May 22, 2024 • 38 mins
Vocabulary can be the catalyst for building reading comprehension skills.
Today we are exploring vocabulary instruction and how it ties to comprehension with K-12 curriculum integrator Abbey Behnke. In this episode, Abbey shares instructional strategies and activities to engage students in vocabulary learning. Plus, she’ll discuss how to incorporate vocabulary instruction into all subject areas, how to help multilingual learners build vocabulary, and how to address students’ use of digital language in the classroom.
Teachers in America profiles K–12 teachers across the country. Hear firsthand from the people who are shaping young lives in the classroom every day. If you or someone you know would be a good candidate for Teachers in America, please email us at shaped@hmhco.com.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Every single week I'm giving them all these different
word parts.
But why?
And so then, when I got myscience of reading background,
it just all clicked.
All the puzzle pieces kind offit together and I realized the
power of those word parts andthose morphemes and teaching
students those.
Once they had the phonemegraphing correspondences, the
(00:21):
number of words that they coulddecode expanded exponentially.
I saw the power in that, andvocabulary is the catalyst to
comprehension.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome to Teachers in America, where we celebrate
teachers and their lastingimpact on students' learning,
journeys and lives.
I'm Jen Carujo and I'm acontent producer at HMH.
During the school day, studentscome across numerous vocabulary
words in all subject areas.
What can we do to make surethese words stick?
Today, our host, noelle Morris,talks vocabulary building and
(00:52):
instruction with HMH teacherambassador and K-12 curriculum
integrator, abby Benke.
Abby shares instructionalstrategies to engage all
students in vocabulary learning.
Plus, she discusses howvocabulary is a catalyst for
building reading comprehensionskills.
Now let's get to the episode.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Welcome to Teachers in America, abby.
It's so great to finally get tohave you on the podcast, just
to give our listeners a littlebit of a heads up.
You and I go back three almostfour years now as being one of
our teacher ambassadors forTeachers Corner, so this episode
will be one of those specialones where you'll hear us
(01:32):
talking and learning a lot fromAbby, but also connecting and
sharing in the friendship andthe professionalism that has
grown over those three years.
So let's kick off, abby,sharing a little bit about you
and your role as a curriculumintegrator, because it's a
fascinating job title and I wantto know more about it.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay, so I work in Wisconsin.
I am a 4k through 12th gradecurriculum integrator, which
means that I help all of ourleaders, help our learners.
So, regardless of content area,I am their program support
person for everything.
So I work very closely with myteaching teams to help them
(02:16):
create consistent content.
We're working on the integrityof our curriculum across and
we're working on the learningprogression for our kids
throughout their entire timewith us in our district.
So my role is very busy andvery exciting and there's never
a dull moment.
I love every second.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I bet, because you naturally have always been one
of those teachers who makes allthe connections right from
pedagogy and theory to policy.
But one particular aspect ofreading and instruction,
specifically in the frame oflearning to read and continuing
(02:58):
to develop reading across gradelevels and discipline, is
vocabulary.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Why is vocabulary such a passion for you?
So when I was little, my familyand I used to go to the beach
all the time.
I grew up in Virginia and I wasjust so fascinated by marine
life, everything with the oceans, so I wanted to learn all the
things.
I ordered every scholastic bookfrom the book order, anxiously
waited for it to arrive andlearned as much as I possibly
could.
And throughout my time ofwanting to learn these things, I
(03:31):
realized that the more words Ilearned, the more I learned.
So I became really excitedabout that at a young age and I
started to realize, especiallyin science, that words had
common parts and that I couldfigure out new words if I just
figured out what this word partmeant.
And that was very enlighteningfor me and something that I've
taken into my role now, workingwith teachers across disciplines
(03:55):
.
It's the same basic,foundational skill of being able
to identify more themes andwords and find commonalities
that help students learn theircontent.
So that's been a big focus forme this year.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Now I know as a teacher ambassador.
Some of the initial teachercreated content you have
provided for Teachers Cornerwere model lessons on vocabulary
and overall strategies.
Do you have specific go-tostrategies, that one that you
used weekly, sometimes evendaily, that that also now you're
(04:32):
transferring and helpingteachers across disciplines use
in their classroom?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yes.
So incorporating movement orgamifying a lesson is completely
ingrained in who I am as aneducator.
My husband's a Phi Ed teacher,so it's just part of who we are.
So I've done a lot moreresearch recently on the
attention span of our learnersand I'm noticing that it's
decreasing every year.
So the more that we canincorporate movement and games,
we're going to keep them moreengaged.
(04:59):
So designing intentionalopportunities for students to
play a game while they'rebuilding content knowledge
really builds that retention.
So in the upper grade some ofthe games I like to play are an
affix game, where I'll give thema root word and then they have
to go and build a new word basedon that, using different
(05:21):
prefixes, suffixes and wordparts.
So for example, let's say Igive them bio, Then they could
build biography, biologicalautobiography, et cetera, and so
the teams kind of work togetherto see who can have the biggest
list of words connected to bio.
Some of the games that I liketo play with my lower grades was
a vocab go fish.
So I would have the vocab wordsand some of the definitions and
(05:44):
they had to ask their partnerfor the definition of a word and
then they would build theirpairs.
Another one I like isvocabulary bingo with
definitions or tic-tac-toe Justanything that's an easy game for
kids to learn that you can usevocabulary with.
One of my favorites is puttingthe spin on headbands and having
(06:05):
the word you know, up on top ofthe kids' heads and then the
other kids have to describe theword.
And these are things that canbe done in any content area,
really any age kids that arejust engaging and it keeps them
on their toes, but they'relearning at the same time, and
really the biggest goal is thatstudents learn how to
communicate orally aroundvocabulary words what does that
(06:26):
word mean?
And being able to translatethat in an oral fashion is
really going to help them foryears to come.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
How do you establish that expectation of
collaboration and supportthinking through the various
levels of learners that you haveall the way from your?
I want to answer everything toyour.
Please do not ever call on meor make eye contact.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
So there's uncomfortable comfort and I
think that's really importantfor students to learn.
If we practice sharing ourvoices in a safe and helpful
environment, then we'll learn toshare our voices where it's
uncomfortable.
So I do my best to establishroutines and systems in my room
that support every learner.
So, no matter who's sharing, wevalue what they have to say and
(07:17):
the more that you value whatthey have to say and you
appreciate it, the more they'reinclined to share.
Students have to be givenopportunities to engage.
So one of my things that Iabsolutely believe in
wholeheartedly is ask don't ortask don't ask.
So getting kids involved withusing whiteboards or using
(07:37):
interactive learning that canhappen on many different
platforms.
That gives kids the ability toshare their voice and eventually
they get confident enough toshare it with others.
I believe firmly in accountabletalk, especially with vocabulary
.
Giving them sentence stems.
It's going to help them explainwhat they learned using content
area words.
It's just so powerful for kidswhen they feel like their voice
(08:00):
has value and when you can dothat in the classroom, it
translates into other parts oftheir life.
You know we hear so much aboutstudents who need to speak up
for other students who might bebeing bullied or something.
Those interactions don't happenif those students don't feel
like confident speakers.
And when kids have thevocabulary to be a confident
speaker, they're more apt tostand up for people who don't
(08:23):
have those skills.
That's the kind of environmentI'm trying to nurture in my room
.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Hey teacher friends.
If you're an HMH user, did youknow you have access to
Teacher's Corner on Ed Includedwith every HMH program?
Teacher's Corner is a communityof teachers, learning experts
and coaches gathered in oneplace to support you with a new
kind of professional learningbite-sized, teacher-selected and
teacher-driven, with on-demandsessions, lesson demonstrations,
(08:51):
program support and practicalresources.
Teacher's Corner lets youchoose how you interact with our
content.
I like to think about it asinspiration on demand.
You know, when you think aboutyour years across and the grade
levels that you've taught, andnow that even interacting more
(09:12):
with the middle school agelearner.
