TLED 408: Vocabulary Activity Assignment

For this assignment you will develop activities to introduce, teach, and reinforce vocabulary for
your unit plan for a specific grade level, discipline, and both content and literacy standards.
Using your knowledge of vocabulary activities and their impact on vocabulary knowledge and
student independence, clearly outline the activities you will use within your unit. Upon
completing the unit, students should be independent users of the vocabulary words.

Grade Level, Content Area, and Theme: The grade level I will be using is 10th grade
American History, focusing on the World War I era. My content area is History and the theme
for this focuses on World War I.

tandards/Learning Objectives:

WHII.10 The student will apply social science skills to understand World War I and its
worldwide impact by

a) explaining economic and political causes and identifying major leaders of the war, with
emphasis on Woodrow Wilson and Kaiser Wilhelm II;

b) describing the location of major battles and the role of new technologies

Vocabulary Words and Rationale: List 10-15 vocabulary words and their definitions for your
unit plan. Provide a short rationale for choosing these vocabulary words.

1. Alliance System--- A formal agreement between two or more nations or powers to

cooperate and come to another's defense.

2. Imperialism ---A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy
or military force.

3. Militarism ---The belief or desire of a government or people that a country should

maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or
promote national interest.

4. Nationalism---Patriotic feeling, principles, or efforts.

5. President During WW1---Woodrow Wilson.

6. Triple Alliance--- A union or association between three powers or states.

7. Triple Entente--- The military alliance formed between Russia, Great Britain and France
before World War 1.

8. Lusitania--- A ship that was sink in World War 1 by German U-boats.

9. WW1---- A military conflict centered on Europe that began in the summer of 1914. The
fighting ended in late 1918.

10. Franz Ferdinand- The heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary.

11. Central Powers--- World War 1 alliance led by Austria-Hungary and Germany and later
joined by Bulgaria and the Ottoman empire.

12. Trench Warfare--- World War 1 military strategy of defending a position by fighting
form the protection of deep ditches.

13. No- Man's-land---- Strip of land between the trenches of opposing armies along the
western front during WW1.

14. U-boats--- German Submarines.

 15. Treaty Of Versailles--- Most famous WW1 treaty; between Germany and the allied
powers in which Germany accepted full responsibility for the war and agreed to pay
reparations; the U.S did not ratify the treaty.

These are the vocabulary words that I have chosen because I feel that they coincide with
the chapter that I will be teaching very well. While each definition will help the student get
a better idea of the readings, as well as the terminology that will be used in this chapter.
Most of the words that are listed are words that they might have seen before however some
are a little more challenging for students who do not know the legitimate definition. I would
like to build on prior knowledge making the students feel that they understand the topic
rather than giving them words that they do not understand at all.

Introducing Vocabulary Activity: Picture it activity

 Activity Overview & Rationale: For the first activity I would like to use a “picture it”
type of assignment, possibly holding up pictures of what the definition is explaining for
example holding up a picture of a trench and asking students if they know what it is then
having them write down the word they think the picture is showing.
 Materials: The materials that will be needed for this activity are…
 1. Paper
 2. Pencil/ Pen something to write with
 3. Pictures of what I will be defining (for the teacher only)

Example of Activity

Class what does this picture represent to you?

  Instructional Steps: The specific instructional steps that are for this activity are as
follows----
The class will begin by taking out a piece of paper, after I review some of the
information they learned from last class, once this is done and they take out a piece
of paper I will hold up a picture of the definition I would like them to define. Once
the class is finished I will do the same for the next picture.
 Differentiation:
For this activity I will differentiate by letting the children who do not want to write
on paper the definition, they can write it on a computer or a tablet, for the hearing
or sight impaired they will have other accommodations as well such as special
pictures or drawing what they think the picture means instead.

