Rather than introducing a new word in isolation, teachers should introduce students to a rich variety of words that share the same root. This approach should help diverse learners including English language learners, make important connections among vocabulary words within the same family, and transfer core ideas across content areas.
Lisa Guernsey is director of the Early Education Initiative and the Learning Technologies Project in the Education Policy Program at New America. Her latest book, co-authored with Michael H. Levine, Tap, Click, Read: Growing Readers in a World of Screens (2015), takes readers through homes, classrooms, e-book publishers, research labs, and the app marketplace to show how educators and parents can help children grow into strong, passionate readers using media of all kinds — print, digital, and everything in between.