Do you have a favorite lessonor moment with vocabulary where
you kind of saw yourself in themfiguring it out and getting
like, oh, this is prettypowerful.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
So we all live for those light bulb moments.
I don't know an educator thatdoesn't.
Everybody loves them.
So how do you get there to alight bulb moment?
So I think it's important welook at prior knowledge and then
vocabulary builds thatbackground knowledge.
It's the other part ofScarborough's rope.
You know, you take a littlelearner from their decoding
skills and you start expandingtheir vocabulary and all of a
(09:51):
sudden the world is a whole newplace for them.
So it's really interesting tome how, um, regardless of a
multilingual learner or someonewho's been a native speaker for
a long time how vocabulary isthe catalyst that brings them to
comprehension.
And so you live for thoselittle moments where they get
there and they finally get thatcomprehension, but you forget
(10:13):
that it's something as small asvocabulary.
That was the bridge that gotthem there.
So when we skip over vocabularyinstruction or don't take it as
seriously, it's like we'reslamming the door on their
opportunity to understandsomething new.
Not everything has to it asseriously.
It's like we're slamming thedoor on their opportunity to
understand something new.
Not everything has to be asexplicit, but vocabulary should
be very explicitly taught.
So I do have some strategiesthat I love to use for
(10:34):
explicitly teaching vocab and Iknow Noelle has seen this many
times in live events.
One of my favorites is MirrorsUp.
I love Mirrors Up.
I learned about a conferenceprobably 10 years ago.
I use it all the time.
You've been on a live event,you definitely see me do it.
So it's it's helping us becomelittle wordsmiths.
So we I will say mirrors up andthe students will mirror my
(10:57):
actions and I'll say the word onthe definition and then we'll
come up with an action that wewant to do for that word.
And every time we encounterthat word that week we'll stop
and I'll say bears up, and thenwe'll say the vocab word, we'll
say the definition and we'll dothe action.
It's incredible, kids that I'vehad two and three years ago
will come up to me and if I saya word, they still know the
(11:18):
action for some of these wordsand it's so powerful but it
helps them understand the powerof vocabulary and how it can
help them.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
How do you come up with your action?
Well, let's backtrack First.
How did you gather yourconfidence?
Because there is something whenyou're in front of 10-year-olds
, 11-year-olds, there's adifference you have to bring to
your teaching.
In my, in my opinion, becausethey have a lot more ways to
(11:51):
interact back with you Say, likeMs Morris, what are you doing?
Like, what is this?
Mirrors up.
So let's go back to you know,the first time you were doing
this one, how did you get yourconfidence to be like mirrors up
?
Time you were doing this one,how did you get your confidence
to be like mirrors up?
Because when you watch you inaction, it's like mirrors up.
And then you know you gothrough the routine, you go
(12:12):
through the motion and then yougo on to the next word.
So let's help the audienceunderstand how you built that
into a routine, got yourselfconfident.
And I'm going to give one morechallenge to you how do you
decide what motions you're goingto do?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
So I kind of have an expression like let's make fun
of this.
So the students know when I'mgoing to make fun of my own
failure.
There are some words that justdo not have an action that
honestly lends itself reallywell.
Then there's others that do.
But I did.
I definitely learned trial anderror.
(12:51):
So I would tell them let's trythis.
Uh, mirrors up.
So some classes do the mirrorsup with their hands both up, but
other classes were like thatlooks like stop.
So I would spin around and domirrors up as a spin.
Um, you know, I kind of let theclass decide that and they get
to pick what I look goofy doingand be okay with looking
(13:12):
ridiculous in front of your kids.
Be okay with failure If youdon't, if something doesn't go
well.
I bombed that.
You guys I'm real sorry Totallybombed that.
They have to see what it lookslike to not do something well
and if you're having fun with it, they will have fun with it.
I've done this activity witheighth graders recently and they
were all into it.
(13:32):
We had some really unique wordsin our diary of Anne Frank
study with the Holocaust, and soit was a great opportunity for
us For the actions.
Typically a kid or two willcome up with some of them and
some of the words just don't.
And then we just shrug ourshoulders.
This word doesn't really havean action that goes with it, so
we just shrug our shoulders andthat helps us.
(13:53):
It's just the act of doingsomething physical to connect to
word meaning.
That multimodal approach tolearning really helps solidify
it for the kids.
And once we're into our textand we annotate, we stop, we do
mirrors up and we annotate withthe word meaning that we come up
with Like this is ourdefinition, this is what it
means to us, and then we writethat in our, in our text, and
(14:15):
that's really helped us.
But yeah, with the eighthgraders, they had a blast with
it too.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
I like that because you can shrug, because maybe you
don't know an action right now.
You know you need to keepmoving on.
Maybe an action will come asyou get more into the content
and the context and and grow theword you know and and word
families.
But I I like how you put that.
Let's not let that inhibit us.
You know, at least we'rehearing ourselves say the word.
(14:41):
In that moment you couldprobably flip to also say let's
do the syllabication.
Is there a you know?
Is there a prefix or suffix?
And you can, you know, add thatchallenge in.
Do you have a time when you'vebeen working with teachers in
your new role and how are youhelping them get comfortable?
(15:05):
Are you doing things in PLC orat grade level teams?
Are you going in and modeling?
What's your approach tosupporting teachers who are
really learning these vocabularystrategies to implement in
their classroom?
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So it's a combination of all of that.
Actually, I started withmeeting with grade level teams
and I started out with mathactually because that was what
was launching at our elementaryschool.
So math vocabulary and how dowe build that ability with our
learners Because so much of mathis that challenging vocabulary
and so we worked as teams toidentify what those words would
(15:45):
be that our students needed tolearn for the unit.
And then each teacher kind ofhas their own twist on how they
engage students.
Like mirrors up works for me.
Other teachers might use likethe four square approach where
they do the posters and it's notquite so physical.
I really work with the teachersto help them understand the
pathway, the learningprogression, like what kids
might have learned about thisword previously, that they might
(16:06):
have prior knowledge, and thenhow do you activate their
background knowledge?
So much math has really coolstories, like why we have a
pound and why we have inches andfeet instead of the metric
system.
So if you can find a story thatsupports a word with its origin
, kids are just so excited aboutthat.
They want to know which King'sfoot they used.
So it's just anytime you canmake learning a new word an
(16:29):
exciting experience for the kids, the better off you are.
So I do work with PLCs, I dowork with teams and I do work
with individual teachers so thattheir vocab routine fits their
style.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah, so much better than the 1970s, 80s.
Please go to the glossary,write these words and the
definition and hopefully,through osmosis, you'll, you'll,
you'll know it, until you hitthat SAT and you're like I think
I did this all wrong.
Let's, let's talk about, let'stalk about, multilingual
(17:02):
learners.
What are you, what?
What is going with yourdistrict and growth of
multilingual learners, thelanguages spoken, and what are
some of your approaches that youare putting into place to
support those learners?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Well, I start with my teaching teams and
understanding that my teachingteams are just now learning the
science of reading.
We're just going through thatprocess.
So for them, you know, in manyclassrooms many teachers say
English as this is the languagethat we understand.
But when we start to look atword origins, we realize that
language goes across vocabulary,root meanings, go across
(17:42):
languages, across cultures andacross time.
And when we start to appreciatethat we can have a new
appreciation for what ourmultilingual learners are
bringing to our classroom.
It is so neat when you see aSpanish cognate transfer into an
English root, when you valuewhat those learners are bringing
to their classroom and thoselearners don't feel at a deficit
(18:04):
, they feel at an advantagebecause now they're going to be
a multilingual person that canparticipate in many, many more
spaces than just a one languagespeaker.
When they see that advantageand you start to make those
connections, they're empowered.
And when the teachers have thatscience of reading background
and they can match phoneme tographeme and they understand
that learning process, then youbring your multilinguals in and
(18:26):
you help them understand.
All I have to do is match thesound to their symbol and I've
got it.
