The vast majority of my students demonstrate some underlying difficulty related to vocabulary. Therefore, I have been targeting vocabulary within the majority of my groups this past year.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom the biggest hurdle when creating materials or deciding how to work on vocabulary is target selection. Yes, we want to target tier 2 words but we all know picking words should be so much more than that.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom I wanted the words I targeted to be relevant to their curriculum and frequently occurring. I found this amazing resource called academic vocabulary for middle school students – research-based lists & strategies for key content areas.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Between this resource and vocabulary words I compiled while pushing into the classroom, I gathered a list of 100 words. Sixty of these vocabulary words are general, meaning they can be used across settings and content areas.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom then, I chose 10 frequently occurring words from each major content area (english language arts, science, social studies, math) to target as well.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

4. Might seem simple at first but are related to much more difficult curricular words. I love when my students start making connection between words they perceive as “easy” and words that they don’t understand in their textbooks.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom this happened with one of my students after we discussed the word “migrate” and how migr- is a root word that means “move”. They made the connection between “migrate” and “immigration” when that topic came up during a class discussion.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom awesome.

2. Affixes (prefixes, suffixes), derivational affixes (affix changes part of speech e.G. Joy-joyful), inflectional affixes (-s noun plural, -‘s noun possessive, -s verb present tense third person singular, -ing verb present participle/gerund, -ed verb simple past tense, -en verb past perfect participle, -er adjective comparative, -est adjective superlative)

cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Grammar – on every worksheet, your students will be expected to produce coherent sentences, definitions, and explanations containing increasingly difficult vocabulary words.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom what a meaningful way to target verb tenses and other grammar goals! If you look through the example pages, you’ll see tons of work that targets grammar goals including having your students increase their understanding of parts of speech and how words can often be used as either a noun or a verb depending on the context.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Word finding – I’ve seen huge (and I mean huge) gains with my students who demonstrate word-finding difficulties using this packet. Many of the worksheets challenge your students to think of synonyms for given words.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom some of the worksheets provide a sentence containing the target word and ask the student to swap it out for a synonym. This is amazing practice for some of our students who often cannot access a specific word when they want it!Cognitive learning theory in the classroom many of my students at the upper level are beyond working on describing words by category, color, and function and need practice recalling words using root words, prefixes, suffixes, verb conjugations, and more.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom useful books:

The entire packet is set up to increase your student’s metacognitive understanding of vocabulary and words in order to increase true progress and carryover.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom it lends itself perfectly to starting some amazing conversation with your students about words. My student’s minds were seriously blown when they realized how many definitions a simple word like “issue” can have.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom