Obviously, students’ knowledge of words is critical to their success as readers, writers, and speakers. But vocabulary affects much more than communication. The truth is, teaching vocabulary directly to our students is one of the most important instructional decisions we can make. In fact, research suggests that vocabulary instruction focused on key academic terms can lead to gains as high as 33 percentile points on subject area tests.

Word Works: Cracking Vocabulary’s CODE gives teachers a simple but powerful way to plan and teach instructional units while helping students develop the skills essential to learning new vocabulary. At the center of this approach is a four-phase teaching and learning framework known as CODE. By building lessons and units using CODE, you can help your students

Connect, or “grab onto” new words and terms.
Organize new terms into meaningful frameworks that clarify important relationships within the content.
Deep process the most important words to ensure they find their way into long-term memory.
Exercise new words by using them in writing and speech.