This morning I went to the workshop session on vocabulary that Dr. Anita Archer was holding. I got there early - and it was a good thing...
Dr. Archer's presentation room turned out to be too small. The 200 or so chairs were full before the 9am start of the session. Symposium organizers shuffled room arrangements and moved her to a larger room. My guess (that's all it is) is that about 500 Symposium participants came to hear Dr. Archer this morning.
Dr. Archer spoke on vocabulary and modeled explicit vocabulary instruction for the gathered crowd. I've commented in a previous post on her unique style of turning professional conference-goers into her own second or third grade class so that she can model her teaching methods.
Dr. Archer wasn't alone in her emphasis on vocabulary at this year's Symposium. The topic seemed to be a theme from Dr. Carol Tolman's opening remarks straight through to Dr. Patricia Mathes' closing remarks today in the third session.
The message, regardless of the speaker, was fairly simple. Children of poverty start school with significantly less vocabulary than children from more professional, affluent families. Good instruct can help close the gap; but in the past that has been the exception, not the rule. Vocabulary and background knowledge are intimately tied together. The weaker a student’s vocabulary and background knowledge, the lower their reading comprehension...
I enjoyed the Symposium (my first) and hope to attend again next year.
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