This document outlines an 8-step methodology for teaching academic vocabulary through thematic instruction of content. It begins by establishing a "big idea" to introduce vocabulary words that will be studied. Background information is provided to contextualize the words. Students then explore texts on the topic and are encouraged to connect the words to related media and discuss their learning. Finally, students create something to demonstrate their understanding. Following this process allows students to learn vocabulary in a brain-compatible way that is also engaging.

1. Teaching for Academic Success
by Targeting Vocabulary Instruction
Keith Pruitt, Ed.S.
Words of Wisdom Educational Consulting
www.woweducationalconsulting.com

2. The relationship
between vocabulary
knowledge and
academic achievement
is well established.--
Robert Marzano, Building Background Knowledge, p 31

3. Grades 4-12
Academic Difference
50 Gap of 6,000
words
40
30 Academic
20 Difference
10
0
Nagy & Herman, 1984, as
Category 1 Category 2 quoted in Marzano, 2004

4. A word is the term used to describe
the label given to a packet of
information stored in our permanent
memories.
Marzano, 2004, p32
Nation insists that there are approximately 570
academic words from the Coxhead List that
coupled with the 2,000 most frequently used
words from the General Service List that
constitute 90% of the reading students are to do.
As quoted by Lebedev, 2008, Pearson, Vocabulary Power 1

5. For the
teacher, then, the
supreme task is to
store as many words
as possible into the
permanent memory of
students.

7. So how would I use the idea
of thematic instruction to
teach vocabulary in a
content?

8. NOAA Universe today.com
The Powerful
Forces of Nature
ZMEScience.com Public domain

9. Step 1- Introduce the Big Idea
How Does
Nature Change
the Earth around
Us?

10. Step 2- Introduce the theme by
introducing the words you will
study.
ERUPT ASH LAVA
TYPHOON HURRICANE PLATE
TREMOR MAGMA EPICENTER
EARTHQUAKE STORM SURGE

14. Inclusion of vocabulary. Now we
can contextualize.
We also now have supporting information that can
lead to projects: Ring of Fire, Vesuvius
We also can now link to career path
by pointing students to
www.usgs.gov where they can
learn how scientists work with
volcanoes, earthquakes, etc.

15. Wow, that’s cool, dude. I
think I might like to study
about volcanoes.

16. The volcano Etna has been on Sicily for more than a million years, longer than human beings
have inhabited the Mediterranean. It has been erupting nearly continuously throughout 3500
years of recorded history, since 1500 BCE, and doubtless for long before that.
Etna has had hundreds of recorded major eruptions; another began with the eruptions of spring
2001. And like the hundreds of times before, the local people responded in the ways they
always have. But modern technologies have allowed them to respond a bit more effectively, and
with a bit less resignation, than before.
Etna Then and Now
Etna is such an important volcano that the ancients made it the home of Vulcan, blacksmith to
the gods. Like the personality of Vulcan himself, Etna is always unpredictable, often gloomy and
irritated, sometimes dangerously angry, even on rare occasions playful. All of the seafaring
peoples of the ancient Mediterranean knew Etna as a steady beacon and landmark, looming
near the strategic Strait of Messina at Sicily's eastern tip.
People have always lived near Etna, even upon its sides. The same is true with volcanoes around
the world. After all, volcanic ash weathers into rich soil, and the risk of injury or death from an
eruption is pretty small. On many volcanoes, you can live your whole life without witnessing an
eruption—or if there is one, it won't destroy your part of the mountainside. That's the kind of
risk we all accept about the place we live, whether it's prone to
earthquakes, hurricanes, sinkholes, or landslides.
The 2001 eruption of Etna made news not only because it was a great spectacle, but because
there was human drama as well. The lava engulfed an important skiing and tourism center on
the mountain, the Rifugio Sapienza. Nowadays we don't just send prayers to our current gods, as
the ancients did—although the archbishop of Sicily did just that in 2001. Today the Italian
authorities send bulldozers to throw up barriers to the lava.

17. Acting Against Volcanoes
We've tried other things against volcanoes, too, such as military bombing to divert lava flows. When a volcano
threatened the Icelandic town of Westmanneyjar in 1983, the main tactic was spraying the lava with seawater to
freeze it solid.
But the first successful defense against a volcano was here in Catania, the city of half a million at Etna's foot. In
1669, the Monti Rossi vent on Etna's southern flank began pouring out a river of lava uphill from Catania. The city's
existing walls held back the flood for a week. But after part of the wall gave way, the authorities built new walls in
the city streets that were effective against the lava's advance.
Another tactic tried in 1669 was to break open the roof and sides of the lava tube feeding the flow. It was hoped
that this would cool and freeze the molten rock, as well as directing part of the flow elsewhere. The nearby town of
Paternò felt so threatened by this measure, it sent out an armed force to stop the work crews.
As a result, laws were enacted to forbid tampering with lava flows. These remained in effect until 1983, when more
modern techniques were allowed. So the bulldozers of today are still an experimental technology when it comes to
fighting eternal Etna.
Another experimental technology was tried at Etna in 2009: gas sampling by remote-controlled helicopter. The
Scots geologist whose brainstorm that was won a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2008. Remote-observation
techniques like this promise to spare volcanologists from some of the danger inherent in their work while helping in
eruption forecasts.
PS: The Etna eruption, among other things, produced a small quantity of Pele's hair. This fine-fibered volcanic glass
is more familiar from Hawaii, where the liquid basaltic lava is readily blown in the wind.

19. Step 6- Have students connect to
media
Step 7- Have students discuss their
learning.

20. Step 8- Have students create from
their learning.
This is one of the
fundamental elements of
Common Core.

22. Why would we have students do an
experiment with earthquakes when
we are studying volcanoes?

23. Step 1- Introduce the big idea
Step 2-Introduce words
Step 3- Create Background
Step 4-Explore Text
Step 5-Have students connect to text
Step 6- Have students connect to media
Step 7- Students discuss their learning
Step 8- Students create from their learning

24. In following this
methodology, students can learn in
the way the brain directs and learn a
host of vocabulary along the way.
And most important, learning will be
fun.

25. Thank You
Keith Pruitt, Ed.S.
Words of Wisdom