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...

Inferencing beyond happy, sad, & mad

It's easy for students to determine if a character is happy, sad or mad. But do they notice text clues that infer a character to be humble, stubborn, generous, conceited, ambitious, rude, mischievous?    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...

Action-packed strategies for reviewing vocabulary words

For content area teachers, one way to get kids excited about learning again is to revive your vocabulary strategies. Getting kids up and moving and interacting will increase their learning of key terms. Whenever possible, let them "play" with words in game and/or small group activities.    read more...

Using author clues to build inferences

One way to build students' ability to make inferences in their reading is by helping them identify and collect key words, phrases, and quotes from the reading text. Use these words to identify the details authors use to reveal a mood, idea or action.    read more...