Common Core in ELA/ Literacy: Shift 6 – Academic Vocabulary

Resource for Grades 12

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Common Core in ELA/ Literacy: Shift 6 – Academic Vocabulary

Media Type:
Video

Running Time: 5m 56s
Size: 34.1 MB

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The Common Core Video Series was produced by EngageNY, the New York State Education Department's Race to the Top initiative, in partnership with WCNY/Syracuse and WNET/New York City.

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(Video)

This video features a discussion between NYS Commissioner of Education John B. King Jr., David Coleman (contributing author to the Common Core) and Kate Gerson (a Sr. Fellow with the Regents Research Fund) addressing Shift 6 – Academic Vocabulary. By unpacking Shift 6, the discussion addresses the "tiers" of vocabulary (see Isabel Beck's work, for example) and the choices teachers need to make regarding the explicit teaching of "academic" vocabulary.

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Supplemental Media Available:

Instructional Shifts for the Common Core (Document)

Common Core Exemplar for Elementary School ELA: Feynman's "The Making of a Scientist" (Document)

Common Core Exemplar for Middle School ELA: Monk's Words We Live By (Document)

Common Core High School ELA Exemplar: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (Document)

ELA Shift 6 Worksheet (Document)

Discussion Questions

After watching this video, educators might ask themselves:

What is shift 6? What will this mean we have to change about our practice?
What challenges will we face as we make this shift?

Participants might also select a page (or even a paragraph) of text and explore the vocabulary within it.

How many vocabulary words are there in the selection?
How many of these words can be seen as useful “tools” which students will confront frequently as they read at this grade level?
Which words are worth investing in? What would it look like to create three columns of words – ignore, target, and infer?
What is the impact, for the author, of including the words in which you are choosing to invest?
What task could you create that would get students writing using those words?