For the past few years, reading has taken center stage in PD—specifically because this is an area that has been deemed as being one that most of our students struggle with as evidenced by ISAT performance. For the past couple of years, teachers have been exposed to the concept of Reading Across the Curriculum. At first, Haugan received PD from an outside consultant and then last year, most of our PD was delivered on-site by our Master Teachers. This year, we are going full force with Reading Across the Curriculum and marrying it to the Differentiation concept—Haugan personnel will be the driving force behind the initiative; in terms of providing all PD ourselves. So far, we have delivered 4 PowerPoint presentations that have some type of literacy/differentiation element embedded into it: Ex: 1. Formative Assessment; 2. Word Maps to Build Comprehension; 3. Summarizing; and 4. Differentiation. Word Maps to Build Comprehension: In having professional conversations about student needs, we know that in order to develop better readers, we need to ensure that we refine students’ academic vocabularies. By doing this, students will not only perform better on state tests but will have more academic success. In addition to the literacy element embedded in this technique, differentiation is interwoven in it since the method taps into the VAK (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic) learning modalities. In selecting the most effective vocabulary teaching methods, we look for ones that tap into the VAK learning modalities because research has shown that this is the best way to maximize learning for everyone.

1. Word Maps to Build Reading Comprehension Lisa Lazansky-Roach & Vincent Thur

2. Bell-Ringer Why are word walls an important strategy for building comprehension skills?

3. What is a Word Map? A word map is a visual organizer that promotes vocabulary development. Using a graphic organizer, students think about terms or concepts in several ways. Most word map organizers engage students in developing a definition, synonyms, antonyms, and a picture for a given vocabulary word or concept. Enhancing students' vocabulary is important to developing their reading comprehension

4. Why Use Word Map? They're useful for helping students develop their understanding of a word. They help students think about new terms or concepts in several ways by asking the following questions: "What is it?""What is it like?" and"What are some examples?" They help student build upon prior knowledge and visually represent new information. Think VAK!

5. When and How Do We Use Them?

6. What Does the Template Look Like?

7. How Does It Work? Introduce the vocabulary word and the map to the students. Teach them how to use the map by putting the target word in the central box. Ask students to suggest words or phrases to put in the other boxes which answer the following questions: "What is it?" "What is it like?" and "What are some examples?" Encourage students to use synonyms, antonyms, and a picture to help illustrate the new target word or concept. Model how to write a definition using the information on the word map.

8. Science Document Read silentlythe science document on understanding fire. Taken from the 7th Science book

9. Example of Science Word Map

10. Word Map Activity Time It is now your turn to complete your own word map given a science vocabulary word from the text we read.

11. Closure How do you see yourself using word maps to assist in the development of your students’ vocabulary?