Evidence-Based Strategies for Building Student Vocabulary With Michelle Sullivan

Sara
Hey there and welcome back to another episode. Today’s episode is going to focus on how to build students vocabulary as we continue on in our series that is really digging into the five pillars of reading.

Sara
And today y’all are in for a real treat. And that’s because I am interviewing my friend and repeat guest, Michelle Sullivan. And Michelle is the face behind The Colorful Classroom. She’s got over a decade of experience in the literacy world. She’s Orton Gillingham train, she is a lifelong learner, and ultimately, she has a passion for equipping teachers with tips and tools and strategies for strong literacy instruction.

Sara
So her mission is really to help elementary teachers build their instructional toolkits with both knowledge and resources. And she really encourages educators everywhere to teach colourfully with brilliance, vibrance and intention, and she is a true gem.

Sara
And in today’s episode, she is going to be sharing 10 tips that are going to help you breathe new life into your vocabulary instruction. And you guys this episode truly is incredible. I promise that after listening to it, you are going to understand how our brains acquire new vocabulary. And you’re also going to have some really strong evidence based strategies that you can put into practice starting today. So let’s jump right in to today’s episode.

Sara
Hi, Michelle, welcome back to the show. I am so excited to have you back on as a guest today.

Michelle
Thanks so much for having me back. So you gave me my very first podcast experience. So it’s an honor to be a returning guest here today.

Sara
Well, your first episode I know when you are on before you talk to all about phonological awareness. And that is yet to date one of my most popular episodes, my audience absolutely loved it. So I know that they are going to love everything that you have to share today.

Sara
And I know today we’re going to talk about a different sort of aspect of reading, we’re going to talk all about vocabulary. And I’ve heard you present and speak on vocabulary. So I know that you are a little bit of an expert in this topic. So I’m excited to have this conversation with you. And so we’re gonna go ahead and just jump right in. Why is vocabulary so important when it comes to literacy instruction?

Michelle
All right, so I know your listeners are no stranger to Scarborough’s reading rope. And when we take a look at the rope, we see that vocabulary is a core strand on the language comprehension aspect. And the National Reading Panel tells us that while vocabulary alone is not sufficient for reading comprehension, without it, understanding and making meaning just isn’t possible.

Michelle
So let’s put this into perspective. Spanish is a phonetic language, right. So once you know the code, there aren’t really any tricky parts. So I can pick up about just about any book in Spanish and decode the words with pretty high accuracy. But unfortunately, my Spanish vocabulary isn’t quite up to par. And depending on how sophisticated the text is, I’d barely be able to make any meaning from my reading and understand what the text is about.

Michelle
So when we think about this, in terms of research, the research suggests that students need to understand the meaning of about 98% of words they read in order to have solid comprehension of that text. And at this past fall’s unlocking sort conference, you showed us a great example of this as well, as it relates to inferences and inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words. And we saw that even with 95% accuracy, and understanding our vocabulary words on a page comprehension is still really disjointed. So at the end of the day, having a strong vocabulary is the cornerstone to understanding just about anything we read.

Sara
Yeah, I feel like the more I learned about the science of reading, the more I recognized, like how significant vocabulary is. And I remember when I was like in the classroom, I sort of viewed vocabulary as this like ancillary thing that we sort of did in addition to reading and it wasn’t connected and it was very disjointed. And I’m like, Oh, I wish I would have I wish I would have known then like what I know now because I would have treated it completely different.

Sara
Because yeah, it’s like, we have to have vocabulary if we’re going to understand the text like we have to have a huge bank of word knowledge. And we need to be able to understand the words that we read if we want to have any hope of understanding it.

Sara
I talked about this at the conference, but my husband’s a mechanical engineer, and I often will just like flip through his books. And it’s just like, I don’t understand the majority of the words in that. And I’m like, okay, like, if I want to understand thermodynamics, I have to have access to a whole other range of vocabulary words that are not a regular part of my conversational vocabulary.

Sara
And the same is true for our students. And so vocabulary is such an important part. I love that it is sort of like becoming just like, the more we learn about the science of reading, the more we recognize that it’s not this ancillary thing, but it is essential to comprehension.

Michelle
Exactly. I love that. It shows how background knowledge is so connected to vocabulary also.

