Explicit vocabulary instruction beats teaching five words on Monday and quizzing on Friday, based on today’s guest. Students need to know vocabulary, and that old routine is not the fastest or most efficient way for kids to learn all that vocab.
Fifth-grade teacher Sean Morrisey makes vocabulary stick by using explicit vocabulary instruction. Sean spent eight years as a school psychologist who tested struggling readers. Frustrated that kids weren’t learning, he moved into the classroom and has taught for eighteen years. He also created the Word Mapping Project, a curriculum that ties vocabulary, spelling, and word parts together.
In this episode, Sean shares the routine he uses to teach new words, how he teaches kids to use word parts to figure out words, and an awesome tip to help kids learn more words, faster (and probably easier).
In short: Explicit vocabulary instruction means teaching a new word directly as students say it, hear an age-appropriate definition, and hear examples. Sean Morrisey adds that morphology and teaching words in contrast pairs (like optional and mandatory) can allow students to generate more understanding of vocabulary faster.
Sean spent eight years as a school psychologist testing kids who struggled to read and eighteen years teaching students as a classroom teacher. Here’s what he’s learned works for teaching students vocabulary.
Each question links to the transcript where Sean answers it.
Some essential vocabulary used in this lesson.
Here’s where the facts in this episode come from, with the time stamp so you can hear each one. Checked October 28, 2026.
This transcript was generated using AI and has been reviewed by humans for accuracy. Minor errors or artifacts may remain but I worked my best to find any issues with the transcript as I reviewed the show. – Vicki
Voiceover (00:00): Our guest today has spent eight years as a school psychologist, testing struggling readers. Why did he walk into the classroom instead? How many times does a kid need to meet a new word before it really sticks? Today, we’re talking about how to teach vocabulary so it sticks with explicit vocabulary instruction you can use in your very next lesson. This is Wonderful Classroom Wednesday, episode 1018.
Announcer (00:27): This is the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.
Vicki Davis (00:31): For eight years, our guest today sat across from struggling readers as a school psychologist diagnosing exactly why the words weren’t sticking. And then he went into the classroom to fix it himself. Sean Morrisey has spent the last 18 years teaching fifth grade at Pinehurst Elementary just outside Buffalo, New York. He’s the creator of the Word Mapping Project, a structured approach to vocabulary built on the science of reading and the science of learning.
Sean, welcome to the show.
Sean Morrisey (01:09): Thank you for having me, Vicki.
Vicki Davis (01:11): Okay, Sean, you started off as a school psychologist for eight years before you taught in the classroom. What made you want to go be the teacher instead?
Why would a school psychologist leave testing to become a classroom teacher?
Sean Morrisey (01:19): A lot of students were being referred to me, and most of those students for suspected reading disabilities. I would do the traditional testing. We would have meetings to decide, is this student eligible for special education services? But I think we never got down to the root of the problem. Okay, what are we going to do to help this child? I felt like even in my role, I could make recommendations, but you’re on the outside.
You’re not a teacher. You’re just a school psychologist. Just personally, I felt like I wasn’t making a difference in students’ lives like I wanted to. And I think a lot of school psychs go into the field because of more like mental health, like they think counseling and things like that. And the role is very much, I think, testing and meetings. One day, just thought to myself, I just really wanted to teach the kids.
Academics and early literacy was like at the forefront of what I wanted to do then. And then I went back to school, got my teaching certificate, and then made the switch over. I didn’t start in fifth grade. I started in first grade, by the way.
Vicki Davis (02:20): There are a lot of fifth grade teachers who are like, how am I supposed to teach kids to read? Do you have that problem now? Or is reading come into play in every grade level?
Do upper elementary teachers still need to teach reading?
Sean Morrisey (02:30): Every grade level. And I know like in the last five, six years is the big science of reading push. And I think a lot of that started with phonics in the early grades. But certainly in the upper elementary and to the middle grades, we need to think about the aspects of why are kids struggling and what can we do about it?
Vicki Davis (02:49): What can we do about it? Go for it.
Why can some kids decode words but still not understand what they read?
Sean Morrisey (02:51): We have to figure out the issues. I think when we think about reading in general, we go to the basics. Can kids pull the words off the page, right? Can kids decode the words fluently? Can they read a passage, a page fluently enough where they’re not spending all their working memory in trying to figure out what the words are saying? So that’s affecting their comprehension. So kids need to pull the words off the page.
