Second ABR Cycle: Marzano Vocabulary

The second professional development program that I chose to apply arts-based research too was on the topic "Marzano Vocabulary". This is a teaching strategy aimed at effectively presenting vocabulary so that students understand and utilize the terms. Comprehension of vocabulary was explained to be a key element of students understand the concepts and meanings of the lesson material and would lead to better test scores. The teaching strategy consisted of a six step process that include three steps for teaching the terms and three steps of engaging the students with the words. All teachers were expected to use the methods covered in their classes. The professional development took place in the schools media center. It was a 45 minute session that took place at the end of the work day.

As this professional development was aimed at specifically improving students' learning, I wanted to be able to fully utilize this professionally approved practice. Vocabulary is an essential part art education. Many terms that students are introduced to are foreign words and concepts that students have never heard of. Understanding and using these terms as they relate to the concepts is an essential part of an art class.

The notes that I took during the PD session were focused on understanding the steps. I wanted to further explore how they related to my teaching practice.

While completing a possible sketch of how I wanted to depict the importance of this process, I wanted to include imagery that reflects the idea of a progressive process that one moves through. I think this is the key feature of this process. Instead of students looking at vocabulary as a process of reading and memorizing definitions, they should understand that it is a more complex process of correlating the new term with their current knowledge to make a connection. Students then need to use and work with the terms regularly to truly understand their meaning. I wanted the image to reflect this progressive idea so I included a step motif in the background. I also wanted the entire image to resemble a page of a calender again as a means of suggesting that over time, meaning will be developed. 

I planned on this image resembling the Cornell Notes image in that it will hopefully be a useful image that I can share with my students. Again, at this point, enhanced familiarity has been gained by creatively working with the information, even at this early point in the process.