Sara
Yeah, so it’s like we know vocabulary is important. We know that like, this is something that we need to focus on with our students. But how do we actually acquire vocabulary, right? Like we, we know our students need to learn words, we know that they need to have access to at least like 95 to 90% of the words to comprehend the text. But how do we actually go about acquiring vocabulary?

Michelle
Yes, so our brain acquires vocabulary in three different ways. So first, by hearing words in spoken language. So we acquire language in a rich variety of words, just direct conversations through read alouds, and even discussions. And I think about even in my role as a mom, I’m narrating everything all the live long day to my seven month old, or I’m pointing and naming at different objects we see in books or in the world. So just this oral communication. And this is that whole thing that, you know, reading is not natural process, but language is.

Michelle
The second way we’re acquiring new vocabulary is by reading words and texts, and researchers call this wide reading. But of course, this only happens when students become literate. So there’s also a Matthew effect here, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The voracious readers, they’re exponentially going to expand their lexicons by gobbling up a variety of texts, while the readers who struggled don’t encounter the same experiences.

Michelle
So thankfully, there’s a third way we can acquire language to level the playing field. And that’s by being taught words explicitly. And we as teachers, we can deliver explicit and intentional instruction through targeted vocabulary lessons teaching word meanings, word parts, word relationships, and that not only support students vocabulary growth, but it also equips them with word learning strategies to independently discover and learn new words.

Michelle
So while hearing, reading and being explicitly taught words, they’re like the pathways to acquiring new vocabulary. One thing we could do to make the pathway more like a super fast express way, is to make the experience multi sensory. So we know that the brain fires off when we’re utilizing the senses. And oftentimes, we hear the word multi sensory when we talk about phonics instruction, and our minds immediately go to hair gel and shaving cream.

Michelle
And multi sensory means that we’re engaging more than one sense simultaneously. So we could think about how you learned the word sweet, right? You experienced it, maybe you had your hands in some coarse sugar as you made some sticky cookie dough from scratch. Or maybe you’ve smelled some freshly baked confections at a bakery, or maybe you licked a soft serve ice cream cone covered in rainbow sprinkles. And maybe your mouth is watering and craving some dessert. This is multi sensory, the more senses we’re using when we’re making meaning of a word, the more of an impact it has on our understanding.

Sara
I love that. And I think just so many things that you said how it’s such a sort of like a conundrum, right? Like, in order for our students to understand texts, they need to have a strong vocabulary, but like they develop their vocabulary by reading more. And so it’s this whole like we need to constantly I think this is one of the reasons why I love Scarborough’s reading rope is that our instruction is not a checklist, right?

Sara
We need to constantly be building up students vocabulary and their word recognition and their comprehension. So that way, throughout our instruction, they’re constantly growing in all aspects of literacy. Because as we can see here, it’s like vocabulary is essential for comprehension. Okay, so you mentioned briefly about how you know, we acquire vocabulary, but I know you sort of nerd out over the research. So can we talk a little bit deeper specifically about vocabulary and the brain?

Michelle
Yes, nerding out is my favorite. So if you’ve taken any science of reading trainings on word recognition in the past, you’ve likely seen a visual of the left hemisphere of the brain where reading takes place. And there’s these three main processing systems that end up holding these three essential lexicons are storage systems that make reading possible.

Michelle
So we have this orthographic processor, and it’s taking in the letter strings of the words we see. And then there is this bridging piece that takes those letter strings on over to something called the phonological processor, which is holding the sounds and pronunciations of those letter strings. And all the while we’re triggering the meaning processor, which is storing our semantic lexicon to make sense of the words that we’re trying to read. So these are all big words I know. So I’m gonna break it down a little more to make it more digestible, especially since this is all audio.

Michelle
So we have this orthographic lexicon and it’s basically a stored system in the brain of all our individual words spelling’s including all the words we know by sight. And David Kilpatrick, he estimates that the mature skilled reader like you and me and your listeners, you can instantly recognize anywhere from 30,000 to 70,000 words. And this is our sight word bank of all the words we can read and likely spell accurately and effortlessly.

Michelle
So then our phonological lexicon is then the brain storage system for all the word pronunciations we know. So basically, all the words that we know the sounds of, and then our semantic lexicon is the brain stored system consisting of all the meanings we know. So essentially, if I see the letters, L, I, G, H, T, which is orthographic. I know they’re connected to the sounds, l igh t, which is phonological. And I think of the meaning of that word, which is semantic.

