Issue Special 2009 Conference Issue: Feb 06, 2009 Connections Newsletter

Administrative Planning for Effective Conferencing

Brenda Hill
Feb 06, 2009

Conferencing is designed to provide additional support to teachers and administrators in meeting the implementation goals/needs of districts, schools, and teachers. Implementation goals can be accomplished more rapidly when instructional specialists and building administrators work closely together to form an efficient, effective plan. Several questions to consider when planning for effective conferencing days are:

  • What are the district goals for implementation?

  • Where is the school in the implementation process based upon district expectations?

  • Where are teachers in the implementation process, and where is extra help/support needed?

  • Are teacher reflection meetings occurring on a regular basis to determine individual and grade level needs?

  • Has a focus or need been determined at the school level for implementation to be fully achieved?

Once administrators have answered these questions, it becomes much easier to plan the schedule and focus for conferencing. The district goals for implementation should be clearly communicated to administrators and teachers. If the goal or implementation expectations are unclear, it helps all involved to clarify those before the conferencing begins.
  
Effective conferencing should also take into consideration where the teachers are in the implementation process and where extra help/support is needed. Teacher reflection meetings are important tools for administrators as they plan for conferencing. Many times comments, concerns, or questions that arise during these reflection meetings will determine the conference focus and schedule. 

In addition, schools often have a focus based upon walkthrough observations. These areas of focus may be determined by the administrator(s), school leadership team, or teachers themselves. There is often (and should be) a direct correlation between the school focus strategy/strategies and the conferencing focus. 

These questions are just some things for administrators to consider when planning how to make the best use of conferencing days. It also helps eliminate teacher confusion about where we are and where we are going in the Learning-Focused implementation process. By communicating clearly the district expectations and school focus,  time can be used for teachers to collaboratively plan and improve instructional practices that directly impact students. Thoughtful reflection and planning for conferencing allows all to work together to accomplish the goal of increased student performance and achievement.



Beyond Direct Vocabulary Instruction

Cindy Riedl
Feb 06, 2009

Beyond a doubt, direct vocabulary instruction of key words and concepts is a highly effective practice; yet word-learning strategies also need to be explicitly taught, since there are more words to be learned than can be directly taught, even in the most ambitious models of vocabulary instruction. Explicit instruction in word-learning strategies also needs to be addressed to provide the tools for students to independently determine the meaning of unfamiliar words that have not been introduced in class. Direct vocabulary instruction of key vocabulary was not intended to replace the other strategies used in the past to teach students about dictionary use, morphemic analysis or contextual analysis. Since students encounter so many unfamiliar words in their reading, they need the help of all these strategies to comprehend what they are reading. A robust vocabulary instructional model must include specific word instruction, as well as word-learning strategies.
 
When should an awareness of and interest in words begin? Educators need to focus on word awareness by introducing word-learning strategies as early as in pre-school programs and continue to do so at all grade levels into twelfth grade and beyond, as language learning becomes more sophisticated. Teachers must place an emphasis on teaching the process of deriving a word's meaning by analyzing its meaningful parts, or morphemes. Such word parts include root words, prefixes, and suffixes. For English Language Learners, whose language shares the same linguistic roots, being able to analyze a word's parts has great significance, as these students learn our language. Also, teaching contextual analysis, inferring meaning of an unfamiliar word by scrutinizing the text surrounding it, is critically important. Instruction in contextual analysis generally involves teaching students to employ both genetic and specific types of context clues. To create the most effective and rich instructional model possible, educators at all grade levels need to consistently connect all of this type of language learning instruction with:
 
~ dictionary use, which teaches students about multiple meaning words and the  
    importance of choosing the appropriate definition to fit the particular context, and
 
~ direct vocabulary instruction of key words and concepts.
 
According to Graves (2000), "If we can get students interested in playing with words and language, then we are at least halfway to the goal of creating the sort of word-conscious students who will make words a lifetime interest." Since effective vocabulary learning requires multiple exposures to the effective use of a word, it is logical to use a game format for word play to hook interest and embed the meaning for long-term retention. During this process of word play, students make additional connections and expand their understanding of the words in other contexts. This does not mean mere repetition or drill of the word. Students are provided with opportunities to encounter words repeatedly and in more than one context. Students visualize the word's meaning and uses through the novel experience of using different types of foldables and graphics:  webbing a word/term identifying its meaning, antonyms, synonyms, how the meaning changes as prefixes and suffixes are added, examples, related topics, and possibly word usage.
 
Example: Word Web
 
What is it?
A word web is similar to a concept map. Students generate and map ideas based on topic-related vocabulary words.
 
How do we do it?
1. Choose a topic-related vocabulary word for the center of the page.
2. Web ideas in stems of sections from the selected word. Categories for section ideas include: meaning, synonyms or related words, antonyms, usage or parts of speech, context sentences, pronunciations (when necessary), and related topics or themes.

 
For a more in-depth study of these and other issues, see Vocabulary Instruction and Vocabulary Development in Language Arts.