It's super empowering.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
So that's the, the lens that we work through is
that we're raising amultilingual generation oh, I
like that approach, um, and Ilike that thinking because then
and we've been talking onseveral episodes we've talked
about asset-based approach andflipping that from flipping that
(18:59):
, from thinking about anythingas a deficit, because we all
know there's gaps to fill.
But let's not think, you know,use the strengths and assets to
propel and accelerate withinthat gap and students starting,
like you, have a positive startto this year's learning and
getting them to understand whatthey know, why they know what
(19:22):
they know and how to apply it isbeneficial to them and to you
in the long run as a teacher.
You and I have talked in thepast about the power of
generative vocabulary.
In fact, you were one of theteachers that got me to really
go in and look at generativevocabulary within our program
(19:47):
into reading and really thinkabout it and understanding.
You're like, no well, this is10 minutes that you must do.
It's like one of the mostreturn, strongest 10 minutes
return on your investment.
What?
How did you approach?
I mean, we've already heardyour passion and love for
morphology and thinking aboutthat, but over the last three
years, how have you transformedyour thinking around gender
(20:10):
vocabulary and putting moreemphasis on that, not just
within reading, but again acrossthe disciplines.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I think knowledge is power and at the beginning I
didn't have my science orreading training.
Seeing how a puzzle fittogether, that I wasn't sure yet
what the end result would looklike, because I really didn't
have that training led me to aspace where it's like, okay, why
am I doing this routine?
What is in it for the students?
Every single week I'm givingthem all these different word
(20:42):
parts, but why?
And so then when I got myscience of reading background,
it just all clicked.
All the puzzle pieces kind offit together and I realized the
power of those word parts andthose morphemes and teaching
students those.
Once they had the phonemegraphing correspondences, the
number of words that they coulddecode expanded exponentially.
(21:05):
I saw the power in that, andvocabulary is the catalyst to
comprehension.
So if they're understandingthese words, they're
understanding what they'rereading.
And then this year I'vetransformed a lot in
understanding author'sperspective, stepping from
interreading into intellect.
I really understand how muchwe're trying to help learners
(21:27):
understand the author'sperspective.
What lens is the author comingfrom when you start adding in
dialects and slang, academic,social languages, digital
language?
The kids are learning so manyaspects of words.
It's interesting to me tofigure out where do these words
come from?
So, according to the GlobalLanguage Monitor, a new word is
(21:49):
added to our language every 98minutes, which is approximately
14 words a day.
5,100 words a year.
How do kids keep up with this?
This is the fastest rate ofword creation ever.
It's incredible.
It's so exciting for our kids.
But with this explosion oflanguage, they're inundated with
this plethora of new vocabularyto rate they've never seen
(22:11):
before.
So to keep up with that, we, aseducators, have to help them
understand.
How do I engage with a new word?
Or this is a word I've known,but now it has six different
meanings.
How do I engage with that?
How do I decipher this?
And that's where we come in.
We start to help themdifferentiate between academic
language, social language,digital language.
(22:31):
When should I use this wordthat I've learned?
What's the right audience forthis word?
It helps them to understand howtheir voices can be heard and
who said that word.
What's their perspective?
How does this enter into theglobal stage?
All of those things are reallyexciting to me and really engage
with our kids.
I think they're interested init too.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, and that was I know what you and I talked,
because I was just like I wasgetting caught up on the term
even generative vocabulary and Iwas like, well, this is
morphology and semantics and itdoes lead and I think you're
doing such a wise move in thattransition that you've done
through you know, regardless ofwhat programs I mean it's
(23:16):
exciting to know that you'reusing into reading and you've
moved into into literature.
But bringing that connection toauthor's perspective, you know
craft, it goes into the author'scraft.
You know why that word in thatsentence at that, at that time,
that just takes the wholeanalytics and understanding
(23:36):
point of view and characterdevelopment, um, into a much
different place.
So we are like way past up inthe upper ends of the
scarborough rope.
But that's what you want to behappening.
And if you are thinking back onjust this, the, this whole
conversation that you and I'vehad, is it all is empowered by
(23:57):
knowing words and what wordsmean and how to deconstruct them
and make them.
I don't think I knew that wewere adding a new word every 98.
Did you say 98 minutes orseconds?
Minutes?
Yeah, I was like seconds We'vegot.
We have to have something elsehelping us get to but 98 minutes
(24:20):
like that's pretty amazing,cause I don't think I knew new
words were really added to ourlanguage until I was in college.
I don't.
I definitely did not have theseconversations when I was in
middle school and high school.
You had like a finite amount ofthings that you were learning,
(24:40):
not necessarily exploring.
Where do you, what do you allallow students to use in
classrooms to be able to havesuch access to just a vast array
of words and conversations andbackground knowledge building?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Something we do that's really important to us is
that where we use a word, whatdoes the word vetting process
look like?
So, when we encounter a newword, is this a word that I use
at school?
Is this a word that I just hearand know what it means?
Is this a word that I want touse and where do I use this word
?
All of those things you knowour kids have to do, and that's
(25:24):
a lot of mind mapping that ourlearners brains just have to be
trained how to do.
And when is it appropriate touse that word?
I mean, I remember when I waslittle and heaven forbid anyone
say any kind of inappropriateword at school.
Oh, my word, like you were inso much trouble.
And now, what constitutes aninappropriate word when kids are
given all these new words atthis rapid rate?
(25:46):
What makes that wordinappropriate?
Because now we're just changingappropriate words and changing
their meanings.
So helping learners see what'shappening in the world around
them and when do I use thesewords is really, is really
helpful.
So in the middle school setting, trust me that there are so
many new words used all the time, sometimes I don't even
(26:06):
understand what they're saying,so I'll stop and ask them you
know what did that mean?
I have no idea what you justsaid.
I know.
Please translate.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
And you have to stop, cause one day I, like a student
, was like I was walking downthe hall and they're like are
you supposed to be here?
And I had my, I had a badge on,I was supposed to be visiting.
And I was like, well, yes, andthey were like, cause, you know,
you look so sus, and I'm likewhat, what do I look like?
And they're like suspect, I'mlike, what I'm like?
(26:39):
I'm like, just, you know sweet,like little me, I have my badge
.
But it was just so funny Cause Ihe looked at me like I'm doing
what I'm supposed to, I'msupposed to ask anybody, I see,
but I was like what are these?
That?
Is that even a word?
And then, you know, I come homeand I'm like Hedy, is that word
like, according to us, motherand the Gen Z and Gen Alpha?
(27:03):
Yes, that's a word, becausethat's how we, we talk with each
other in our conversation.
I'm like, well then, wouldn'tthat be considered casual?
Like you know, cash?
And she's like don't try thismore, mom, it is casual.
So I think about that in theterms of are you going through
that process?
You going through that process?
(27:24):
Because in any, any curriculum,anytime you're, there's always
a plethora of words that youcould teach.
How are you narrowing down whatI mean?
Are you doing the same mindmapping on?
What words am I going toexplicitly teach?
(27:46):
What words can I coach on?
What words will they find incontext?
Speaker 1 (27:53):
What's your approach to planning and cutting down the
number of words that you teachat one time.
I love that we can get to aplace where we start to ask the
students and we start tocategorize words.
Words, we know, words even inour vocab list, you know come
with different curriculums.
What are some words that youhave prior knowledge of?
I mean, you've just heard it.
Which ones have you givenin-depth background knowledge on
(28:13):
?
We don't need to spend a lot oftime on that, but what words do
you genuinely need to decodeand we need to look for more
themes or we need to figure outwhat this word means.
And that's not that many wordsyou know when you're really
reading a text or a selection.
We're not.
We're going to be veryintentional with how we select
the words that we study and,once again, with kids, it's just
(28:36):
so important for them to knowwhen and how to use the words
that they're going to be using.
The text that they interactwith every day at school has
academic language, so we aregoing to have to do more
explicit vocabulary instruction.
But if they were to hand metheir phone and I would try and
read a conversation with theirfriend, they would need to
explicitly teach me.
