Scaffolding Vocabulary and Complex Texts

Vocabulary knowledge must be intentionally nurtured to ensure that students are ready for the greater vocabulary demands of reading complex texts and writing multi-paragraph essays, but we need to pay attention to cracks in the foundation and scaffold our lessons accordingly, or it all falls apart. This workshop equips participants to consider the role of text sets to build background knowledge and provide multiple exposures of newly acquired words. It also prompts participants to examine possibilities for pre-teaching as part of an explicit vocabulary routine, generating and asking text-dependent questions, utilizing context clues/word parts, and teaching vocabulary at the point of use.