Teaching the Critical Vocabulary of the Common Core: 55 Words That Make or Break Student Understanding

by Marilee Sprenger

Your students may recognize words like determine , analyze , and distinguish , but do they understand these words well enough to quickly and completely answer a standardized test question? For example, can they respond to a question that says " determine the point of view of John Adams in his ‘Letter on Thomas Jefferson' and analyze how he distinguishes his position from an alternative approach articulated by Thomas Jefferson"? Students from kindergarten to 12th grade can learn to compare and contrast , to describe and explain , if they are taught these words explicitly. Marilee Sprenger has curated a list of the critical words students must know to be successful with the Common Core State Standards and any other standardized assessment they encounter. Fun strategies such as jingles, movements, and graphic organizers will engage students and make learning these critical words enjoyable and effective. Learning the critical vocabulary will help your students with testing and college and career readiness, and will equip them with confidence in reading, writing, and speaking. Marilee Sprenger is also the author of How to Teach So Students Remember , Learning and Memory , and Brain-Based Teaching in the Digital Age .

Genres: Education, Professional Development

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Marilee is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the Learning and the Brain Society, and the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. She is an adjunct professor at Aurora University, teaching graduate courses on brain based teaching, learning and memory, and differentiation.

Reviews

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Underwhelming. Sprenger's thesis - constructed from the work of Marzano and others - is that teachers must directly instruct academic vocabulary, also known as the "55 words that make or break student understanding," so that they will be able to perform well on Common Core assessments. She goes on to suggest ways teach all 55. And while she offers nothing astonishing, a novice might appreciate four or five ways to teach 'trace' or 'interpret' or 'analyze.'

As an experienced English teacher, I found her prose tedious. Sprenger's fond of tossing out edu-babble like "neuroeducator"; she modifies "unique" with "very"; she salts her text with jarring preposition errors. And then there are the exclamation points! The prose comes off as both over-enthusiastic and under-developed. What is meant to be inspirational instead is insipid.

Although the text is marketed for all grade levels, most of what she suggests fits better K-6.

[Elie · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like 2.5 stars.

Where the Marzano book about vocabulary was lacking in practical ways to actually teach vocab, this book had a lot of ideas that I'm excited to use as well as a shorter, more manageable list of words to teach. That said, I did a lot of skimming because there was so much repeated information as well as language directly from the standards that I just didn't care about. And a lot of the strategies were for younger kids or were too high-risk for my students with limited vocabularies. At any rate, I'll keep the book handy for teaching various words.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found her argument and ideas enlightening. I teach juniors in high school, and some of the activities she suggests feel more appropriate for elementary. Nonetheless, I do agree with teaching the vocabulary until it is in student long-term memory.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know, not exactly winter break reading material, but I was close to finishing and wanted to get through it. I wish they would have left "common core" out of the title, as those words are off putting for quite a few people. It really is just a good resource for key academic vocabulary, and activities that can go with it. I'd recommend it.

[Shelley H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like some of the words some of the time. NJ uses PARCC testing & not really sure two will correlate. Guess it's better than nothing, but Pinterest & teachers pay teachers has better info.

[Bernadette Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great research tool for teaching and understanding the vocabulary of the common core and the PARCC. I would strongly recommend it for teachers of any grade and subject area.

[Kat O · Rating 2 out of 5]

snooze

[Sandi Mascio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used this to create a spreadsheet, used by my school district, of many of the necessary vocabulary for students, especially English Language Learners.