is there M-I-S-S in a prefix?

Kory Jensen:

Oh no, it's just.

Lori:

M-I-S-S. Okay, that's what I thought.

Kory Jensen:

So then M-I-S-S would be the root word, which means to send Okay.

Lori:

So then M-I-S-S would be the root word, which means to send. See, I mean, I feel like words are so much fun and very like I'm just curious about them.

Melissa:

Yeah, I was just thinking about. Missile Is missile. Is that the root Same? It's like M-I-S-T-E-L right.

Kory Jensen:

Right, it's like a weird spelling, but miss like missile, because miss does mean to send. So we actually had a good conversation, like I found Miss, but it only has one S, and one kid at the table said then that's not it, we have to find one with two S's. And they kept looking One kid's like, because you're looking at the prefixes, it's a root word. So then they had to switch to the root words, that's really fun.

Kory Jensen:

In there as well, and it is organized on the side being like here are all the prefixes, here's all the Latin roots, here's all the suffixes, here's all the Greek combining forms. We haven't dug too deep into Greek combining forms. We're actually doing that after spring break. So end of March to the end of the year we'll be doing more of Greek combining forms and the good news is they do this again in fifth grade. So they get it with me in fourth grade and they do all again just new words into fifth grade.

Kory Jensen:

And it's just like I think when I started doing this, it was just so impressive how these students were able to hold on to the meaning of the words. We do it a lot with phonics and phoneme awareness. We teach like if we can teach them the sound, then we can unlock more words. Or the syllable type Well, we should have that same understanding with morphemes. If can teach them the sound, then we can unlock more words. Or the syllable type Well, we should have that same understanding with morphemes. If we teach them the morpheme, we unlock a lot more words for them to understand instead of just like here's the word, know the word.

Lori:

So, Kory, I feel like you've touched on this, but I'd like to hear from you just a little more explicitly. Why is focusing on morphology and the different word parts so powerful for students? What have you seen in your students speaking or reading or writing that's helped you kind of see the value in spending time on this?

Kory Jensen:

Definitely with speaking. It's definitely unlocked more vocabulary words for them to speak and look at other vocabulary words in other content areas. I'm fortunate enough to teach all content areas to my students, so I teach reading, writing, math, science, social studies all of the contents. I know some teachers just teach one content but I can take this morphology knowledge and bring it to other contents that we do in science, that we do in math. Right now we're going through a geometry unit and there's a lot of great combining forms in math. Right now we're going through a geometry unit and there's a lot of Greek combining forms in geometry. So then we could take that knowledge we built in that and go over to other content areas.

Kory Jensen:

The other thing that has been very surprising is helping them with their writing, because when you know the morphemes you can actually know the part of speech. Most of the time when a word ends with shun, it's going to be a noun. That's what it is, and most of the time if it doesn't have a suffix, it's going to be a verb, and if it has a suffix li it's probably most likely going to be an adverb. So then they can look at the word and be like, oh, that is a noun or that is a subject. I need to treat it like a noun or subject. I can't treat it like a verb.

Melissa:

I want to ask you more about writing in just a minute. But you made me think of. We had Lynn Stone on the podcast a little while ago and she talked a lot about this of like. If you teach these word families, or like the you know suffixes, like you're talking about the parts of the words, you unlock so much more for a student. Like, what, like we don't want to just focus on. Here's a list of 10 words, memorize them. You may or may not remember them after the test, but like. This way is so much more powerful, because we don't have time to teach every word that's out there, but this way they learn so much more that they can apply to so many more words.

Kory Jensen:

Right and I think the research shows like when you go more in upper grades they need to know what like around 500 to like 1,000 words every single year. It's like we don't have time to teach 500 or 1,000 words a year, but we have time to teach a morpheme that can unlock more words as we go. And then when I do assessments or when I do informal assessments, I might pick morphemes that are related to what I've taught. It might not be the same word, but it'll be a morpheme that's related to it. And actually our data and vocabulary has gone up and up every single year since we started morphemes. I had students in the past who are now in fifth and sixth grade now getting in the hundredth percentile on their state tests under vocabulary.

Lori:

That's amazing, it's so cool. And you know, what I love about that is that you didn't teach them a thousand words a year, right, you taught them actually like thousands more, because by teaching them the prefix un and by teaching them the you know, the base word spect, they can now unlock every word that or or at least have a general understanding, right, that then actually prompts them to do more word learning around that um, to be able to like go and be, like oh, okay, I, I get that this. This must mean you know, to see, or whatever, and then I'm going to look at the parts around it. Like you're actually teaching them how to dissect and understand words in a bigger context, which is, I mean, clearly showing off with a hundred percent. That's so cool.

Kory Jensen:

So yeah, so after they actually built the word and write a word, then they write the definition and then they I always ask them what part of speech the word is and then they write it into a sentence. We do that pretty much like twice a week where they build words and it only takes about 10 minutes. Here are your word parts Build a word, build your words, pick one word, use your morphology key, find the definition what part of speech is this word? And then put it in and then write your vocabulary word into a sentence right there. So like if we were to do inspect.

