Creating Robust Vocabulary

Isabel L. Beck, PhD, is Professor Emerita of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. She has conducted extensive research and published widely on decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension. Dr. Beck is a recipient of the Oscar S. Causey Award from the Literacy Research Association, the William S. Gray Citation of Merit from the International Literacy Association, and the Contributing Researcher Award from the American Federation of Teachers. She was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame and is an elected member of the National Academy of Education. Her books include Bringing Words to Life, Second Edition; Creating Robust Vocabulary; Illuminating Comprehension and Close Reading; Making Sense of Phonics, Third Edition; and Robust Comprehension Instruction with Questioning the Author.Margaret G. McKeown, PhD, is a Senior Scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center of the University of Pittsburgh. Her research on reading comprehension and vocabulary has been published extensively in outlets for both researcher and practitioner audiences. Dr. McKeown is a recipient of the Dissertation of the Year Award from the International Reading Association and a National Academy of Education Spencer Fellowship. Before her career in research, she taught elementary school.Linda Kucan, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Instruction and Learning at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. In addition to vocabulary instruction, her research interests include classroom talk about texts and the design of meaningful and motivating tasks to support comprehension of text.

"If you don't already belong to a teachers-as-readers group, this book is reason to start one. The authors expand on the fundamentals that made their Bringing Words to Life such a treasure. They provide practical and specific ideas that will increase your knowledge of the 'what,' 'when,' and 'how' of vocabulary instruction, supported throughout by explanations that will stretch your thinking about the 'why.' Motivated by concerns raised by real teachers, this book contains everything you wanted to know about robust vocabulary instruction."--Mary E. Curtis, PhD, Director, Center for Special Education, Lesley University"Get out your highlighter when you read Creating Robust Vocabulary! The authors discuss why a robust vocabulary is essential to comprehension and how to enrich vocabulary instruction. This is one professional book you will really enjoy using--I couldn't put it down. Reading this book felt like having a marvelous conversation with the authors; they answered all my vocabulary-related questions, plus ones I didn't know I had. This invaluable, teacher-friendly resource inspired me to start implementing the robust vocabulary strategies with my first graders today, and they loved it!"--Ann Uzendoski, MS, first-grade teacher, Highwood Hills Elementary School, St. Paul, Minnesota"This highly anticipated book is the perfect follow-up to Bringing Words to Life, the seminal text on robust vocabulary instruction. The authors accomplish with aplomb what few are able to do; they take rigorously researched, evidence-based strategies for supporting vocabulary development and present them in a way that is accessible to teachers and engaging to students."--Michael D. Coyne, PhD, Special Education Program, University of Connecticut"I love this book! Beck, McKeown, and Kucan provide in-depth discussion of vocabulary and its effects on reading comprehension and writing; tier placement of words; and instructional sequence and activities. The Q&A format is reader friendly, and I find the extended examples of full lesson cycles especially useful for planning vocabulary instruction in my classroom. This book is a 'must read' for preservice and inservice teachers of every grade level, literacy coaches, educational researchers, and anyone who has ever had questions about vocabulary instruction. I will definitely be recommending this book to my colleagues."--Clover Noack, MEd, Reading Specialist/Curriculum Coordinator, Ft. Zumwalt School District, O’Fallon, Missouri"In this engaging volume, Beck, McKeown, and Kucan help readers to better understand their three-tiered approach to categorizing words, describe the ins and outs of selecting Tier Two words for instruction, and explain in detail how to teach word meanings before, during, and after reading. Examples drawn from the primary grades through high school illustrate the authors' approach to teaching Tier Two words for deep understanding. The examples and detailed descriptions give readers the knowledge needed to generate their own word selections and instructional approaches to fit a variety of texts and a variety of students."--Susan Watts Taffe, PhD, School of Education, University of Cincinnati- Creating Robust Vocabulary was developed as a companion volume to Bringing Words to Life....This new publication contains extensive instruction modeling that teachers will find immediately enticing....The two volumes together provide invaluable classroom resources for teachers....Beck, McKeown, and Kucan's indispensible scholarship, first in Bringing Words to Life and now with Creating Robust Vocabulary, provides teachers with a coherent and compelling framework for changing the landscape of vocabulary instruction in their classrooms. --Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 4/30/2008

• 1. Vocabulary and Its Effects 2. Which Words? 3. The Basics: When and How to Teach 4. Some Nitty-Gritties of Instruction 5. What about English Language Learners? 6. Extended Examples 7. Professional Development Appendix A. Menu of Instructional Activities Appendix B. Some Well-Known Books and Stories and Corresponding Tier Two Word Candidates