EdCircuit Staff 
Table of Contents
By Stephanie McKew
As a learning specialist in an all-boys school for 16 years, I have come to learn what instructional practices and programs work best with our boy learners. My previous 15 years in traditional co-ed public schools have given me a significant sample size to compare and contrast best education practices. In particular, I have become closely familiar with challenges not only boys have with respect to reading but all students. One often-overlooked critical area in reading is vocabulary development. While not always the most exciting reading component, engaging students can be a turning point in their reading progress.
Earning boys’ buy-in
About ten years ago, I met Beth Lawrence, a speech-language pathologist who, with her business partner Deena Seifert, created an online “visual vocabulary” tool called InferCabulary. In many conversations with Beth―someone who is a literacy expert and deeply understands the critical need for vocabulary instruction―I had a key realization about supporting my struggling readers. The fact is, when students are struggling to read, it is often because of a compromised vocabulary system. We formerly thought reading struggles were primarily due to weak decoding skills, which is also a factor, but research supports that below grade level vocabulary impacts student reading success across all grade levels, K-12. When students don’t understand why they’re struggling, frustration compounds and the struggle perpetuates.
Focusing-in on vocabulary development has been an instructional game-changer. Throughout my career, I have taught many students whose progress was compromised due to a limited vocabulary. Now, I prioritize vocabulary development across all content areas. For example, I always start my opening lesson about what one should do if you do not understand a word’s meaning, and we walk through the following steps:
• Ask a friend
• Ask an adult
• Try to figure it out from context
• Look it up in the dictionary
In surveying the class, we all agree that looking up a word in the dictionary still leaves most students lacking comprehension of the word. When the definition includes language that is still outside their vocabulary range, how can they be empowered to learn word meaning?
InferCabulary provides a beneficial solution by bringing pictures into the…well, the picture. InferCabulary displays six images and corresponding captions for each vocabulary word that has been identified as currently out of reach for individual students or involved in their current reading material. To start, we look at all the pictures and the first three captions together, and then I encourage students to find the commonalities and links between these components. The students begin to ‘infer’ word meaning as they develop a definition of the word. The key differences in vocabulary development using InferCabulary are the picture clues and the inference of word meaning. This process is incredibly motivating, and when I show my students that this tool works, and they have the feeling of a victory, they are “all in.”
How we learned how boys learn
Professional development from the Gurian Institute is another important factor which has benefited instruction at our school. Michael Gurian’s work takes a deep dive into boys’ and girls’ minds and the learning styles that are typically effective with gender differences. Research indicates that young girls are typically more language-based and often excel earlier in language-based activities. Boys have the same ability, but tend to be more reserved in sharing their language.
My time spent at the Gurian Institute was eye-opening. It was so intriguing that I reached out to the institute to directly provide in-school professional development to my colleagues. This was such a success that it fundamentally changed the way we collectively teach. For instance, understanding boys’ attention spans has helped us limit instruction intensity to 20-30 minutes before having a ‘brain break.’ Combining our overall stronger understanding of how boys learn, paired with specific insights into literacy and vocabulary, has helped us create a thriving reading environment.
Individualization leads to engagement
Our fifth graders are broken into three reading groups based on their pace of learning. Each group has differences in pacing, but the main differences come down, simply, to how they learn.
Properly identifying student groups is a task for us as educators, but a key factor in helping us best serve each group is the individualization enabled through InferCabulary. We can set students’ word lists according to the grade level at which they are currently performing. For example, our more avid readers may be performing at a seventh-grade level, so they are challenged with seventh and eighth grade vocabulary words, while others may need more support work at the level appropriate for them. Individualization allows us to help each student set and achieve growth goals, and that information remains confidential.
Having the confidence that we can effectively individualize, combined with our knowledge of how boys learn best and what motivates them, has led to the creation of some indelible learning moments. One such example is how we plan ahead to make sure students learn vocabulary words they will encounter in their current reading material. We complete the pre-vocabulary instruction in class, and when we read a chapter, they are excited to share how they recognized new vocabulary words by calling out, “Ding! Ding!” each time a known vocabulary word appears. Their boy-friendly enthusiasm is both affirming and infectious!
When students see all their learning coming together, they understand that intentional vocabulary instruction directly impacts their overall reading comprehension and success. They can see how they are building the skills to succeed in their learning, and that passion for achievement matches that of us as their educators. When our boys realize how they are becoming better readers through the growth in their vocabulary systems, their engagement takes off and there is no stopping them.
About the Author
Stephanie McKew is a Learning Specialist at The Boys’ Latin School of Maryland, an all-boys independent K-12 school in Baltimore, Maryland. She has previously taught in the Baltimore City and Baltimore County Public School systems, as well as the Archdiocese of Baltimore and on the graduate level at Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore. She has B.A. and M.Ed. degrees from Loyola University of Maryland.
Further Reading
- SmartBrief – Vocabulary instruction: 3 strategies for improvement
- eSchool News – Web-based visual vocabulary tool
- EdNews Daily – A Passion for Learning Fuels a Mission to Support All Readers