So one of the most importantthings as an educator is always
(28:57):
to be a learner.
I asked an eighth grade studentlast week you know how was your
weekend?
And he's like oh, it was sotight I spent the time with my
shorty, came down from where Ihadn't.
Literally I was like I don'teven know what you're talking
about.
Can you please translate thisfor me?
When I got to the vocabularylesson, I told that student now
it's my time to translate foryou.
So we need each other in thisworld to be able to communicate,
(29:19):
and that's the ultimate goal isjust find your voice and share
it, but think about the audiencethat's going to receive it.
What kind of language do youneed to use for them?
So we both.
If I was trying to communicatewith a bunch of eighth graders
about my weekend, well then Iwould probably need to go seek
out the student to help me.
Having that symbiotic of likeyou help me, I help you, we're
both translating language whenwe use it, where we use it, how
(29:41):
we use it.
It just builds thatrelationship with students and
it really helps build theirvocabulary commitment.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
It just builds that relationship with students and
it really helps build theirvocabulary commitment.
Let's come back full circle.
So young Abby wants to be amarine biologist.
How did we go from marinebiologist to teaching?
Because we definitely see thepassion for words and language
(30:08):
has continued, but where in thejourney did we move from being a
marine biologist to teaching?
And tell me one to two thingsthat you love about being a
teacher you'll find this reallyinteresting.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
So when I was 15 years old, with my church group,
we went down to knock Patrick,jamaica, to a deaf campus for
children.
So we went down and we'rebuilding a facility for them,
for the learners there, and thenwe did a vacation Bible school
and it was an extremely humblingexperience because the children
at this campus were withouthearing and so for the first
time I really realized I can'tcommunicate with these children.
(30:48):
I never realized how powerfulwords were until I couldn't
communicate with someone else,and it was not a language
barrier.
I couldn't read what they weretelling me at all.
I couldn't use any of mybackground knowledge to
understand what they were sayingat all, and that's when I
realized the power of motion andunderstanding words and
studying their language, and atthat point I realized I really
(31:12):
wanted to learn more and teachother people about what I was
learning.
So the little children thatwere there that were speaking
sign language to me it was ahumbling experience to not be
able to communicate with someone, and I I feel very passionately
about our multilingual learnersbecause I understand what that
must feel like at the mostminute degree.
I want to make sure that kidsunderstand how to communicate
(31:35):
with people of all languages andand that's a very passionate
point for me that's when Iswitched from being a marine
biologist to being an educatorwhen I was 15.
Um, since then, it's just beenbeen a roller coaster ride.
I've taught all differentgrades.
You know, ended up meeting Noelin 2019, right before
pre-pandemic which kind ofcatapulted us into digital
(31:57):
learning.
You know we couldn't go intospaces.
So then we ended up on thesemodel lessons and really focused
on generative vocabulary and itwas one of the first first ones
I had and I loved that and Icontinued teaching.
I had a split class, differentgrade levels, and I feel like
I've experienced so much in theclassroom and now I'm just ready
(32:18):
to work with teachers andteaching teams and hopefully
empower them to do the samething in their rooms, to find
meaning and purpose and whatthey're doing.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
And I still love being in schools.
I still love seeing the kidsand, and I know, when you moved
into this new role, you, youlove the term curriculum
integrator, but I I remember yousaying to your you shared with
your principal I still want tobe like, known though as a
teacher, like.
That's extremely important tome.
I want to be able to, at anytime, go into a classroom and
model or teach or you know, letthat teacher see me um, which I,
(32:57):
I love and value myself andyou're, you're giving me such
memories and flashbacks to whereyou're like you know, noel,
what will this model lesson youknow be?
I'm like I don.
You know, noel, what will thismodel lesson you know be?
I'm like I don't know, abby,let's figure it out together,
cause we just got into thispandemic and I don't, I don't
know.
But I know that.
I know that we have to be outthere and we have to do
(33:18):
something.
And if I go back and look atour archives of some of our
initial model lessons, to the,to the ones now where you're
like in front of your screen andyou know you're modeling
exactly how you would do it in aclassroom with students, it's
pretty impressive, and so I havefirsthand knowledge that you
(33:41):
are a go-getter, you're a risktaker, you're a problem solver
and you are a true teacher toteacher.
Let's all help each other andbe in this together.
So I'm ending every podcastepisode this season with why
teaching?
And for you, I'm going to askwhy fourth grade?
(34:05):
And I'm going to then ask youto like why split classroom?
Because a lot of teachers aresometimes asked to do something
that you're like what, like why,and so I want you to take it
from both places.
Why teaching?
I want you to think about it asa fourth grade teacher, and I
(34:27):
also wanted you to think aboutit like why sometimes accept
challenges that are brought toyou.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
I love fourth grade.
It's such a fun time for thekids.
It's this pivotal moment beforethey reach middle school where
they're just old enough but nottoo old, they can have these
complex conversations just oldenough, but not too old, they
can have these complexconversations.
It also is a great launchingpoint for me.
You know I'm all about advocacyand I want the students to
advocate for themselves andothers, and there's no better
time than middle school.
(34:55):
You ask people all about theirexperiences in life.
Would you go back to middleschool?
Oh, I don't know.
So being able to set kids upfor that, that they have the
vocabulary they need, theconfidence they need to advocate
for themselves and others inthose situations in middle
school, it's just such a great,pivotal point to teach.
So if you haven't taught fourthgrade, I highly recommend it.
The split classroom all that isis just learners at different
(35:17):
points in their progression.
You know you can do it.
It's something that you can do,as long as you see that you're
just picking up where they areand taking them to the next
place.
If I was teaching my thirdgraders, we just went to where
the third graders levels wereand they were all over the place
.
No matter what group oflearners you have, you're going
to have a bunch of differentlevels.
(35:38):
You're working on progress.
You know that growth mindset isso important.
I had third graders who werecapable of doing fourth grade
work.
I had fourth graders who neededmore tailored third grade work.
So if you're working in a splitclassroom, I realize it can be
really challenging, but justthink of all the benefits to
your learners.
It was a great experience for usVery trying during the pandemic
(36:00):
when you're trying to teach twogrades hybrid but it was such a
great experience for me to seethe power of that progression.
I recommend switching gradelevels throughout your career.
Get out of your four walls, trya different grade level,
appreciate what your colleaguesare doing to grow this learner
and you'll see great gains inreturn.
(36:21):
Vocabulary is just one reallypassionate piece for me, but I'm
definitely all about a growthmindset for both our leaders and
our learners.
What is it that you have tolearn this year?
You know what's.
What's your next step.
What are you going to do totake your next step in your own
learning progression as a leader?
And that that's what my newrole has empowered me to be able
to ask.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Abby, I thank you for being you know being a guest.
I hope you know my goal is nothope.
I'm sure our listeners havepicked up several ideas and
strategies from you, but if youare using one of our HMH
programs, you will find Abby inour teacher's corner in our
(37:03):
teacher's corner.
Jump in there on Ed and get inthere If you want to talk to her
more.
She's in our teacher's cornerfrom HMH Facebook group.
But what a conversation and Ilove that we focused it on
vocabulary so that people got tohear your passion and got to
learn from your expertise.
(37:24):
I'll talk.
I'll be talking to you soon,but thank you for being here.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Thank you so much for having me.
I really appreciate it.
I always love to talk aboutteaching.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
If you or someone you know would like to be a guest
on the Teachers in Americapodcast, please email us at
shaped at hmhcocom.
Be the first to hear newepisodes of Teachers in America
by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you listen
to podcasts.
If you enjoyed today's show,please rate, review and share it
with your network.
(37:56):
You can find the transcript ofthis episode on our Shape blog
by visiting HMHCOcom.
Forward slash shape.
The link is in the show notes.
The Teachers in America podcastis a production of HMH.
The link is in the show notes.
The Teachers in America podcastis a production of HMH.
Executive producers areChristine Condon and Tim Lee.
