Utilizing charts & tables as vocabulary strategies

Within many state assessments, students are asked to organize information from the reading into a chart, formally referred to as a semantic map. If they are never given experience to work with this type of question, it's not a mystery why so many struggle to accurately and confidently answer these questions.    read more...

Paper plate thesaurus

As you are building word-smiths and encouraging them to utilize stronger word choice in their writing, consider creating a place for students to log those better words.    read more...

Highlighting strong word choice

For every great word or word-phrase I notice in student writing (journal, writer’s notebook, homework, assignments, any writing at all) I highlight it in purple. I tell the students this is my way of signaling to them, “You used the right word in the right spot, and I noticed! Keep it up!â€�    read more...

Developing core vocabulary in the content areas

We discussed the research that reveals students need multiple exposures to words in order to master their meanings. And in order to spend significant time on vocabulary study, teachers need to first prioritize their words per content area.    read more...

Use visuals to support content-area vocabulary

Vocabulary instruction has come a long way. It used to be that learning vocabulary meant temporarily memorizing definitions from the glossary, completing a couple sentence-writing activities, and then taking a test. But unless you were someone with a photographic memory, there is no way you remembered all those words and definitions.    read more...

Focusing on action verbs in word choice

As students pre-write, encourage them to use nouns and adjectives, but also specific verbs they associate with a particular topic. Think of verbs as the engine of the sentence. The more specific and active the verb, the more powerful the sentence.    read more...

Going beyond vocabulary definitions

More than a single definition, mastering new vocabulary words requires numerous exposures and workings with the word. One of the essential components is that students need to create a visual representation of the word (a drawing). Even the most abstract and conceptual ideas need to be drawn.    read more...

Choosing high-energy words

Choosing words is kind of like choosing food from the food pyramid; that’s John Stoffel’s (Flint Springs Elementary, Huntington, IN) analogy. Young writers use words from the top of the pyramid like make, said, went, and happy out of habit. We get hooked on these words just like we do on potato chips and candy, for example. Neither weak words nor potato chips supply real energy.    read more...

Developing reader’s vocabulary

Speaking of books -- educational researcher Michael Clay Thompson studied more than 35,000 passages from more than 130 English and American literature classics over the last 10 years. He has identified the top 100 words that appear with the greatest frequency in these works.    read more...

A new game for building vocabulary

Francie Blaney at River Forest High School (Hobart, IN) is following Dr. Robert Marzano's research on vocabulary development. She has developed a new word game that causes students to work multiple times with a core word. Francie created Sorry-o-opoly last spring, and now she shares it with you!    read more...