They need to be fluent readers. The other aspect, though, that I think has been somewhat, I think, pretty neglected over the last 25 years is the language piece. Do kids have the right amount? Do kids have a big enough vocabulary where if they’re coming to words that they can maybe decode, do they know what those words mean? Even if kids don’t know what one word means in a sentence, it could mess up the whole understanding of a paragraph.
Say the word subsequently. If a student doesn’t know that subsequently means, oh, something occurred after in that context of the sentence, they’re going to really struggle understanding that sentence and then that paragraph and possibly that whole article that they’re reading. So I think breaking it down to the most simplest, I guess, can kids pull the words off the page? can they decode, and do they have the language for meaning in putting that together?
Vicki Davis (04:10): So most of us were taught vocabulary this way. Here’s a list. Here’s a definition. Here’s a quiz on Friday. Is there something wrong with that?
What is a better way to teach vocabulary than a word list and a Friday quiz?
Sean Morrisey (04:19): The research is clear that those words are not going to stick in long-term memory. So it has to be where there’s got to be, number one, a lot of exposure. When I first start teaching vocabulary, in many instances, it’s explicit where I’m teaching a word and I’m saying the word. I’ll even give you an example. Say the word segregation. I make sure the kids chorally repeat that word back because the start of learning a word is by pronouncing the word yourself and pronouncing it correctly.
So that’s starting the mapping process into long-term memory. Then I’ll just quickly give students a definition in student-friendly terms what a word means. Segregation means keeping people or things separated. It’s simple, student-friendly language. Then give kids a couple of examples on that word segregation. In history, segregation kept people apart based on their race. So you’re giving kids quick examples, and that’s the start of the mapping process.
But telling kids, explicitly telling them what a word means to start, like that’s the starting basis with that.
Vicki Davis (05:24): Now, morphology, roots, prefixes, suffixes. What does that help a student gain when they can see how a word is built?
How does teaching morphology help students learn new words?
Sean Morrisey (05:35): With even that example, it anchors a word. And part of like your lexicon, you’re thinking about word parts. And it can generate even more learning when you’re not explicitly teaching students. Like in that word segregation, there’s a base in the word, G-R-E-G, greg, which means flock. So when you think about when you go to church and your congregation, well, it’s a flocking of people together.
Like the word parts, C-O-N is a prefix, which means with or together. So even thinking about the parts of that word, that was a nice base. But then you could think about there’s congregation and then there’s segregation. The prefix changes there. Instead of coming together, it’s separating the flock. So, generative learning, where then you could think of words like aggregate, egregious has the same base in there.
So, you’re thinking about other words that share similar parts to the word.
Vicki Davis (06:33): Do you find that your students who go through this and learn this decode and look at words differently than kids who may not?
Can students use word parts to figure out words they haven’t been taught?
Sean Morrisey (06:40): Context gets brought up a lot. Like, oh, let’s use the context to figure out, like, the meaning of a word. Context is very hard, though, especially for kids to figure out words based on context. But… Based on word parts, they certainly can. Thinking about science, like the words carnivore and herbivore, I was teaching the word voracious. And one of the students raised their hand and mentioned, oh, Mr.
Morrisey, I think that word part vore, I bet that means to eat because he was linking voracious with carnivore and herbivore before I even taught it. I’m like, yes, like thinking about carnivore. Yes, they’re meat eaters, herbivore, plant eaters, you know, insectivore, insect eaters. Kids will definitely generate understanding more words because they’re thinking about the word parts for sure.
Vicki Davis (07:32): What is the most common mistake that many teachers make in vocabulary instruction?
What is the most common mistake teachers make in vocabulary instruction?
Sean Morrisey (07:37): I think not having enough repetitions and enough exposures. I think it’s a curriculum issue. We’re going to learn this word in this novel. For teachers, they do about like a minute or two with the word, and then it’s a one-off. Words can’t be one-offs. Most kids need 10 exposures in different ways with a word for it to really get mapped in long-term memory. And some words are difficult.
Like take the word contract, which if we even pronounce it different, contract, it means its parts of speech change and meanings change. Like a contract is like a legal document between two parties, right? Contract. Oh, you can contract an illness, right? You can contract a muscle, like muscles are pulled together. It’s too like surface level. It’s like dictionary definition. Oh, a contract is, and they’ll do a dictionary definition.
