Vocabulary Fair
At Downtown Elementary


by Rebecca McKay
Director, Literacy and Professional Development

Downtown Elementary in Muscogee County has worked toward a school-wide emphasis on vocabulary and concept development as a follow up to the 2006 Summer Institute and 2007 Winter Conference.  Through staff development, the faculty learned that good instruction in these two areas included repetition of newly acquired words and concepts, meaningful use, and integration.

For a month the whole school focused on determining importance as a reading strategy. The focus text for the school was Rotten Island by William Steig.  As the end of March, each grade level and team brought classroom examples of instruction that had been embraced by the students. They held an “old fashioned” fair in the school gym along the lines of a “science fair”. The afternoon was a success as the teachers shared the student work, celebrated successes, and learned new strategies from each other. This celebration is a good example of excellent coaching that is grounded in five leadership key skills:

  1. Developing rapport and trust  
  2. Listening for meaning
  3. Questioning for understanding
  4. Prompting action, reflection and learning
  5. Developing confidence and celebrating success