Michelle
And depending on how deeply we know a word, our brain might trigger multiple meanings of that word. So this will also depend on if we read a word in isolation, or in context. So your listeners can play along here. If I say the word light in isolation, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

Sara
Well, since I’m your only listener, right now, the first thing that comes to mind is like the sun like the bright like actual light.

Michelle
Yeah. And you can think of light like the sun or light, like a light bulb, or like, like the lamp. But can you think of another meaning of light?

Sara
A feather, like something that’s lightweight.

Michelle
Exactly something that isn’t heavy. And maybe there is another right? So this is an isolation. But if we’re reading a word in context, the really cool nerd out brain science part, our brains gonna logically select the meaning that makes most sense first in that scenario, which is pretty cool.

Michelle
So if I was to say, turn on the light, here, light is a noun representing that electrical object to use to produce some kind of brightness, right, your brain goes to that semantic meaning first. If I was to say her luggage was as light as a feather, here, our brains are automatically thinking of light as that adjective, meaning not heavy. And if I was to say he’s going to light a fire, so we can make s’mores. Here, our brain is triggered to pull the meaning of light as a verb or an action word.

Michelle
So right away, context is important. And interestingly, this word has multiple meanings. And there’s a fancy term out there called polysemous.

Sara
Ooh, that’s a fun word.

Michelle
When a word has more than one meaning or sense, we can refer to as polysemous. And interestingly, the majority of the words in our English language are considered polysemous. There’s multiple meanings. There’s several nuances to them. So context is always key to triggering that correct meaning. And so when we think about these three processors in the brain, while it seems like each of these processors are triggered automatically, and all of this reading happening is happening simultaneously. There’s actually a chronology to them.

Michelle
So first, we’re taking in the letters, we’re translating them to the sounds, and then we think about meaning, and how can we gauge if a word is truly known? When all those three things are in place, and then the result is comprehension. And as we learn more and more words, our brain is then sorting these words into different categories.

Michelle
So while the act of reading happens on that left hemisphere, vocabulary is actually stored in both hemispheres all over the brain, in these little filing systems everywhere. And there’s like a filing cabinet for words that deal with people and another for words that deal with numbers and measurements, and so on. So if this fascinates you, Google a video called the Brain Dictionary. And you can see how the words are grouped by meaning all over your brain. It’s really cool.

Sara
I am. I’m going to do that as soon as we get done with this conversation, because I’m so curious about that. All of this is so fascinating to me, and one it just makes me be so appreciative of like the human body and how our brain works, because it’s like, you know, when you said it’s like, we can automatically like, retrieve and recognize 30,000 to 70,000 words, which is nuts.

Sara
It’s like, you know, and I know it’s like, we aren’t ever going to explicitly teach every single word to students, but just the fact that our brains can pick up on automatically recognize those, both from like spelling and pronunciation and meaning, that’s so much information that our brain gets to store and then provide that to us when we need it in terms of comprehension. So I love hearing all of that. And I know my listeners well as well.

Sara
So even though the brain is like, super interesting, and I feel like we could talk more about this, I also know that you know, teachers as they hear this, they’re like, Okay, vocabulary is really important. I need to spend more time on it, I want to make it more of a focus.

Sara
So can we share some really practical things that teachers can do? And I know you have a list of 10 tips and activities for practical application, which is just going to make this episode filled with so much value. That can we kind of go through those and talk about what can teachers practically do in the classroom to focus on and build vocabulary for their students?

Michelle
Yeah, so now it’s time for the fun stuff. So gone are the days where it’s, here are your words, look them up in the dictionary and memorize the definitions, right?

Sara
I think that’s why I hated vocabulary. Because I was like, What is the point of like, it’s like five words, every week, they had a quiz on Friday, they never remember them beyond that quiz. And I was like, it just didn’t make sense to me.

Michelle
So I’m gonna share 10 tips that you can use to just breathe new life into your vocabulary practices. So my first tip is when we’re introducing words, it’s simply to utilize visuals, and ideally real life photographs. So remember how we talked about the importance of making vocabulary instruction, multi sensory? We can’t necessarily touch, taste or smell every word, and especially in a classroom setting, but we can visualize words.

Michelle
And here we’re pairing our auditory by hearing the word with the visual by seeing a representation of that word to make the meanings stickier in the brain. And sometimes vocabulary words aren’t concrete objects, right? So for these more nuanced tier two words, we can find images that represent a word in a particular context.