Kory Jensen:

Inspect means to watch and means to look into, like in or into, so to look into something. If I inspect something, I'm looking into something. Inspect does not have a suffix, most likely going to be a verb because of the way the definition is to look into. Has the word to in it, most likely going to be a verb. So then we write it into a sentence. Start with the subject I am going to inspect blank right there. So then they can, or I will, inspect those type of words right there. Then we can talk about other parts of speech when I add add the past tense to it If I add ing to the word, make it present, progressive and those type of suffixes. Right there as we go.

Melissa:

So you definitely have them writing, because I said I was going to bring it back to writing, so you definitely have them writing sentences. Do they have to include these words in any other types of writing?

Kory Jensen:

I definitely at the end of the five day cycle. So we spend five days on more themes, five days on a topic five-day cycle. So we spend five days on war themes, five days on a topic. So, like I said, right now we're going into which one is better a drone show or fireworks and we talk about, like, the pros and cons of each one. So it's going to be opinion writing and that's pretty much what the question is which one is a better form of entertainment a drone show or fireworks and they have to write a paragraph on that.

Kory Jensen:

And, to the point, right now, when it comes to writing, I pretty much just say I want you to add two of these weekly words that we worked on and broke into morphemes into your writing. You need to have a topic sentence. You need to have two to three detailed sentences. You need a conclusion statement. I might add other things, like you need different types of sentences. Don't make them all declarative. Try that for a challenge. Try to add a compound subject subordinate conjunction, add a conjunction, and I just write those as expectations on the board and then I go and then I write two and then I want to have two weekly words in your writing, for writing your paragraph to answer this question. So it's also helping build their knowledge because, as we know, writing can be one of the best indicators to show your knowledge on a topic.

Melissa:

Yeah, and it's a good way for you as the teacher to kind of see their knowledge of the topic. But then also are they using these words like correctly? So you get to kind of get a sense of their vocabulary knowledge as well.

Kory Jensen:

And it's just like a quick paragraph writing. Then they just turn it into me and I take quick notes on it and send it back to them, and we've done this for like almost every single week.

Lori:

So powerful, oh my gosh. I feel like you're using words to promote, or you're using word learning to promote both, like speaking and reading, comprehend or not both. Let me start again. Actually, we'll edit this part out. So powerful I feel like you are using word learning to teach reading comprehension, to teach writing comprehension, to teach oral language comprehension. Is there anything, Kory, that you do to model this as a teacher, like? I know that you talked about the student exploration and their use of their resources, but from a teaching perspective, do you do any explicit instruction around these words at any point during that, like exploration before or after or any other points in the day?

Kory Jensen:

That's a great question. So they usually don't do the exploration until I say, if it's a five-day cycle, on day four so usually day two and three is more explicit instruction where the word might already be broken for them and they just write the definition under each part. So if we did inspection I probably just broke it into N, spec, shun, and then they just find the word parts right there. And actually breaking into morphemes makes me think of one other thing that we always get into as a conversation in our classroom that breaking morphemes is not the same as breaking into syllables Like those are way too different things A lot of the teachers Can you explain that for everybody?

Kory Jensen:

listening. Okay, contra, contra has two syllables, but that's one morpheme, which means against or opposite, right there. So breaking into morphemes is not the same as breaking it into syllables. Those are two different understandings for students and that's kind of pretty much what I tell them, like by the time you get up to upper grades, and not saying that you can, like you could, teach morphemes in lower grades, like that is possible to teach more themes in lower grades, but by the time they get up to upper grades. I try to make the distinction, like we, I already know you know how to read this word. That's now I want you to know what the word actually means. Like I have data that you can all read this word, but can you? But do you know what this word means and can you use it in a sentence? Can you use it in spoken language? I know some teachers in my school actually put a weekly word on their shirt and a badge with a definition and kids have to use that weekly word two to three times a day.

Melissa:

I was just going to say Lynn Lynn Stone, bringing her back again, she actually posted just, I think, today, kind of because she's in Australia, so I don't know yesterday, today, but she just posted about this very topic, about syllables versus word parts and how you know. Yes, when they're learning how to decode, learn, you know, breaking into syllables is very helpful, but also there's less. You know, we I see these questions all the time of like where do you break this word? And some people say this this way, some people say that way, and it's like, well, okay, you know, if we're, if we're arguing about this, do we really need to like get kids to have this exactly correct? And she just said what you said, which is, you know, the better question is to get to. Once they know how to decode it already, like you said, most of your students do already then let's talk about what the parts mean, because that is so much more powerful to get them to know the meaning of the words. So you and Lynn Stone on the same page.

Kory Jensen:

We're right there. Wow, I'm glad I'm on the same page with Lynn Stone. That makes me feel a lot better.

Lori:

That's a good page to be on.

Kory Jensen:

Yeah, I'm like, apparently what I'm doing in my classroom is appropriate, so that's great.

