Academic Language Mastery: Vocabulary in Context

By now it's a given: if we're to help our ELLs and SELs access the rigorous demands of today's content standards, we must cultivate the "code" that drives school success: academic language. Look no further for assistance than this much-anticipated series from Ivannia Soto, in which she invites field authorities Jeff Zwiers, David and Yvonne Freeman, Margarita Calderon, and Noma LeMoine to share every teacher's need-to-know strategies on the four essential components of academic language.

The subject of this volume is vocabulary. Here, Margarita Calderon reveals how vocabulary is best taught as a tool for completing and constructing more complex messages. With this book as your roadmap, you'll learn how to:

Teach high-frequency academic words and discipline-specific vocabulary across content areas
• Utilize strategies for teaching academic vocabulary, moving students from Tier 1 to Tiers 2 and 3 words and selecting appropriate words to teach
• Assess vocabulary growth as you go

Our vocabulary instruction must come from the texts our ELLs and SELs are about to read, not from a set of activities that teach words in isolation. This guidebook will help you get started as early as tomorrow. Better yet, read all four volumes in the series and put in place an all-in-one instructional plan for closing the achievement gap.

Author: Margarita Espino Calderon, Ivannia Soto
Publisher: Corwin Publishers
Published: 08/25/2016
Pages: 96
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.30d
ISBN: 9781506338071

About the Author
Calderon, Margarita Espino: - Dr. Margarita Espino Calderón is Professor Emerita/Senior Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University. She has worked on numerous research and development projects focusing on reading for English learners funded by the U.S.D.O.E Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Labor, and collaborated with Harvard and the Center for Applied Linguistics on a longitudinal study funded by the NICHD. The Carnegie Corporation of New York funded her five-year empirical study to develop Expediting Comprehension for English Language Learners (ExC-ELL), a comprehensive professional development model for math, science, social studies, language arts, ESL and SPED teachers that integrates language, literacy and content. She also developed two other effective evidence-based programs: Reading Instructional Goals for Older Readers (RIGOR) for Newcomers with Interrupted Formal Education. Additionally, the Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (BCIRC) program was developed for dual language instruction and is listed in the What Works Clearinghouse.Currently, Margarita collaborates with George Washington University on a Title III five-year grant to implement and further study A Whole-School Approach to Professional Development with ExC-ELL in Virginia school districts. She is a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice and Office of Civil Rights. She serves and has served on national language and literacy research panels. Margarita is also President/CEO of Margarita Calderón and Associates, Inc. Dr. Calderón and her team of 10 Associates conduct ExC-ELL comprehensive multi-year professional development and on-site coaching in schools, districts, state-wide and international Institutes. She has over 100 publications on language and literacy for ELs. Soto, Ivannia: - Dr. Ivannia Soto is Professor of Education and Director of Graduate Programs at Whittier College, where she specializes in language acquisition, systemic reform for English language learners (ELLs), and urban education. She began her career in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), where she taught English and English Language Development to a population of 99.9% Latinos, who either were or had been multilingual learners. Before becoming a professor, Dr. Soto also served LAUSD as a literacy coach, as well as district office and county office administrator. She has presented on literacy and language topics at various conferences, including the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), the California Association for Bilingual Association (CABE), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and the National Urban Education Conference. As a consultant, Soto has worked with Stanford University's School Redesign Network (SRN), WestEd, and CABE, as well as a variety of districts and county offices in California, providing technical assistance for systemic reform for ELLs and Title III. Recently, Soto also directed a CABE bilingual teacher and administrator program across California. Dr. Soto has authored and co-authored twelve books, including The Literacy Gaps: Building Bridges for ELLs and SELs; ELL Shadowing as a Catalyst for Change, which was recognized by Education Trust-West as a promising practice for ELLs in 2018; From Spoken to Written Language with ELLs; the Academic English Mastery four-book series; Common Core Companion Book Series for English Language Development four-book series; Breaking Down the Wall; and Supporting Cultural and Linguistic Diversity: A Framework for Responsive Schooling. Together, the books tell a story of how to equitably engage and include ELLs by ensuring that they gain voice and an academic identity in the classroom setting. Soto is Executive Director of the Institute for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching (ICLRT) at Whittier College, whose mission it is to promote relevant research and develop academic resources for ELLs and Standard English Learners (SELs) via linguistically and culturally responsive teaching practices.