Michelle
So for example, for a word like astounding, maybe I can find an image of a person making a shocked face as they watch someone do a backflip, right. And the wonderful thing is, we can pull beautiful images straight from Google or Canva. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy.

Sara
I love that. And I think too even just like how quick it is for teachers in just a few minutes, you could be like, Okay, what are my words that I want to focus on and find an image for it. And I know you mentioned the whole, like, multi sensory thing. And I feel like this is just such an easy way to bring in one of our senses to help make a connection to that word.

Michelle
So my tip number two, it involves writing. So now in a traditional vocabulary instruction, we might say, here’s this word you just learned now use it in a sentence. But what’s the problem with that? For a vocabulary word like challenge, we’d get a sentence. That is a challenge. For a vocabulary word, like sluggish, we’ve got a sentence, he is sluggish.

Sara
I can totally remember my students doing things like this, because it’s like, you’re right. They would they they don’t. I think it’s hard for them when they’re first learning words to use it in a sentence like that.

Michelle
Yeah. So rather than having students use words in a sentence, we can provide students with sentence stems. And this will encourage students have no other choice but to use the word that in context. So for challenge, we might use the sentence stem, she was faced with a challenge when fill in the blank. For sluggish we might pose he felt sluggish when blank. So it just encourages students to really internalize the meaning and when that word would be used appropriately.

Sara
I love sentence stems. And I feel like it just helps give our students confidence to in this case, use the vocabulary words correctly, but I also love it from like a writing perspective, because we’re helping our students you know, we’re setting them up for success to write a correct sentence and an often cases a complex sentence, which is hard for students. So I love that the sentence stems can help both vocabulary and writing simultaneously.

Michelle
Yeah, everything’s connected. So tip number three is to utilize semantic mapping. And when we have students create a semantic map, we’re looking at all the different facets of a word. So some potential semantic fields we can have students dig into might be definitions or parts of speech, maybe pictures or symbols, multiple meanings, shades of meanings, synonyms, antonyms, examples, non examples, the works.

Michelle
And while graphic organizers or Frayer models, they can be super helpful in this scenario. The main objective here is just to explore a word deeply. So we don’t always have to feel limited to an organizer. Semantic mapping can be done in partnerships or in small groups or even in whole class with thoughtful conversations. And that can be done without the papers sometimes.

Michelle
We can consider even creating games where you toss a ball to someone, and they have to give a synonym, toss the ball to someone else and they have to get the word in context and so on, you could just bring that concept of semantic mapping to life.

Sara
Well, and I think that’s such a good like, I love that reminder that not everything has to have paper attached to it, or everything has to be like a pre printed piece of paper, like, you know, all these examples could just be done orally, or it’s like, have students grab a sticky note or a space in their journal, you know, I feel like having a quick activity like this can also help teachers when they’re like, we’ve got that awkward seven minutes, like, what are we going to do? Let’s dig into a word.

Sara
And I always try to encourage teachers, I know literacy teachers so often feel like crunched for time. But it’s so important, I think, to recognize and look for opportunities where you can do things like let’s expand and build vocabulary in other subjects outside of literacy. And I love doing semantic mapping when it’s like you’re learning math vocabulary, or like, you know, content specific words in science and social studies, because that’s a great opportunity to build their vocabulary. And also get them familiar with this idea of, you know, semantics mapping and digging into some of those deeper aspects of, of word study.

Michelle
I love that. Yeah. Tip number four is to involve comparing and contrasting, and this one is big. So when it comes to deepening vocabulary, comparing and contrasting one word with another is not only beneficial, but it’s critical if we want to develop precise language.

Sara
Okay, this is like bringing me back to like the GRE study days when they had like the word analogies is this like where we’re headed with this?

Sara
So we know those tier two words that we call those are precision words, because they’re so so so precise in naming a particular feeling or mood or what have you.

Sara
So remember, when we talked about those brain categories, I think back to when my older daughter who’s almost four, she was learning how to speak. And initially, every insect she saw, she called it a bee, until her brain identified enough distinguishing features between one bug to the next to call other insects, ants, or ladybugs, or flies and such. And now, even as an almost four year old, we’re working on her concept of yesterday.

Michelle
So she uses the term yesterday to mean anytime that’s in the past. So her birthday was yesterday, we went to the aquarium yesterday. And remember, yesterday, we went to Target, right?

