Rethinking Vocabulary

Merriam-Webster defines "drudgery" as "dull, irksome, uninspiring or menial labor". As students are working on homework in the library, I tend to hear, "Miss M, can you help me/us?" While often it is technology related or project related, many times they need help with their vocabulary homework. I have sat down with many students to help them through their vocabulary workbook . . . talk about uninspiring.

I wonder if a different approach would be more inspiring and interactive to students, and therefore more effective. So, I began to build an alternative (or additional) approach to vocabulary to share with my Language Arts teachers. I wanted the options to be practical, completable in one class period, and introduce and/or reinforce the vocabulary for the week.


1. Wordia - have student pick a word from the list and create a short video wordia-style

• Have students sit/stand in front of camera with little to no props and explain the word by defining it, telling what it means to them, and giving an example of how to use the word

2. WordAhead - have students create their own narrated definition and example sentence with a visual

• Instead of having one picture playing the entire explanation (as is done in wordahead) I would have students use a comic generator
• Try Pixton, Bitstrips, or GoAnimate

3. Weboword - have students create their own stick-figure representations of their word

• This could be done on good old paper and scanned, in Paint, or try ArtPad or SketchPad

4. Shahi - have students create their own visual dictionary

• To find pictures try compfight, morguefile, 4FreePhotos, and behold
• How you choose to have the students create and share their visual dictionary - PowerPoint, online presentation apps, MovieMaker, Word document, Wikispaces, Photostory, Animoto, Big Huge Labs

All of these sites themselves could be used to introduce students to their vocabulary. However, the number of words available on these sites is very limited. I think their true strength lies in providing an example of what students could produce by working with their vocab words.

Poetry in Pictures

What is poetry, but pictures made of words. So, when I found a website that married the two, I was thrilled. I have already shown one of my fifth grade teachers PicLits and she will be using it during her poetry unit. It is very easy to use, which makes quick (even spur-of-the-moment) implementation possible.

One of the qualities I love about PicLits, is that (while preferable) you do not need to create an account to use it. When I see web applications like that, I cheer, because I know using it with students will be so much easier.

Also, PicLits includes a Learn It section that provides lesson ideas for using PicLits in the classroom. They are best suited for high school students, but could be modified for use by younger students.

There are two methods: the drag-and-drop and the freestyle. Drag-and-drop is exactly like magnetic poetry. However, the words provided you are tailored to the picture that you have chosen. I think this is fun, however, I see more potential in the classroom for the freestyle method. By choosing freestyle, students can type in whatever they want to say.

Examples:

See the full PicLit at PicLits.com


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com

Classroom Ideas:
1. matching a student-created poem with a powerful picture
2. using pictures for inspiration to creative writing or writing poems
3. writing sentences that include vocabulary words or grammar concepts and choosing pictures that best express the meaning of the word and/or sentences
4. teaching students about nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs (a possible alternative to mad-libs)

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/surrealmuse/4757004/

One for the Language Arts Teachers

This week I happened to be introduced to two new sites that are so perfect for language arts and english teachers as they deal directly with spelling and vocabulary. Now, if I remember my middle school and high school days correctly, I would have been glad for anything innovative (and dare I say) fun that could have been done for these two tedious topics. So, I would like to introduce wordia and spellingcity to you.

Wordia - This was a popular one in the blogs this week, so I thought I needed to check it out for myself. My conclusion is wordia + vocabulary = good times!

Example: Here is an example from the site. I have not created one for myself . . . yet.

Classroom Ideas:

1. This could be used by teachers to create an interactive vocab list. Put up a list of links to the URLs of vocab words. Students can use these to help them study and internalize the meanings.

2. Assign each student a word from the list and have them create their own videos to upload and share to the class.


SpellingCity - In three steps you can create a fun and interactive way for your students to study their spelling words. Step 1 - As a teacher, you can register for a free account. Step 2 - Begin by create spelling lists (which will be saved until you delete them). Step 3 - Place a link on your website so students can easily access your list(s). It truly is as easy as that!

Example: Here is an example I created for Thanksgiving spelling words.

Classroom Ideas: This one is pretty straight forward - just begin creating lists for students to use! With each list, students can be taught the words, play games to practice, and take tests to check their knowledge.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcgutierrez/352732175/