But you really need to talk about a word, all the different meanings, pulling out the morphology, like even in the word contract, prefix C-O-N, with or together, tract is to pull, we need to step it up and think about all those different aspects and then bring a lot of different contexts in where kids are getting exposed more than just once or twice to a word.
Vicki Davis (08:56): So is there something that schools spend a lot of time on that the research says does not work?
Which vocabulary activities take a lot of class time but don’t help words stick?
Sean Morrisey (09:02): I’ve seen in the past where teachers would do like a bingo board where kids would be drawing a picture, where drawing a picture of a word is not necessarily the wrong thing to do. Sometimes we want to visualize, but students will spend like an hour and then it becomes more of like, oh, how pretty can I make this versus am I teaching it efficiently? Am I using the word, you know, as best I can in different cases?
I just think vocabulary needs more time. It has to be thought of where you’re not just thinking about one lesson. You’re thinking about the next lesson and then the next lesson.
Vicki Davis (09:39): So a teacher is driving to school tomorrow morning and they’re listening to our interview. What is one thing that teacher can do in their next vocab lesson that is different from what they did today?
What can I change in my next vocabulary lesson to help students learn more words?
Sean Morrisey (09:50): I like to teach words in pairs to have a contrast. So if I’m teaching the word, say, optional, I’ll also teach mandatory at the same time. I think it’s a very, very efficient. So explicitly teaching kids what the word optional means, giving students a nice student-friendly definition and a couple of examples. But then I like to teach the contrast word mandatory. So then students know what the word optional is, but then they know optional isn’t mandatory and vice versa.
I think teaching words in pairs, it’s fairly efficient where it doesn’t take twice as long, but you’re getting so much more. I wholeheartedly believe this as we set the bar way too low on how many words kids can pick up and add to their lexicon, to their word bank. We’ve always like, oh, kids, we got to do like five words a week is their max. I don’t believe in that because the more I’ve tried to structure words and have a plan for them all that they can, kids can certainly learn a lot more words than that.
Vicki Davis (10:56): Sean, tell us about the Word Mapping Project, what that does and where they can find you.
What is the Word Mapping Project?
Sean Morrisey (11:03): A couple years ago, all the things that I’ve been doing in my classroom, a couple of teachers talked to me like, you really should try to put lessons together so other teachers can use. So every single minute of the day that I have not been teaching, that’s what I’m writing curriculum. And it’s just a structured way to teach words. I think sometimes curriculums, they silo all of these things where at the elementary level, say fourth, fifth grade, oh, we’re going to teach fluency now, or we’re going to teach vocabulary now and spellings, but it all goes together.
To really map words into long-term memory, we always need to think about sound, spelling, and meaning. And the research is really clear on that. And morphology ties all of that together. So the Word Mapping Project curriculum that I built ties all that in together. We’ve seen some really good results, not just in my classroom, but through pilot teachers that piloted the curriculum last year.
We’re really excited about it. I do have a website, the Word Mapping Project. There’s a lot on the website. There’s links to videos to learn more about the curriculum.
Vicki Davis (12:11): We’ve been talking with fifth grade teacher Sean Morrisey. Thank you, Sean, for coming on the show.
Sean Morrisey (12:17): Thank you for having me, Vicki. It’s my pleasure to be here.
Announcer (12:20): Thank you for tuning in to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast. Join us here every weekday and subscribe to the Classroom Matters newsletter. See you later, educator.
Sean Morrisey is a fifth grade teacher at Pinehurst Elementary School in the Frontier Central School District, just outside of Buffalo, New York. He is a former school psychologist who spent eight years supporting students’ academic and behavioral needs before transitioning into the classroom, where he has spent the past 18 years refining his approach to literacy instruction.
Grounded in the Science of Learning and the Science of Reading, Sean’s work focuses on helping students build strong connections between sound, spelling, and meaning to support long-term vocabulary and literacy development. He is the creator and author of the Word Mapping Project curriculum, a structured, morphology-rich approach designed to make the inner workings of words visible and meaningful for students. Through his teaching and professional development work, Sean emphasizes practical, research-aligned strategies that help educators deliver explicit, effective vocabulary and word study instruction with clarity and confidence. Sean frequently posts on X and also writes on substack.
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