Sara
Yesterday was always a good day for her if that’s why it’s not a bad way to live.

Michelle
But essentially, it’s her recall of a time in the past. So we’re working on, you know, comparing, contrasting, adding distinguishing features, to her time words, to understand that it really means the day before today. And these are simple examples. But the same holds true for when our students can see the idiosyncrasies and nuances between words like sad and sorrowful, right? One is just more intense, you might use it in a different context or different situation.

Michelle
So comparing and contrasting doesn’t always have to be in relation to synonyms and antonyms. either. So in the classroom setting, we can do activities where we can see if we can find a connection between two seemingly unrelated vocabulary words.

Michelle
So perhaps, we had the vocabulary words, obscure and indignant. And we can compare and contrast, you know, juxtapose the words against each other and see, is there any relations we can make between those words? And perhaps, a student would say, the boy was indignant, or angry or annoyed, that the information he was hunting for seemed to be so obscure or unclear. So it’s just giving students opportunities to see words in relation to each other that aren’t always so clearly related.

Sara
Yes, I love this. And I’m like, this is such a higher level task for students. And I think it’s so good to do this with I mean, I was gonna do with all students, but it’s just like, I can see how this, this specific activity would really sort of force students to think very deeply about a word and help them move beyond you know, so often, when we’re introducing where it’s kind of the example you gave earlier, it’s like he is sluggish. You know, this is a challenge, like when they have to really think about the connection between the words that aren’t usually connected, it’s really going to force them to think about like the meaning and the usage of those words.

Michelle
Exactly. And we can even do this with morphology in mind. Sometimes I like using word sorts for this purpose, but we can look at words like pre heat, preview preschool, and talk about what all these words have in common. And as students are learning affixes or roots, they can sort words that have those units talk about what’s going on how the morphine contributes to the overall meaning of the word.

Sara
I am loving all of these activities, and ultimately, it’s just making me wish that I could go back in the classroom and redo my vocabulary instruction because it would have been so much better. What other tips do you have? I love hearing these ideas.

Michelle
Tip number five is to assist students in creating word networks in their brains. So here we can think of the concept of using word webs, right word webs are like the baby to comparing and contrasting, because remember that act of comparing and contrasting helps us be more precise with our language to find that perfect word for that particular scenario.

Michelle
So we could do this from a morphological standpoint, I always say with morphology in mind, if you teach one vocabulary word, you actually teach 10. Because if I learn the word to enthuse, I’m creating this word network in my brain of now I know enthused, enthusiasm, enthusiast, enthusiastic, right. And so we can use comparing and contrasting to create a word network of related words that are nuanced, also, or slightly different.

Michelle
And then these instances, it’s helpful to do activities that focus on shades of meaning with synonyms, ranging in intensity. So for example, with that word, enthusiastic, I can create a word web with words like thrilled, excited, passionate, or even zealous. And then another spin on it is to have one end of the spectrum be an antonym.

Michelle
So in this case, a good word to stick here might be unconcerned, disinterested or apathetic. And there’s always those fun activities like the pain starts from Home Depot, students can create their own shades of meaning puzzles and trade them with a classmate, they can talk about the puzzles, match them have rich conversations about why they thought a certain word was a better fit in a certain spot along the continuum.

Sara
I always have so much fun teaching shades of meaning, because I feel like it helps students like you were talking about earlier, really find that specific word that they want to use, especially in your writing. And again, as you’re talking about all of this, it’s like those activities that focus on the shades of meaning are gonna help students build their vocabulary.

Sara
But it’s like as their vocabulary grows, and they have this huge bank of words that have similar meaning but slightly different. Like, that’s just going to make their writing so much stronger, because they’re going to be so much more specific and precise with their word choice when they’re writing. So, again, it’s like I just, I love how everything in literacy literacy connects. And I think if anything like it should feel so encouraging to teachers, when you take time to focus on vocabulary, you’re also going to have an impact on comprehension, and writing, and all of these other things that we want our students to do well, so love, love that activity.

Michelle
So tip number six is to utilize effective questioning and prompting with our students. So this can be done by having students generate contexts or scenarios from real life or from your read aloud, or from something they’ve recently read.

Michelle
So for example, you might engage your students by asking them, what would make someone say that’s ambitious? Or maybe where else in the read aloud was the main character ambitious? So students aren’t regurgitating definitions here, but they’re encouraged to talk about the word with their classmates.

