FREE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Teacher Study Group in Vocabulary
The Teacher Study Group in Vocabulary provides teachers with effective research-based ways to deliver high-quality vocabulary instruction. Teachers will work collaboratively to enhance their existing reading curriculum by planning lessons that incorporate research-based principles.
First grade teachers will attend 11 Teacher Study Group sessions held at the school site. All first grade teachers will meet twice a month for 75 minutes at their school site with a facilitator at a time that is convenient to them.
During each Teacher Study Group session, the facilitator will guide the teachers through a 5-step process. Teachers will discuss a lesson they taught, explore features of effective vocabulary instruction, review their core reading program to determine whether or not the feature is present, collaboratively plan a lesson to integrate features that are missing and teach the lesson before the next session.
The features of effective vocabulary instruction that will be addressed are:
Words in Context
Selecting Words to Teach
Student-Friendly Definitions
Examples, Contrasting Examples, and Concrete Representations
Using Context to Determine Word Meaning
A Teacher Study Group Facilitator’s Guide was developed by Dr. Joseph Dimino and Dr. Mary Jo Taylor. It provides the facilitator of the Teacher Study Group with a specific “game plan” for leading participants through the 5-step process. For each session, the facilitator is provided with goals for the session, an overview of the session format, and specific instructions for completing the 5-step process. The guide also contains handouts for each session’s activities.
A facilitator, chosen by the school, will lead the Teacher Study Group sessions. Two days of professional development will be provided to teach facilitators how to lead teachers through the Teacher Study Group process.
By the end of the 11 sessions, teachers will have developed lessons that incorporate the features of effective vocabulary instruction. More importantly, they will have acquired the knowledge and expertise to continue to develop and teach vocabulary lessons that incorporate research-based practices.