Editorial direction is byChristine Condon.
(38:17):
It is creatively directed andaudio engineered by Tim Lee.
Our producer and editor isJennifer Carujo.
Production designers are MiaFry and Thomas Velazquez.
Shape blog post editors for thepodcast are Christine Condon,
jennifer Carujo and Alicia Ivory.
Thanks again for listening.
Every single week I'm giving them all these different
word parts.
But why?
And so then, when I got myscience of reading background,
it just all clicked.
All the puzzle pieces kind offit together and I realized the
power of those word parts andthose morphemes and teaching
students those.
Once they had the phonemegraphing correspondences, the
(00:21):
number of words that they coulddecode expanded exponentially.
I saw the power in that, andvocabulary is the catalyst to
comprehension.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome to Teachers in America, where we celebrate
teachers and their lastingimpact on students' learning,
journeys and lives.
I'm Jen Carujo and I'm acontent producer at HMH.
During the school day, studentscome across numerous vocabulary
words in all subject areas.
What can we do to make surethese words stick?
Today, our host, noelle Morris,talks vocabulary building and
(00:52):
instruction with HMH teacherambassador and K-12 curriculum
integrator, abby Benke.
Abby shares instructionalstrategies to engage all
students in vocabulary learning.
Plus, she discusses howvocabulary is a catalyst for
building reading comprehensionskills.
Now let's get to the episode.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Welcome to Teachers in America, abby.
It's so great to finally get tohave you on the podcast, just
to give our listeners a littlebit of a heads up.
You and I go back three almostfour years now as being one of
our teacher ambassadors forTeachers Corner, so this episode
will be one of those specialones where you'll hear us
(01:32):
talking and learning a lot fromAbby, but also connecting and
sharing in the friendship andthe professionalism that has
grown over those three years.
So let's kick off, abby,sharing a little bit about you
and your role as a curriculumintegrator, because it's a
fascinating job title and I wantto know more about it.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay, so I work in Wisconsin.
I am a 4k through 12th gradecurriculum integrator, which
means that I help all of ourleaders, help our learners.
So, regardless of content area,I am their program support
person for everything.
So I work very closely with myteaching teams to help them
(02:16):
create consistent content.
We're working on the integrityof our curriculum across and
we're working on the learningprogression for our kids
throughout their entire timewith us in our district.
So my role is very busy andvery exciting and there's never
a dull moment.
I love every second.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I bet, because you naturally have always been one
of those teachers who makes allthe connections right from
pedagogy and theory to policy.
But one particular aspect ofreading and instruction,
specifically in the frame oflearning to read and continuing
(02:58):
to develop reading across gradelevels and discipline, is
vocabulary.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Why is vocabulary such a passion for you?
So when I was little, my familyand I used to go to the beach
all the time.
I grew up in Virginia and I wasjust so fascinated by marine
life, everything with the oceans, so I wanted to learn all the
things.
I ordered every scholastic bookfrom the book order, anxiously
waited for it to arrive andlearned as much as I possibly
could.
And throughout my time ofwanting to learn these things, I
(03:31):
realized that the more words Ilearned, the more I learned.
So I became really excitedabout that at a young age and I
started to realize, especiallyin science, that words had
common parts and that I couldfigure out new words if I just
figured out what this word partmeant.
And that was very enlighteningfor me and something that I've
taken into my role now, workingwith teachers across disciplines
(03:55):
.
It's the same basic,foundational skill of being able
to identify more themes andwords and find commonalities
that help students learn theircontent.
So that's been a big focus forme this year.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Now I know as a teacher ambassador.
Some of the initial teachercreated content you have
provided for Teachers Cornerwere model lessons on vocabulary
and overall strategies.
Do you have specific go-tostrategies, that one that you
used weekly, sometimes evendaily, that that also now you're
(04:32):
transferring and helpingteachers across disciplines use
in their classroom?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yes.
So incorporating movement orgamifying a lesson is completely
ingrained in who I am as aneducator.
My husband's a Phi Ed teacher,so it's just part of who we are.
So I've done a lot moreresearch recently on the
attention span of our learnersand I'm noticing that it's
decreasing every year.
So the more that we canincorporate movement and games,
we're going to keep them moreengaged.
(04:59):
So designing intentionalopportunities for students to
play a game while they'rebuilding content knowledge
really builds that retention.
So in the upper grade some ofthe games I like to play are an
affix game, where I'll give thema root word and then they have
to go and build a new word basedon that, using different
(05:21):
prefixes, suffixes and wordparts.
So for example, let's say Igive them bio, Then they could
build biography, biologicalautobiography, et cetera, and so
the teams kind of work togetherto see who can have the biggest
list of words connected to bio.
Some of the games that I liketo play with my lower grades was
a vocab go fish.
So I would have the vocab wordsand some of the definitions and
(05:44):
they had to ask their partnerfor the definition of a word and
then they would build theirpairs.
Another one I like isvocabulary bingo with
definitions or tic-tac-toe Justanything that's an easy game for
kids to learn that you can usevocabulary with.
One of my favorites is puttingthe spin on headbands and having
(06:05):
the word you know, up on top ofthe kids' heads and then the
other kids have to describe theword.
And these are things that canbe done in any content area,
really any age kids that arejust engaging and it keeps them
on their toes, but they'relearning at the same time, and
really the biggest goal is thatstudents learn how to
communicate orally aroundvocabulary words what does that
(06:26):
word mean?
And being able to translatethat in an oral fashion is
really going to help them foryears to come.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
How do you establish that expectation of
collaboration and supportthinking through the various
levels of learners that you haveall the way from your?
I want to answer everything toyour.
Please do not ever call on meor make eye contact.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
So there's uncomfortable comfort and I
think that's really importantfor students to learn.
If we practice sharing ourvoices in a safe and helpful
environment, then we'll learn toshare our voices where it's
uncomfortable.
So I do my best to establishroutines and systems in my room
that support every learner.
So, no matter who's sharing, wevalue what they have to say and
(07:17):
the more that you value whatthey have to say and you
appreciate it, the more they'reinclined to share.
Students have to be givenopportunities to engage.
So one of my things that Iabsolutely believe in
wholeheartedly is ask don't ortask don't ask.
So getting kids involved withusing whiteboards or using
(07:37):
interactive learning that canhappen on many different
platforms.
That gives kids the ability toshare their voice and eventually
they get confident enough toshare it with others.
I believe firmly in accountabletalk, especially with vocabulary
.
Giving them sentence stems.
It's going to help them explainwhat they learned using content
area words.
It's just so powerful for kidswhen they feel like their voice
(08:00):
has value and when you can dothat in the classroom, it
translates into other parts oftheir life.
You know we hear so much aboutstudents who need to speak up
for other students who might bebeing bullied or something.
Those interactions don't happenif those students don't feel
like confident speakers.
And when kids have thevocabulary to be a confident
speaker, they're more apt tostand up for people who don't
(08:23):
have those skills.
That's the kind of environmentI'm trying to nurture in my room
.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Hey teacher friends.
If you're an HMH user, did youknow you have access to
Teacher's Corner on Ed Includedwith every HMH program?
Teacher's Corner is a communityof teachers, learning experts
and coaches gathered in oneplace to support you with a new
kind of professional learningbite-sized, teacher-selected and
teacher-driven, with on-demandsessions, lesson demonstrations,
(08:51):
program support and practicalresources.
Teacher's Corner lets youchoose how you interact with our
content.
I like to think about it asinspiration on demand.
You know, when you think aboutyour years across and the grade
levels that you've taught, andnow that even interacting more
(09:12):
with the middle school agelearner.
Do you have a favorite lessonor moment with vocabulary where
you kind of saw yourself in themfiguring it out and getting
like, oh, this is prettypowerful.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
So we all live for those light bulb moments.
I don't know an educator thatdoesn't.
Everybody loves them.
So how do you get there to alight bulb moment?
So I think it's important welook at prior knowledge and then
vocabulary builds thatbackground knowledge.