Michelle
And also with our questioning and prompting, we can utilize what they call effective associations for words that clearly have positive or negative connotations. So this is when we can tap into gestures like thumbs up, thumbs down, or call in response, like yay or nay. And these can be for words, like I said, that have this clear, positive negative connotation like lavish yay, devious, nay, deliberate. Yay, notorious, nay. So this just furthers discussion to deepen understanding. And we always, always, always just want to ask why to extend that conversation.

Sara
I love the why questions, it just takes whatever you’re doing and makes it that much, that much richer. Again, these are great.

Michelle
Alright, tip seven is to set up an interactive vocabulary word wall with the words you’re pulling from your read aloud, or with a tier two words that your curriculum recommends. And when I say interactive, I mean interactive. So this should have wall power and not just be wallpaper.

Sara
Oh, I love that phrase. Oh my gosh, I want to use that for everything. wall power, not wallpaper. Oh my gosh, I am like, I love that. That needs to be like a mug offered to all teachers, okay, like.

Michelle
So we can have students arrange words in groups. Perhaps they’re sorting columns by words that have similar parts of speech, perhaps or grouping words by positive and negative connotations. Perhaps they are attaching yarn or string to draw connections between words. Like we said comparing contrasting is that big whammy one, as they’re talking about them.

Michelle
And like you mentioned before, it doesn’t have to live in the reading realm, right interactive vocabulary word walls are fantastic in the content areas too. So we can take cards off the wall and play heads up vocabulary style. We can give students a card have them walk around until they find a buddy to pair up with. And think back to some of the categories I shared with you with semantic mapping, have students compare and contrast a pair of words and have their own justification about them.

Michelle
And think about what a powerful way this involves students in discussing words with one another, thinking about what they mean and utilizing them in speech in this game like task.

Sara
I love that. And seriously, I’m like wall power, not wallpaper. But I think again, like how, how great for teachers and for students to have this thing that is up on your wall, that then becomes a very significant part of your lessons. And all of those things you shared, you know, it’s like an easy game, like heads up with the words.

Sara
My kids would love to play that game, but it’s like, let’s make it more intentional and bring in vocabulary words, as opposed to like the random words that would pop up on the iPad or the iPhone, simple things that teachers can do that are fun for students and teachers as well.

Michelle
Exactly. So now I like to call my next three tips bonuses, because essentially, it’s less about instruction and more about just promoting word consciousness in your environment. So tip eight is to utilize mature language in your classroom, where students are simply exposed to interesting words throughout the day. And a real quick aside, I’m not sure if you snag the newest Shifting the Balance book geared for upper elementary.

Sara
It’s so good, fantastic.

Michelle
And I have a dear connection with Dr. Katie Cunningham. Now through my cousin in law, James, who is one of her undergraduate students in his teacher prep program. So Katie Cunningham is as kind and joyful as she is brilliant and knowledgeable and her contributions to the science of reading community through her everyday work as a college professor. And now as a co author of Shifting the Salance, they’re absolutely noteworthy.

Michelle
So in Shifting the Balance, Cunningham, Birkins, and Yeast, they have an entire chapter entitled recommitting to vocabulary instruction. So that would be a fabulous read after this podcast episode. But one interesting tidbit, I want to share from that chapter is some pretty fascinating research about sophisticated vocabulary and text versus conversation.

Sara
So they break down the numbers. But really, in newspapers, newspapers have three times as many rare words in use than a conversation with college educated adult chatting with friends. So the bottom line is, we’re more apt to find rich vocabulary words in print than we do in conversation.

Michelle
And the thing is, our language is colloquial, right. It’s casual and conversational. It’s if we want to expose students to interesting words, and provoke rich conversations, it doesn’t happen by accident, it has to be intentional. So instead of saying, line up at the door, perhaps you say, Please form a queue in an orderly manner. Instead of find a seat on the rug, perhaps you say kindly assemble on a rug along the perimeter, right?

Michelle
I suggest finding a handful of commands that maybe you use regularly, and then simply utilizing a synonym regularly for a while. And after a while, you’re you’ll notice your students using that word too. And perhaps then, even changing up your commands and choosing some new fancy words.

