Changing it up - My vocab lesson gets a facelift

As much as it seems like I'm always doing something new in my class, there are some things that I have not changed in the 10 years I've been teaching. I always try and evaluate my lessons every year, The really good ones make it to the next round and the bad ones are altered or eliminated. It takes work, but I feel it is needed to keep my teaching fresh. One part of my daily teaching life is undergoing a huge change for second semester.

For the past decade, I have given students a Word of the Day (WOD). The come in and there will be a word on the board. The students are responsible for writing the word down and finding the definition at home. After 20 or 25 words, the students will have one week to study and there will be a test. As the school year progresses, the tests become more difficult. The tests start with definitions and end with correct usage. This is how I was taught for 4 years in high school and I felt it really helped me with my vocabulary skills. As the years have passed, I have had students tell me they have seen the words on the ACT, SAT and other standardized exams. The lesson worked well. For me, that was proof that my lesson was a success, but was it?

As part of my vocabulary lesson, I accepted that there were going to be students who were not going to study the words. The tests were very much pass or fail. The kids that studied did very well and the kids that did not study failed miserably. As I have moved more towards project based learning, I've started to question my assumptions on who is studying and who is not. Are the students not studying because they cannot master vocabulary using memorization? Is that what is stopping them? my WOD tests are the only "tests" my students take all year. Why? Why can't I change the way I've done something for a decade? Well, I'm giving it a try.

I did not do away with the test. I'm not ready to part with my exams yet. I think I could be there next year, just not right now. I did decide to add a new element that will hopefully help some of the struggling students. As a visual learner, I thought of way to bring the visual elements I like to use in other lessons to the WOD. The AP teachers in the building have students do visual representations of Tone words. It's a cool lesson and kids decorate the room with words and pictures. I've always wanted to do something similar, but never made the connection to my WOD unit. Now, I've decided to blend the two concepts together.

The day of the WOD test, students are to submit 20 illustrated words and definitions as part of their test score. The can draw or use images from newspaper, magazines or the internet to illustrate the definitions. My hope is that the time the students spend on their projects will translate into retention. I want the kids to see the words on the exam and see the picture in their head. I really have no idea how this will work in the long run, but I feel like I needed to change it up a bit for the students who might need a change to be successful. I'm not saying that it is going to stick around forever, but I'm willing to at least look at the difference and make a better judgment on "What works well".


- @TheNerdyTeacher

Wordia is Vocabulary Coolness

Wordia is a site I only recently found through Twitter and I'm still exploring. I have high hopes for this site and it is currently working on a school version for users. The gist of the site is that it takes everyday words and gives you the standard dictionary definition. Next to the Standard Definition, there is a video of a person's view of the word, the connotation. The idea behind the British site is to make stronger connections to words beyond the standard definitions. The word Pitch is a great example of SD and Connotation. While the Lion is a bit goofy, the point is well made that there are words that have other meaning besides the SD.

The site has one vocabulary quiz game and a couple more on the horizon. It's always good to see more vocabulary games on the Internet. The more practice students can have with new words, they will become stronger readers and writers. The school version will help build those skills as well.

The school version of the program, once it's up and running, will allow schools to upload their own videos and share within the school or district only. This keeps the site safe for kids to use at school or at home. Comments can be moderated and approved to keep the site safe and appropriate for all ages.

I would love to use this in conjunction with my daily vocabulary words. I could have students record their own meaning of words and post them to the site and have other students comment on them. This would allow students a different way to learn vocabulary instead of looking up words and staring at a page. Working with the vocabulary words will hit far higher on Blooms than staring at a piece of notebook paper with definitions. As this site grows, I look forward to seeing what other things it has to offer for students and teachers to help grow vocabulary.

- @TheNerdyTeacher