Lori:

Kory, is there anything that, as you're working with your students, that really surprised you? Either I'm thinking within this like five day cycle of word teaching, word learning, or just generally over the course of the school year. It's almost. You know our listeners will be hearing this in March, so anything over the course of the school year that you've noticed your students have grown.

Kory Jensen:

They definitely grown in their knowledge around the morphemes, Like when you explicitly teach them and you just keep going back to words that have morphemes and they have an explicit morphology key with them that they can reference all the time. My pre-assessment at the beginning of the year I think I only had one student pass their morphology question and we just did assessment yesterday and I have about 95% pass.

Lori:

Wow, oh my gosh, congratulations.

Kory Jensen:

That's amazing and, like I said, and the state test data just keeps going up and up with their vocabulary instruction right there. And I know that when they have a strong vocabulary their comprehension gets more in depth, they're able to answer the questions in a more depth way with their writing and they're just able to unlock a lot more of their understanding, and not just in reading, writing and speaking, like in math and science. So like, for example, we're working on shapes and geometry, so we're working on hexagons and quadrilaterals. So then we go well, hex means six, gon means shape, so a six-sided shape. Right there. And actually in Greek morphology keys it actually does work from left to right six-sided shape, whereas Latin roots it works the other way around.

Kory Jensen:

And I kind of got into a big nerd session there for a while and I started digging into the English language and all the word parts. I was like, oh, this is why we have Latin Roots and this is why we have Greek and this is why we have French in here and this is why we have Anglo-Saxon. So then you could take it to other contexts and build their knowledge Once they understand Greek, combining forms, latin roots, those type of things. It doesn't does have to stick in literacy. I would love to take it into the art class, into physical education, into music, all those different types of parts right there where it's like you unlock so much for the student to just understand the world around them.

Melissa:

Yeah, and, Kory, I just love how you're. I mean, you're building, like you said, your own curiosity around words is, I mean, I'm sure that is rubbing off on your students and that is so huge for students to have that mindset of just wanting to be able to. Well, let me figure out this word. I want to know, like, not just because, like, oh, it's cool to see kids excited, but that's going to help them learn words for the rest of their life, so it's huge.

Kory Jensen:

And all those work parts and I actually try to say with them they're like you don't know the definition of this word. I was like no, I was not taught this way, I was not taught to break it into morphemes. So when I'm breaking into morphemes with you, I'm actually learning right alongside with you. Could I look up the answer in a book? I could, but I'd rather learn it with you, like well knowing this word, I think this is what it means. But I saw the morphemes right there, and going into those morphemes right there, what could be challenging is that a lot of morphemes have different meanings. With them, like shun does mean the quality, the action. So then you have to really dig deep. Well, which one is it? Is it the quality or is it the action?

Lori:

Right, and then you're thinking about the comprehension of the sentence, of the part of the book that you're reading or of the article that you're writing. The paragraph that you're trying to unpack and I think that that's the powerful part is and I totally get it Like you learning alongside them. When they're authentically asking a question. You're like, well, I think it means this, like what's more powerful than that. You know you've already, you have your time for your explicit instruction, you have your time. Well, I think it means this, like what's more powerful than that. You know you've already, you have your time for your explicit instruction. You have your time. Um, you know your planned opportunities right Within your instruction.

Lori:

But when they authentically are asking you questions like that, modeling for them, like I think it's this because I'm I'm breaking it down this way and like talking that out for them, just like you did for us so powerful for kids to hear you model that and be like oh yeah, I was kind of a little off there, but I had the idea here with the prefix, but I didn't really quite. I wasn't able to really articulate that root word or that base word as clearly as I could have. I mean so powerful for them both to hear you unpacking it and also to hear you like both be wrong and also correct, sometimes right. Oh, cool, I got that. That's awesome. So I love that you're that model for your students and really helping them get to that place too.

Kory Jensen:

No, they like to write their own definition when they're just like oh, I don't know, let me try. And then they talk about it at their table Like this is what I wrote, what did you write, what did you write. And then they just talk about that kind of stuff Like this is what I think it means. Oh, I kind of wrote the same thing right there. And then when I actually, and then I tell them yeah, you were pretty close to that one.

Melissa:

Well, Kory, we cannot thank you enough. We love hearing about what you're doing in your classroom, so thank you so much for your time and for sharing with our audience. We really appreciate it.

Kory Jensen:

Yes, just one more quick thing. If you would like to see this in a visual, check out Melissa and Lori's book the Literacy 50, on page 124,. Has that model of my classroom right there ready for you? It's on page 124 in the Literacy 50, how students write on the cards green, yellow, red, how they put it in the morphing mat, how they write it into a word, write into a sentence, write the definition. All that is on page 124. So if you have the book, check that out for a visual reference.

Melissa:

Thank you again so much, Kory. We really appreciate it. To stay connected with us. Sign up for our email list at literacypodcastcom, Join our Facebook group and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

Lori:

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Melissa:

Just a quick reminder that the views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests of the Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast are not necessarily the opinions of Great Minds PBC or its employees.

Lori:

We appreciate you so much and we're so glad you're here to learn with us.