This activity will help introduce the students to what the words look like in comparison to
their books and also give them a better sense of what the event in WWI looked like rather
than just writing the words to begin with.
 Teaching Vocabulary Activity: Word Webb
 Activity Overview & Rationale: Creating sentences the using a word web, the rationale
by doing this, it will help the students identify the word in a sentence, as well as try and
figure out if the word is correct within that sentence and there will be one clear answer
for each of the following sentences. This will help the students find familiar sentences
with the correct definition/word.
 Materials: The materials that you would need are the worksheet for each student, as well
as extras for other students, a pen/pencil as well. The activity would include

Central Powers WW1 U-Boats Triple Alliance

Lusitania President During Nationalism Treaty Of Versailles
WW1

1. The soldiers felt a strong sense of________ because they were winning the war.
2. When the ship ___________sank many lives were lost.
3. This is a certain type of boat that many soldiers were using________.
4. The __________ was leading the country in the right direction.
  Instructional Steps: The steps that were used in this activity are 1. Have class review
their note books and look over any of the vocab they learned yesterday. 2. Tell class to
take out a piece of paper and pen as well as pay attention to the independent work. 3.
Hand out the piece of paper and let everyone fill it in as they wish. 4. Once this is
completed, I will go over it with the entire class.
 Differentiation: To make sure that all students are on the same page I will be walking
around the room if I see a child struggling I like to see them explain verbally, or draw a
picture of that specific definition/vocab word. If I feel the child cant do that either then I
will have them try and “act out” what the vocab word means, this will still get the point
across that the child is learning.

Reinforcing Vocabulary Activity: Repetition

 Activity Overview & Rationale: With this activity I would like to stick to the more
basic activities by using a repetition activity where students are writing the definition a
few times in a row through out the class using their own words as to what the definition
means to them. When I was a student the way I learned definitions is by using repletion
to write them over and over. This activity reaches the interpretive and application levels
by adding the previous activities from earlier on in the week and also the repetition to
finish the learning will be a good outlet for students to learn the definitions correctly.
 Materials: The materials that will be needed for this activity are one again a pen, paper,
and the words the students should be defining.

A sheet of paper with blank words.

1. Alliance-
2. Trench Warfare-
3. Treaty Of Versailles-
4. Franz Ferdinand-

The words above will be more than five and have more space in between them, and the students
will have space to write individually what the definition is and explain farther what it means.

 Instructional Steps: Beginning with me passing out a sheet of paper and explaining that
this will be a “pre test” where students will be re- writing the definitions that they already
should understand by this point in the class, if a student is struggling they can pull out the
definition sheet and look it over once more and continue writing.
 Differentiation: I will differentiate this activity by students who are unable to write can
speak with me what they feel the definition means as well as if they are having trouble
with learning the English language, they can draw a picture of what the definition means
as well.
Format: This assignment can be completed using the bold headings above. There should be no
grammatical or spelling errors. It should be a typed word document written in 12 point font,
saved and submitted as TLED 408.lastname.firstname.vocabulary.

Vocabulary Activity Assignment Rubric

Points Possible
Grade Level, The student specifies the grade level, content area, and
Content Area, theme the unit will cover. The precise learning objectives
Theme, and that will be addressed by the unit are identified for both
Standards literacy and the discipline. .5

Vocabulary The student lists 10-15 vocabulary words and their

Words and definitions. The student clearly explains the rationale for 1
Rationale choosing these words.
Introducing The student provides a clear overview and rationale for
Vocabulary using this activity. The student clearly outlines the
Activity materials and provides a completed sample. The student 1
outlines all of the steps for the activity. The student clearly
explains differentiation options for this activity.
Teaching The student provides a clear description of the materials
Vocabulary used in this activity. The student creates all of the materials 1
Activity needed for the students to successfully complete the
activity.
Reinforcing The student outlines all of the instructional steps for the
Vocabulary comprehension activity. There is a clear beginning, middle 1
Activity and end to the activity.
Format The assignment is presented using the bold headings
provided. There are no formatting or spelling errors. It is
.5
written in 12pt black font.

Total _____/5
Points
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