It Is, but it Isn't: a Quick Tip for Vocabulary

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend a really awesome continuing education class about teaching vocabulary, led by Patricia Sanford.  If you have the chance and she swings through your neck of the woods, do yourself a favor and sign up.  Her information is very accessible, and easy to implement starting as soon as you get back in your building! 

One thing she introduced me to was it is but it isn't.  It's a strategy to help a student figure out a word meaning by giving examples of what it is, while also giving examples of what it is not.  When they think they have it figured out, the student can come up with their own example to prove they understand the pattern. 

I find it's easiest to use for words that are categories.  But my students LOVE figuring out the pattern.  And once they do that, they can often verbalize a definition better. 

For example, here's how I use it to figure out the meaning of the word antonym before I started on an activity targeting them.  So you can see, I said that an antonym IS big and small, but it IS NOT big and large.

Or I might say an appetizer IS pigs in a blanket, it IS NOT hotdogs.  It IS chips and salsa, it IS NOT tacos. You get the idea.

It sounds so simple that I wish I could say I had thought of it before.  But my students are so much more engaged when they have to figure out what the pattern is and it seems like they are more engaged with the process.

What strategies do you use to help get word meanings to stick?  We just started a book study at my elementary building on Bringing Words to Life for a building-wide effort to increase teaching of Tier 2 vocabulary words.  Has anyone else read this book as a group?