Michelle
And I still remember one of my elementary teachers, she always told us to hang up our satchels on our hook, instead of our backpacks. And then I had a high school teacher, she always used the term facetious when she was asking someone if they were being sarcastic. And as you can see, these kinds of things stuck with me. It’s like with you. Yeah, and they stick with our kids.

Sara
That is one of the things that I did when I taught fourth grade, I always tried to use big words, and my students would be like, what does that mean? You know, and I’m like, well, let’s figure it out. Let’s think about the context of all this. But there was like, you use such big words. They’re like, You’re making my brain hurt. But I’m just like, no, like, you need to be exposed to adult words, you know, more sophisticated words.

Sara
And that it does require a little bit of intention for teachers, but I love your suggestion, how it’s like, think about the commands that you’re giving to students. And can you find a more sophisticated synonym, you know, it’s like everyday teachers ask their students to line up everyday, they ask them to hang up their backpacks everyday, they ask them to, you know, put their name on a paper or whatever it is. So it’s like, can we come up with some more sophisticated words for those simple commands just to expose our students to vocabulary? I love that.

Michelle
Yeah. Tip number nine is to infuse vocabulary into your morning meeting or your brain break. And I know not every upper elementary class may have morning meeting. But after the pandemic, I know a lot of districts have moved towards implementing just more social emotional time in the classroom. So wouldn’t it be fun to just pose vocabulary based conversation starters into our social emotional time?

Michelle
So for example, we might ask our students would a surprise party make you feel elated? Or bashful? And why? Right? Maybe we’re going to entertain students with a this or that or would you rather like would you rather plunge into sludge or a stroll through smog and why? And these too they can spark just fun conversations or even turn into journal writing if you want to extend it that way.

Sara
That’s so fun. And I’m like, What would which one would I rather do? What did you say plunge into sledge or stroll through smog? Yeah, I think I would want to stroll through the smog I think. Rolling with you. Awesome. All right, what’s your last tip here? These have been amazing.

Michelle
Alright, my 10th and final tip for today is to just make word awareness into this friendly competition. So in the book Bringing Words to Life, Beck & McKeown, they call this being a Word Wizard. But I like the phrase word collector as a spin off of Peter Reynolds amazing read aloud, which by the way, is a fun book to launch vocabulary instruction.

Sara
Yes, we encourage our teachers to read that at the beginning of the year for that very reason.

Sara
Love that. So the goal is to create environmental word watchers. And this is where students can earn points when they hear or see one of their vocabulary words outside of the classroom. Like the student might come back. I overheard the word notorious on the news last night. But they can also earn points if they can describe a situation outside of the classroom, where the vocabulary word would fit. Like, my little sister was really insistent on what she wanted for dinner, all she wanted was chicken nuggets, and she wouldn’t eat until she got them. So they were able to describe insistent even though they didn’t hear the word insistent.

Michelle
And then, of course, you as the teacher, you can determine what students can earn with the points like preferential seating or lunch with the teacher, or with a buddy, or maybe a homework pass. super fun, super easy. So those are my 10 tips for practical application.

Sara
Those are amazing seriously, like so many good ideas. And, you know, I think the thing that’s great about them is so many of these don’t require a ton of prep work for teachers, they can be easily infused into a variety of contexts. And they all have such a big impact on helping students expand their vocabulary. So this episode seriously is pure gold. I know my teachers are going to absolutely love it.

Sara
Now, if my teachers want to continue to learn from you, because you have great things to share. I love following you on Instagram, because you seriously have the best your posts are always so informative. But if my audience wants to connect with you after this conversation and learn more from you, where’s the best place that they can find you online?

Michelle
Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram at @michelle_thecolorfulclassroom or on my website, Michelleandthecolorfulclassroom.com. I definitely look forward to hearing from your audience and connecting.

Michelle
And just a piece of advice. You don’t have to do it. All right, this just a menu of options. Find something that resonates with you. The end goal isn’t about memorizing definitions. The end goal is having students use vocabulary in the future, in their writing in their conversation. And to understand those words in their future reading. It’s all for a purpose. And if you have any questions, if you want to continue the conversation, reach out and I hope your listeners find this helpful.

Sara
This is awesome. And I know that all of the tips that you shared today will definitely help the teachers feel more confident and empowered and helping their students grow their vocabulary. So Michelle, I cannot thank you enough for coming on again. This has been delightful. So thank you for joining us and I look forward to having you on again in the future.

Michelle
Thank you.