It's the other part ofScarborough's rope.
You know, you take a littlelearner from their decoding
skills and you start expandingtheir vocabulary and all of a
(09:51):
sudden the world is a whole newplace for them.
So it's really interesting tome how, um, regardless of a
multilingual learner or someonewho's been a native speaker for
a long time how vocabulary isthe catalyst that brings them to
comprehension.
And so you live for thoselittle moments where they get
there and they finally get thatcomprehension, but you forget
(10:13):
that it's something as small asvocabulary.
That was the bridge that gotthem there.
So when we skip over vocabularyinstruction or don't take it as
seriously, it's like we'reslamming the door on their
opportunity to understandsomething new.
Not everything has to it asseriously.
It's like we're slamming thedoor on their opportunity to
understand something new.
Not everything has to be asexplicit, but vocabulary should
be very explicitly taught.
So I do have some strategiesthat I love to use for
(10:34):
explicitly teaching vocab and Iknow Noelle has seen this many
times in live events.
One of my favorites is MirrorsUp.
I love Mirrors Up.
I learned about a conferenceprobably 10 years ago.
I use it all the time.
You've been on a live event,you definitely see me do it.
So it's it's helping us becomelittle wordsmiths.
So we I will say mirrors up andthe students will mirror my
(10:57):
actions and I'll say the word onthe definition and then we'll
come up with an action that wewant to do for that word.
And every time we encounterthat word that week we'll stop
and I'll say bears up, and thenwe'll say the vocab word, we'll
say the definition and we'll dothe action.
It's incredible, kids that I'vehad two and three years ago
will come up to me and if I saya word, they still know the
(11:18):
action for some of these wordsand it's so powerful but it
helps them understand the powerof vocabulary and how it can
help them.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
How do you come up with your action?
Well, let's backtrack First.
How did you gather yourconfidence?
Because there is something whenyou're in front of 10-year-olds
, 11-year-olds, there's adifference you have to bring to
your teaching.
In my, in my opinion, becausethey have a lot more ways to
(11:51):
interact back with you Say, likeMs Morris, what are you doing?
Like, what is this?
Mirrors up.
So let's go back to you know,the first time you were doing
this one, how did you get yourconfidence to be like mirrors up
?
Time you were doing this one,how did you get your confidence
to be like mirrors up?
Because when you watch you inaction, it's like mirrors up.
And then you know you gothrough the routine, you go
(12:12):
through the motion and then yougo on to the next word.
So let's help the audienceunderstand how you built that
into a routine, got yourselfconfident.
And I'm going to give one morechallenge to you how do you
decide what motions you're goingto do?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
So I kind of have an expression like let's make fun
of this.
So the students know when I'mgoing to make fun of my own
failure.
There are some words that justdo not have an action that
honestly lends itself reallywell.
Then there's others that do.
But I did.
I definitely learned trial anderror.
(12:51):
So I would tell them let's trythis.
Uh, mirrors up.
So some classes do the mirrorsup with their hands both up, but
other classes were like thatlooks like stop.
So I would spin around and domirrors up as a spin.
Um, you know, I kind of let theclass decide that and they get
to pick what I look goofy doingand be okay with looking
(13:12):
ridiculous in front of your kids.
Be okay with failure If youdon't, if something doesn't go
well.
I bombed that.
You guys I'm real sorry Totallybombed that.
They have to see what it lookslike to not do something well
and if you're having fun with it, they will have fun with it.
I've done this activity witheighth graders recently and they
were all into it.
(13:32):
We had some really unique wordsin our diary of Anne Frank
study with the Holocaust, and soit was a great opportunity for
us For the actions.
Typically a kid or two willcome up with some of them and
some of the words just don't.
And then we just shrug ourshoulders.
This word doesn't really havean action that goes with it, so
we just shrug our shoulders andthat helps us.
(13:53):
It's just the act of doingsomething physical to connect to
word meaning.
That multimodal approach tolearning really helps solidify
it for the kids.
And once we're into our textand we annotate, we stop, we do
mirrors up and we annotate withthe word meaning that we come up
with Like this is ourdefinition, this is what it
means to us, and then we writethat in our, in our text, and
(14:15):
that's really helped us.
But yeah, with the eighthgraders, they had a blast with
it too.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
I like that because you can shrug, because maybe you
don't know an action right now.
You know you need to keepmoving on.
Maybe an action will come asyou get more into the content
and the context and and grow theword you know and and word
families.
But I I like how you put that.
Let's not let that inhibit us.
You know, at least we'rehearing ourselves say the word.
(14:41):
In that moment you couldprobably flip to also say let's
do the syllabication.
Is there a you know?
Is there a prefix or suffix?
And you can, you know, add thatchallenge in.
Do you have a time when you'vebeen working with teachers in
your new role and how are youhelping them get comfortable?
(15:05):
Are you doing things in PLC orat grade level teams?
Are you going in and modeling?
What's your approach tosupporting teachers who are
really learning these vocabularystrategies to implement in
their classroom?
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So it's a combination of all of that.
Actually, I started withmeeting with grade level teams
and I started out with mathactually because that was what
was launching at our elementaryschool.
So math vocabulary and how dowe build that ability with our
learners Because so much of mathis that challenging vocabulary
and so we worked as teams toidentify what those words would
(15:45):
be that our students needed tolearn for the unit.
And then each teacher kind ofhas their own twist on how they
engage students.
Like mirrors up works for me.
Other teachers might use likethe four square approach where
they do the posters and it's notquite so physical.
I really work with the teachersto help them understand the
pathway, the learningprogression, like what kids
might have learned about thisword previously, that they might
(16:06):
have prior knowledge, and thenhow do you activate their
background knowledge?
So much math has really coolstories, like why we have a
pound and why we have inches andfeet instead of the metric
system.
So if you can find a story thatsupports a word with its origin
, kids are just so excited aboutthat.
They want to know which King'sfoot they used.
So it's just anytime you canmake learning a new word an
(16:29):
exciting experience for the kids, the better off you are.
So I do work with PLCs, I dowork with teams and I do work
with individual teachers so thattheir vocab routine fits their
style.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah, so much better than the 1970s, 80s.
Please go to the glossary,write these words and the
definition and hopefully,through osmosis, you'll, you'll,
you'll know it, until you hitthat SAT and you're like I think
I did this all wrong.
Let's, let's talk about, let'stalk about, multilingual
(17:02):
learners.
What are you, what?
What is going with yourdistrict and growth of
multilingual learners, thelanguages spoken, and what are
some of your approaches that youare putting into place to
support those learners?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Well, I start with my teaching teams and
understanding that my teachingteams are just now learning the
science of reading.
We're just going through thatprocess.
So for them, you know, in manyclassrooms many teachers say
English as this is the languagethat we understand.
But when we start to look atword origins, we realize that
language goes across vocabulary,root meanings, go across
(17:42):
languages, across cultures andacross time.
And when we start to appreciatethat we can have a new
appreciation for what ourmultilingual learners are
bringing to our classroom.
It is so neat when you see aSpanish cognate transfer into an
English root, when you valuewhat those learners are bringing
to their classroom and thoselearners don't feel at a deficit
(18:04):
, they feel at an advantagebecause now they're going to be
a multilingual person that canparticipate in many, many more
spaces than just a one languagespeaker.
When they see that advantageand you start to make those
connections, they're empowered.
And when the teachers have thatscience of reading background
and they can match phoneme tographeme and they understand
that learning process, then youbring your multilinguals in and
(18:26):
you help them understand.
All I have to do is match thesound to their symbol and I've
got it.
It's super empowering.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
So that's the, the lens that we work through is
that we're raising amultilingual generation oh, I
like that approach, um, and Ilike that thinking because then
and we've been talking onseveral episodes we've talked
about asset-based approach andflipping that from flipping that
(18:59):
, from thinking about anythingas a deficit, because we all
know there's gaps to fill.
