For the past few years this is how I have approached vocabulary with my students:  At the beginning of each new unit I would give them a list of 20-25 vocabulary terms and definitions.  I would briefly go over them verbally in the classroom and then give my students the rest of the  period to to copy the term and definition verbatim onto 3X5 cards.  They would then have a manipulative to use to help them study for the upcoming quiz.  I call these days transition days because we are getting ready for the next unit.

Although there are some benefits to doing vocabulary this way I think there must be a better way.  After all just because my students are copying the vocabulary down onto 3×5 cards does not mean they are really thinking about the meaning.  And I also wonder how much my students use the cards as a study tool to help them learn the new material.

Recently I have been  thinking about how to best teach new vocabulary for each of my social studies units as well as to give them opportunities to practice the  new terms.  I have also wanted to eliminate the need for 3×5 cards.  I am really hoping to have a class set of Netbooks to help elliminate this need.

Some Ideas:

Note: I use a program created by the I.D.E.A.S. team of our  local BOCES called Toolbox Pro (TBP).  It is a course management system that allows teachers to deliver learning activities and assessments, create and manage wikis, blogs, websites and podcasts and a plethora of other things.

1.  In TBP:  Give the kids a timed matching quiz based on the vocabulary terms.  Either make this a homework assignment or an in class activity that they must get 80% or better 3 times in a row.  I make it a timed activity because it makes it difficult for the kids to look up the answers and makes it difficult to use process of elimination.

2.  In TBP:  Create an audio response activity.  Have my students read back the term and definition word for word and include an explanation in their own words.

3.  In TBP (or in VoiceThread) Let students listen to an audio recording of the terms and definitions being read. As they listen they type the term and definition.   I usually read each term and definition 3 times to give students enough of an opportunity to type all the information without having to rewind the audio.  In the example above I had a student do the narration.

4.  In TBP create a video response activity.  Again give the kids the term and definition and  let them figure out a creative way to act out or teach the content – possibly have them do this in pairs.  I find middle school students to be very creative and can only imagine what some of them might come up with !

5.  Wordle:  Have students put the definition into a Wordle and then challenge others to guess the term.  Thanks to @jenwagner for this idea.  This is something I hope to try with my students this year – I envision this to be a great activity to do in class with a set of laptops or netbooks.   Assign each student a different term and then give them 10 minutes to create their Wordle.  After the students were done they could then take turns sharing their Wordle with the rest of the class.

6. Word Walls – Have students put up the terms on a bulletin board.  Let students refer to this list and encourage them to use the terms during in class writing activities.  Thanks to my wife @Kelschrage for sharing this one with me.  She took a workshop on this and learned that word walls are not just for elementary kids.

7.  In TBP:  Have students create multiple choice questions and upload them to TBP for other students to take (there is a feature that allows students to upload questions from a Microsoft Excel template).  This idea came from something I tried with my students last year.  I challenged them as a team to develop a 1000 question multiple choice test based on the review for our final exam.  This was an experiment that worked really well.  The students were excited and loved the challenge – I liked it because they were studying without feeling like they were studying.

8.   Have students complete a vocabulary word map box for each term.  I have done this in the past and it takes a lot of time to complete one of these.  I have had good results using this strategy as a remediation technique for the terms they missed on their quiz.  I first learned of vocabulary word maps from ReadingQuest.org – an awesome collection of strategies that can be used in the classroom.

9.  Flyswatter game:  Divide students into 2 teams.  Put the terms up on the wall and have one student from each team go to the wall.  The teacher reads the definition and the first student to slap the term with their flyswatter gets a point for their team. A quick search turned up this link with a more detailed explanation.

10.  Vocabulary Wiki:  Have the class put this together  – possibly one term and definition per page.   Students can embed related videos, pictures, practice quizzes, time-lines and games into the Wiki.  They could even upload their own student created audio, drawings and video.

Overall I want my students to really think about the terms and their meanings and make new connections.  I want my students to take charge of their own learning.  I have thought about allowing my students to choose one of the above activities to help them practice and learn the new terms but wonder if it would be reasonable to manage?

I know there are tons of other ways to handle vocabulary in the classroom.  I wonder if cell phones can be used some how to get students to quiz and challenge each other?  What about mp3 players?  Please share your ideas and resources below  – I’d love to know what works for other teachers.

One of the great things about being the ISTE 10 Newbie is that I am meeting great people and learning new things almost daily.  Recently Beth Still blogged about a book called Guess the Wordle and introduced me to the one of the authors – Jen Wagner.  As a result I purchased the book and spent some time dwelling on Wordles and how I can apply them to my 8th grade Social Studies Class.

Jen’s awesome book got me thinking of several different ways that I can utilize this free service in my classroom.

Some ideas:

1.  Review for a vocabulary quiz:  Make a Wordle from the definition and have students guess the term.  Students should also explain how they came up with their answer

2.  End of year review:  Create a Wordle from a set of terms related to a particular unit and have students identify the unit.   Again I think that having students explain their answers – even though they might be wrong is where the true learning comes into play.

3.  Class Starter:  I have a Promethean ActivBoard in my room and every day I give the kids something to do upon entering the classroom.  I could put up a Wordle that relates to the theme of the day and have my students write down their guess and an explanation.

What are some of the ways that you use Wordles in your classroom?

Jen has made the generous offer to give 10% of the sales from this book to the ISTE 10 Newbie Project. Thank you, Jen!