Pre-Teach Vocabulary
Sometimes referred to as frontloading vocabulary. Pre-teaching vocabulary doesn’t mean pulling a dozen words from the chapter and having students look up definitions and write them out. Instead, introduce the key words to students through photos, real objects and in context to things they know and are interested in. Use analogies, metaphors and invite students to create a symbol or drawing for each word and give time for discussion of the words (small and whole groups). Not until they’ve done all this should the dictionaries come out. And the dictionaries will be used only to compare with those definitions they’ve already discovered on their own.
With the dozen or so words “frontloaded,” students are ready, with you as their guide, to tackle that challenging text.