But let's not think, you know,use the strengths and assets to
propel and accelerate withinthat gap and students starting,
like you, have a positive startto this year's learning and
getting them to understand whatthey know, why they know what
(19:22):
they know and how to apply it isbeneficial to them and to you
in the long run as a teacher.
You and I have talked in thepast about the power of
generative vocabulary.
In fact, you were one of theteachers that got me to really
go in and look at generativevocabulary within our program
(19:47):
into reading and really thinkabout it and understanding.
You're like, no well, this is10 minutes that you must do.
It's like one of the mostreturn, strongest 10 minutes
return on your investment.
What?
How did you approach?
I mean, we've already heardyour passion and love for
morphology and thinking aboutthat, but over the last three
years, how have you transformedyour thinking around gender
(20:10):
vocabulary and putting moreemphasis on that, not just
within reading, but again acrossthe disciplines.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I think knowledge is power and at the beginning I
didn't have my science orreading training.
Seeing how a puzzle fittogether, that I wasn't sure yet
what the end result would looklike, because I really didn't
have that training led me to aspace where it's like, okay, why
am I doing this routine?
What is in it for the students?
Every single week I'm givingthem all these different word
(20:42):
parts, but why?
And so then when I got myscience of reading background,
it just all clicked.
All the puzzle pieces kind offit together and I realized the
power of those word parts andthose morphemes and teaching
students those.
Once they had the phonemegraphing correspondences, the
number of words that they coulddecode expanded exponentially.
(21:05):
I saw the power in that, andvocabulary is the catalyst to
comprehension.
So if they're understandingthese words, they're
understanding what they'rereading.
And then this year I'vetransformed a lot in
understanding author'sperspective, stepping from
interreading into intellect.
I really understand how muchwe're trying to help learners
(21:27):
understand the author'sperspective.
What lens is the author comingfrom when you start adding in
dialects and slang, academic,social languages, digital
language?
The kids are learning so manyaspects of words.
It's interesting to me tofigure out where do these words
come from?
So, according to the GlobalLanguage Monitor, a new word is
(21:49):
added to our language every 98minutes, which is approximately
14 words a day.
5,100 words a year.
How do kids keep up with this?
This is the fastest rate ofword creation ever.
It's incredible.
It's so exciting for our kids.
But with this explosion oflanguage, they're inundated with
this plethora of new vocabularyto rate they've never seen
(22:11):
before.
So to keep up with that, we, aseducators, have to help them
understand.
How do I engage with a new word?
Or this is a word I've known,but now it has six different
meanings.
How do I engage with that?
How do I decipher this?
And that's where we come in.
We start to help themdifferentiate between academic
language, social language,digital language.
(22:31):
When should I use this wordthat I've learned?
What's the right audience forthis word?
It helps them to understand howtheir voices can be heard and
who said that word.
What's their perspective?
How does this enter into theglobal stage?
All of those things are reallyexciting to me and really engage
with our kids.
I think they're interested init too.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, and that was I know what you and I talked,
because I was just like I wasgetting caught up on the term
even generative vocabulary and Iwas like, well, this is
morphology and semantics and itdoes lead and I think you're
doing such a wise move in thattransition that you've done
through you know, regardless ofwhat programs I mean it's
(23:16):
exciting to know that you'reusing into reading and you've
moved into into literature.
But bringing that connection toauthor's perspective, you know
craft, it goes into the author'scraft.
You know why that word in thatsentence at that, at that time,
that just takes the wholeanalytics and understanding
(23:36):
point of view and characterdevelopment, um, into a much
different place.
So we are like way past up inthe upper ends of the
scarborough rope.
But that's what you want to behappening.
And if you are thinking back onjust this, the, this whole
conversation that you and I'vehad, is it all is empowered by
(23:57):
knowing words and what wordsmean and how to deconstruct them
and make them.
I don't think I knew that wewere adding a new word every 98.
Did you say 98 minutes orseconds?
Minutes?
Yeah, I was like seconds We'vegot.
We have to have something elsehelping us get to but 98 minutes
(24:20):
like that's pretty amazing,cause I don't think I knew new
words were really added to ourlanguage until I was in college.
I don't.
I definitely did not have theseconversations when I was in
middle school and high school.
You had like a finite amount ofthings that you were learning,
(24:40):
not necessarily exploring.
Where do you, what do you allallow students to use in
classrooms to be able to havesuch access to just a vast array
of words and conversations andbackground knowledge building?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Something we do that's really important to us is
that where we use a word, whatdoes the word vetting process
look like?
So, when we encounter a newword, is this a word that I use
at school?
Is this a word that I just hearand know what it means?
Is this a word that I want touse and where do I use this word
?
All of those things you knowour kids have to do, and that's
(25:24):
a lot of mind mapping that ourlearners brains just have to be
trained how to do.
And when is it appropriate touse that word?
I mean, I remember when I waslittle and heaven forbid anyone
say any kind of inappropriateword at school.
Oh, my word, like you were inso much trouble.
And now, what constitutes aninappropriate word when kids are
given all these new words atthis rapid rate?
(25:46):
What makes that wordinappropriate?
Because now we're just changingappropriate words and changing
their meanings.
So helping learners see what'shappening in the world around
them and when do I use thesewords is really, is really
helpful.
So in the middle school setting, trust me that there are so
many new words used all the time, sometimes I don't even
(26:06):
understand what they're saying,so I'll stop and ask them you
know what did that mean?
I have no idea what you justsaid.
I know.
Please translate.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
And you have to stop, cause one day I, like a student
, was like I was walking downthe hall and they're like are
you supposed to be here?
And I had my, I had a badge on,I was supposed to be visiting.
And I was like, well, yes, andthey were like, cause, you know,
you look so sus, and I'm likewhat, what do I look like?
And they're like suspect, I'mlike, what I'm like?
(26:39):
I'm like, just, you know sweet,like little me, I have my badge
.
But it was just so funny Cause Ihe looked at me like I'm doing
what I'm supposed to, I'msupposed to ask anybody, I see,
but I was like what are these?
That?
Is that even a word?
And then, you know, I come homeand I'm like Hedy, is that word
like, according to us, motherand the Gen Z and Gen Alpha?
(27:03):
Yes, that's a word, becausethat's how we, we talk with each
other in our conversation.
I'm like, well then, wouldn'tthat be considered casual?
Like you know, cash?
And she's like don't try thismore, mom, it is casual.
So I think about that in theterms of are you going through
that process?
You going through that process?
(27:24):
Because in any, any curriculum,anytime you're, there's always
a plethora of words that youcould teach.
How are you narrowing down whatI mean?
Are you doing the same mindmapping on?
What words am I going toexplicitly teach?
(27:46):
What words can I coach on?
What words will they find incontext?
Speaker 1 (27:53):
What's your approach to planning and cutting down the
number of words that you teachat one time.
I love that we can get to aplace where we start to ask the
students and we start tocategorize words.
Words, we know, words even inour vocab list, you know come
with different curriculums.
What are some words that youhave prior knowledge of?
I mean, you've just heard it.
Which ones have you givenin-depth background knowledge on
(28:13):
?
We don't need to spend a lot oftime on that, but what words do
you genuinely need to decodeand we need to look for more
themes or we need to figure outwhat this word means.
And that's not that many wordsyou know when you're really
reading a text or a selection.
We're not.
We're going to be veryintentional with how we select
the words that we study and,once again, with kids, it's just
(28:36):
so important for them to knowwhen and how to use the words
that they're going to be using.
The text that they interactwith every day at school has
academic language, so we aregoing to have to do more
explicit vocabulary instruction.
But if they were to hand metheir phone and I would try and
read a conversation with theirfriend, they would need to
explicitly teach me.
So one of the most importantthings as an educator is always
(28:57):
to be a learner.
I asked an eighth grade studentlast week you know how was your
weekend?
And he's like oh, it was sotight I spent the time with my
shorty, came down from where Ihadn't.
Literally I was like I don'teven know what you're talking
about.
Can you please translate thisfor me?
