Common Core State Standards FAQs--Academic Vocabulary

I'd like to start a series of FAQs to respond to questions we've received regarding Mirrors and Windows' alignment to the new Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts. The first one deals with the academic vocabulary standards in the CCSS.

Q. 1. What steps have you taken to align academic vocabulary in your instructional materials with the academic vocabulary used in the common core state standards?

A. The common core state standards break vocabulary acquisition into three tiers of words:
• Tier 1 words (everyday speech used in conversation)
• Tier 2 words (general academic words found across the curriculum)
• Tier 3 words (domain-specific academic words specific to a content area)

Mirrors & Windows offers the following features throughout the program to align with the common core state standards and to support vocabulary acquisition of all three tiers of words:

• Teacher’s Edition includes before each unit a Building Vocabulary list of words from the unit divided into three types: Words in Use (Tier 1: vocabulary defined within the selection in the side margins or at the bottoms of pages); Selection Words (Tier 1: words that may be challenging but are not defined in the selection); and Teaching Words (Tiers 2 & 3: general and domain-specific academic words used in instruction).

• Unit Introductions in the student text define Tier 3 academic words specific to the content instruction in the unit. For example, in the fiction unit words such as plot, exposition, point of view, characterization, setting, and theme are defined and examples are provided. These words are reinforced in before, during, and after reading features.

• Reading Models (in grades 6-10) and How to Read the Genre (in grades 11-12) features provide definitions of Tier 2 academic words that can be applied across the curriculum to aid in reading strategy application, such as context, purpose, analyze, predict, clarify, sequence, and evaluate.

• In the Before Reading pages before each selection, Analyze Literature defines Tier 3 domain-specific academic vocabulary words; Use Reading Skills defines Tier 2 general academic words; and Preview Vocabulary provides a list of Tier 1 vocabulary words defined within the selection in the margins or at the bottoms of pages.

• After Reading questions following the selections define Tier 2 academic words aligned with Bloom’s Taxonomy, such as refer, reason, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create, to help students apply critical thinking skills.

• Vocabulary & Spelling workshops in each unit in the textbook and in the Exceeding the Standards: Vocabulary & Spelling supplement develop vocabulary skills such as understanding context clues, denotation and connotation, word origins and word parts, and using a dictionary or thesaurus, so that students can independently apply these skills to learn new words from all three tiers.