Making Academic Language Stick: The Project GLAD® Cognitive Content Dictionary
OCDE Project GLAD® Coach Dr. Sara Martinez demonstrates the Cognitive Content Dictionary (CCD).
One of the biggest challenges in today’s classrooms is helping students truly understand and use academic vocabulary—not just memorize definitions for a test. This is where Project GLAD®’s Cognitive Content Dictionary (CCD) shines. More than a vocabulary activity, the Cognitive Content Dictionary is a powerful strategy that builds language, comprehension, and confidence for all learners, especially language learners.
What is Project GLAD®?
OCDE Project GLAD® is a curricular model of strategies designed to give teachers the skills and confidence to integrate the content that they already teach with powerful language development opportunities.
What Is a Cognitive Content Dictionary?
The CCD is a cornerstone strategy in the Project GLAD® model designed to explicitly teach key academic vocabulary in a meaningful, interactive way. Rather than presenting words in isolation, teachers introduce vocabulary as part of concept development, connecting words to visuals, gestures, discussion, and real-world meaning.
This multisensory approach ensures that students don’t just recognize a word—they understand it deeply and can apply it across contexts.
Why Vocabulary Instruction Matters
Academic vocabulary is often the gatekeeper to content learning. Students may understand a concept but struggle to express it because they lack the language. For language learners, this challenge is even greater, but native speakers also benefit from explicit instruction in academic terms.
The CCD addresses this challenge by:
Making vocabulary visible and accessible
Repeatedly exposing students to key terms
Encouraging oral language development
Supporting long-term retention
When students interact with words in multiple ways, those words move from short-term memory into usable knowledge.
While Project GLAD® strategies were designed with English learners in mind, the Cognitive Content Dictionary benefits all students. It:
Builds oral language skills in a low-risk environment
Supports students with learning differences
Encourages collaborative learning
Students begin to take ownership of academic vocabulary, using words naturally in discussions, writing, and assessments.
Instructional Process
The CCD has 10 steps that are delivered over 2 days:
New Word - Teacher introduces the new word. Sound it out as they write it on the chart.
Pronunciation Practice – Teacher prompts students to repeat the word multiple times. “Say it to the ceiling”, “Say it to something green, etc.
Heard/Not Heard – Activate what students may already know or think they know about the word by taking a vote. “Who has heard/not heard this word before?”
Predictions – Student teams turn and talk to make a prediction what the word might mean based on context, pronunciation, or background knowledge.
Signal Word – The new word is paired with a synonym and gesture and becomes the signal for transition in the classroom for the rest of the day.
Teacher - “When I give you the signal word line up at the door. Germinate.”
Students – “Germinate. Sprout.” (Do a gesture indicating a plant sprouting.)
In addition, the teacher teaches the new word in context all day – read about it, chant and sing using the word, include it on anchor charts, ask students to discuss, etc…
Final Meaning – (Day 2) Student teams come up with a student-friendly final meaning. Teacher surveys teams and records on chart
Sketch – add sketch to final meaning.
Word Study – Add grade-appropriate word study that will make a connection with other ELA lessons (prefixes, suffixes, vowel sounds, homonyms, etc)
Sentence – Teacher models a sentence using the word. Teams come up and report out their own sentence.
New Word – Introduce new word for today and continue with steps 1-5.
These are the basic steps. Please join us in our online course with Idioma, Vocabulary Strategies for Multilingual Learners, to go more in depth with the strategy nuances and implementation recommendations.
Final Thoughts
The Cognitive Content Dictionary is a cornerstone of the Project GLAD® model because it works. It transforms vocabulary instruction from a passive task into an engaging, brain-based learning experience. By combining language, movement, visuals, and interaction. This strategy helps students not only learn academic words—but own them.
When students have the language, they have the power to think, discuss, and succeed.
Click here to explore the online course taught by OCDE Project GLAD® Coaches Jody Bader and Dr. Sara Martinez, Vocabulary Strategies for Multilingual Learners (Project GLAD®).