When I got to the vocabularylesson, I told that student now
it's my time to translate foryou.
So we need each other in thisworld to be able to communicate,
(29:19):
and that's the ultimate goal isjust find your voice and share
it, but think about the audiencethat's going to receive it.
What kind of language do youneed to use for them?
So we both.
If I was trying to communicatewith a bunch of eighth graders
about my weekend, well then Iwould probably need to go seek
out the student to help me.
Having that symbiotic of likeyou help me, I help you, we're
both translating language whenwe use it, where we use it, how
(29:41):
we use it.
It just builds thatrelationship with students and
it really helps build theirvocabulary commitment.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
It just builds that relationship with students and
it really helps build theirvocabulary commitment.
Let's come back full circle.
So young Abby wants to be amarine biologist.
How did we go from marinebiologist to teaching?
Because we definitely see thepassion for words and language
(30:08):
has continued, but where in thejourney did we move from being a
marine biologist to teaching?
And tell me one to two thingsthat you love about being a
teacher you'll find this reallyinteresting.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
So when I was 15 years old, with my church group,
we went down to knock Patrick,jamaica, to a deaf campus for
children.
So we went down and we'rebuilding a facility for them,
for the learners there, and thenwe did a vacation Bible school
and it was an extremely humblingexperience because the children
at this campus were withouthearing and so for the first
time I really realized I can'tcommunicate with these children.
(30:48):
I never realized how powerfulwords were until I couldn't
communicate with someone else,and it was not a language
barrier.
I couldn't read what they weretelling me at all.
I couldn't use any of mybackground knowledge to
understand what they were sayingat all, and that's when I
realized the power of motion andunderstanding words and
studying their language, and atthat point I realized I really
(31:12):
wanted to learn more and teachother people about what I was
learning.
So the little children thatwere there that were speaking
sign language to me it was ahumbling experience to not be
able to communicate with someone, and I I feel very passionately
about our multilingual learnersbecause I understand what that
must feel like at the mostminute degree.
I want to make sure that kidsunderstand how to communicate
(31:35):
with people of all languages andand that's a very passionate
point for me that's when Iswitched from being a marine
biologist to being an educatorwhen I was 15.
Um, since then, it's just beenbeen a roller coaster ride.
I've taught all differentgrades.
You know, ended up meeting Noelin 2019, right before
pre-pandemic which kind ofcatapulted us into digital
(31:57):
learning.
You know we couldn't go intospaces.
So then we ended up on thesemodel lessons and really focused
on generative vocabulary and itwas one of the first first ones
I had and I loved that and Icontinued teaching.
I had a split class, differentgrade levels, and I feel like
I've experienced so much in theclassroom and now I'm just ready
(32:18):
to work with teachers andteaching teams and hopefully
empower them to do the samething in their rooms, to find
meaning and purpose and whatthey're doing.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
And I still love being in schools.
I still love seeing the kidsand, and I know, when you moved
into this new role, you, youlove the term curriculum
integrator, but I I remember yousaying to your you shared with
your principal I still want tobe like, known though as a
teacher, like.
That's extremely important tome.
I want to be able to, at anytime, go into a classroom and
model or teach or you know, letthat teacher see me um, which I,
(32:57):
I love and value myself andyou're, you're giving me such
memories and flashbacks to whereyou're like you know, noel,
what will this model lesson youknow be?
I'm like I don.
You know, noel, what will thismodel lesson you know be?
I'm like I don't know, abby,let's figure it out together,
cause we just got into thispandemic and I don't, I don't
know.
But I know that.
I know that we have to be outthere and we have to do
(33:18):
something.
And if I go back and look atour archives of some of our
initial model lessons, to the,to the ones now where you're
like in front of your screen andyou know you're modeling
exactly how you would do it in aclassroom with students, it's
pretty impressive, and so I havefirsthand knowledge that you
(33:41):
are a go-getter, you're a risktaker, you're a problem solver
and you are a true teacher toteacher.
Let's all help each other andbe in this together.
So I'm ending every podcastepisode this season with why
teaching?
And for you, I'm going to askwhy fourth grade?
(34:05):
And I'm going to then ask youto like why split classroom?
Because a lot of teachers aresometimes asked to do something
that you're like what, like why,and so I want you to take it
from both places.
Why teaching?
I want you to think about it asa fourth grade teacher, and I
(34:27):
also wanted you to think aboutit like why sometimes accept
challenges that are brought toyou.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
I love fourth grade.
It's such a fun time for thekids.
It's this pivotal moment beforethey reach middle school where
they're just old enough but nottoo old, they can have these
complex conversations just oldenough, but not too old, they
can have these complexconversations.
It also is a great launchingpoint for me.
You know I'm all about advocacyand I want the students to
advocate for themselves andothers, and there's no better
time than middle school.
(34:55):
You ask people all about theirexperiences in life.
Would you go back to middleschool?
Oh, I don't know.
So being able to set kids upfor that, that they have the
vocabulary they need, theconfidence they need to advocate
for themselves and others inthose situations in middle
school, it's just such a great,pivotal point to teach.
So if you haven't taught fourthgrade, I highly recommend it.
The split classroom all that isis just learners at different
(35:17):
points in their progression.
You know you can do it.
It's something that you can do,as long as you see that you're
just picking up where they areand taking them to the next
place.
If I was teaching my thirdgraders, we just went to where
the third graders levels wereand they were all over the place
.
No matter what group oflearners you have, you're going
to have a bunch of differentlevels.
(35:38):
You're working on progress.
You know that growth mindset isso important.
I had third graders who werecapable of doing fourth grade
work.
I had fourth graders who neededmore tailored third grade work.
So if you're working in a splitclassroom, I realize it can be
really challenging, but justthink of all the benefits to
your learners.
It was a great experience for usVery trying during the pandemic
(36:00):
when you're trying to teach twogrades hybrid but it was such a
great experience for me to seethe power of that progression.
I recommend switching gradelevels throughout your career.
Get out of your four walls, trya different grade level,
appreciate what your colleaguesare doing to grow this learner
and you'll see great gains inreturn.
(36:21):
Vocabulary is just one reallypassionate piece for me, but I'm
definitely all about a growthmindset for both our leaders and
our learners.
What is it that you have tolearn this year?
You know what's.
What's your next step.
What are you going to do totake your next step in your own
learning progression as a leader?
And that that's what my newrole has empowered me to be able
to ask.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Abby, I thank you for being you know being a guest.
I hope you know my goal is nothope.
I'm sure our listeners havepicked up several ideas and
strategies from you, but if youare using one of our HMH
programs, you will find Abby inour teacher's corner in our
(37:03):
teacher's corner.
Jump in there on Ed and get inthere If you want to talk to her
more.
She's in our teacher's cornerfrom HMH Facebook group.
But what a conversation and Ilove that we focused it on
vocabulary so that people got tohear your passion and got to
learn from your expertise.
(37:24):
I'll talk.
I'll be talking to you soon,but thank you for being here.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Thank you so much for having me.
I really appreciate it.
I always love to talk aboutteaching.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
If you or someone you know would like to be a guest
on the Teachers in Americapodcast, please email us at
shaped at hmhcocom.
Be the first to hear newepisodes of Teachers in America
by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you listen
to podcasts.
If you enjoyed today's show,please rate, review and share it
with your network.
(37:56):
You can find the transcript ofthis episode on our Shape blog
by visiting HMHCOcom.
Forward slash shape.
The link is in the show notes.
The Teachers in America podcastis a production of HMH.
The link is in the show notes.
The Teachers in America podcastis a production of HMH.
Executive producers areChristine Condon and Tim Lee.
Editorial direction is byChristine Condon.
(38:17):
It is creatively directed andaudio engineered by Tim Lee.
Our producer and editor isJennifer Carujo.
Production designers are MiaFry and Thomas Velazquez.
Shape blog post editors for thepodcast are Christine Condon,
jennifer Carujo and Alicia Ivory.
Thanks again for listening.
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