Explicitly Teaching Vocabulary in Your Class

My recent experience:
Several of our staff went to a workshop a few weeks ago on teaching vocabulary. Although I know that vocabulary is important, in the past I’ve been guilty of just giving students words and definitions. In the workshop we learned (really reviewed I had learned it before—just never really thought I had time to do it) some cool low prep ways to teach vocabulary and my team teacher(Lucilla) and I decided to give up 30 minutes of our valuable “teaching time” to try one of these strategies.

Here’s what we did:

We picked 7 important words for the unit. Most were big concept words like imperialism, nationalism…

We had students fold a sheet of paper to make 4 columns with these labels: Word, Meaning, Picture, and Related Words
Then students copied words and meaning from the board. As they copied I further explained the words as they would relate to the new unit.

Then students drew pictures to illustrate the meanings and came up with related words.

We were amazed by the effort students put into the picture and the related words. In fact, some students used vocabulary words they learned in their English class. (Go 9th grade English teachers!)


We then used the words each class in context of the lesson.

Was it worth the time?

Yes! In the assessment given to one of the classes yesterday, the lowest grade was an 85!

Now I know there are other variables that could have affected this outcome, but I can’t help but believe that this activity helped the students really understand the important vocabulary.

We will definitely be using this really easy strategy again! :)

What the brain research tells us about learning...

Research is from  Teaching with the Brain in Mind by Eric Jensen. Awesome book! I highly recommend it! It explains the research on learning and then HOW teachers can best utilize this research.
“You can teach more and faster, but students simply forget more and faster.”

In-depth learning (as opposed to superficial) learning requires time for organizing, integrating, and storing new information.

Our short term memory (frontal lobes) can take in only three to seven chunks of information before we go into overload.

The bottom line is that learning connections require time and maintenance. Therefore we should present new info in small chunks and then allow students time to process it.

12-15 minutes is the suggested chunk of time for new instruction for Grades 9-12.

“Less is more. Too much, too fast, it won’t last.”

Oh No! Spring Break Ends Today!

Well...that went fast. I hope everyone enjoyed their time off as much as I did.

Son2 got an honorable mention in his category at the Science Fair which wasn't bad at all since he had never done this competition before. Believe me, he took notes and he is already planning his project for next year.

Son1 has less than 3 weeks until his first year of college is complete. He is busy wrapping up his committments and preparing for exams. One year down, three (no, maybe five more with grad school) to go!

It will be a busy back to school week for me...in addition to teaching my classes--tomorrow I have to finish grading some projects to include in 3rd mp grades which are due Tuesday am. Wednesday night, I have a vacation bible school meeting at church. Thursday, I'm hosting a workshop for new teachers at my school and Friday, I'm in Dover at a vocabulary workshop. All good things...just all in one week!

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to leave a comment with feedback as to what you'd like to see on this blog.

Happy last day of Spring Break! :)

Free! Free! Free! Studycards for your students!

Another FREE Resource!
Studystack.com is a free resource that allows you to make study cards and review activities for your students. The website is free but teachers do need to register to create study activities.
Features include online review activities including study cards, matching activities, hangman, fill in the blank….There is also a print option in which teachers and students can print paper copies of study cards in various sizes and a two column study chart. If you don’t have the time to create your own cards, there are literally hundreds of study activities from many content areas from other teachers available to use.

There is also an option for students to download the study items to their cell phones or ipods!! How cool is that???
To use any of the activities, all students need to do is to go to the site and click on selected review. Because the site has so many study activities (it can be confusing), I put a link on my classroom website that takes students to the exact study activity for the unit. Students can then study online or print out needed materials.
Additionally, I also print study cards out and give to some students who need some extra scaffolding. One thing I have learned is that some students struggle in even making their own flash cards for review. It doesn’t help them to study from incorrect or unclear review cards.
While it does take some time to create the study activities, once they are done you have them. I made my Sociology study activities three years ago and students are still using them. While some of my activities may change, the essential content of my course does not change.
Here’s a link to the home page of the website http://www.studystack.com/

Check out this link to one of my Sociology reviews:

http://www.studystack.com/menu-86627


Students tend to like the electronic review and teachers love free—what a deal!  :)

Hooray, Hooray Spring Break Starts Today! :)

Don't get me wrong--I love my job. However, I do enjoy my breaks as well. I think breaks are important as they give us a chance to unwind and recharge--especially at this point in the school year. My senior students are ready to just hurry up and graduate already and the warmer weather and spring sports schedule has my underclassmen ready to be done as well. Truthfully, I am ready for warm weather and time off as well.

My plans for my break include:
1. Getting the deals I posted about earlier from Staples
2. Getting a pedicure to get ready for sandal weather
3. Going to the Delaware Valley Regional Science Fair where my 15 year old son will be competing
4. Finishing the book Drive--the Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink. At some point, I'll share his ideas in a post. Long story short, research strongly supports internal motivation over the carrot and stick policy. His ideas so apply to education.
5. Reconnecting over dinner or lunch with some good friends
6. Enjoying my family (this should really be at the top of my list)
7. Checking out my favorite money saving blogs including mycouponteacher.com, moneysavingmom.com, and hip2save.com. It was through these sites that I decided that it would be neat to have a similar blog for education--hope my readers agree!
8. Starting the planning for a Genocide Unit for our World History group (maybe...)
9. Adding a few more posts to this blog :)

What are your spring break plans? How do you recharge for the final stretch of the school year?
Leave a comment to share!