Recommitting to Vocabulary Instruction

The Six Shifts

In this podcast episode, Katie Egan Cunningham, Jan Burkins, and Kari Yates, the authors of Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom. This much-awaited sequel to the first Shifting the Balance book introduces six more shifts for elementary teachers. In this episode, the authors discuss the third new shift, which involves recommitting to vocabulary instruction. They talk about the roles of implicit and explicit vocabulary instruction and address concerns that formal vocabulary instruction will look like the lamented practices of yesteryear with looking up definitions, writing sentences, and taking tests. They address the connections between vocabulary, language comprehension, and reading comprehension and suggest that teachers adopt some high-leverage routines to make learning vocabulary easier for children. Learn more about all twelve shifts at TheSixShifts.com.