Still Putting It All Together

Vocabulary Instruction in Today’s Classroom Part 5 - Using Technology

positivelypersistentteach:

Read Part 1 - Introduction

Read Part 2 - Why is Vocabulary Instruction Important

Read Part 3 - What Vocabulary Instruction Should Look Like

Read Part 4 - Activities and Tips (non-tech)

So, those of you that have followed me on tumblr know that I love to use this platform to collect online teaching tools, resources, and class activities.  Therefore, I really enjoyed this article: eVoc Strategies: 10 Ways to Use Technology to Build Vocabulary, Bridget Dalton, Dana L. Grisham, The Reading Teacher, February 2011  the following activities/sites were listed in this article (read the article thing to see all of the tools/sites)

Wordle and Word Sift  are similar tools — Wordsift provides related words, which I really like.  I’ve heard of Wordle a number of times, and have used it to introduce a new unit in math before.  This article pinpointed questions that should be asked when using these tools to build vocabulary such as:

• what does this image suggest the passage / text will be about
• what are the most important words
• how do you think these words will go together
• why do you think this shape was selected

and to follow-up after reading:

• what words would you add or take away
• are there certain words that should be given more space

Trackstar allows you to collect websites, videos, add annotations and create a digital field trip to help build vocabulary and prior knowledge.  What I like is that there are a lot of lessons already created that you could use or tweak for your students.

Also noted in the article were digital translators, digital texts, and text to speech tools which can be particularly helpful for struggling readers and ESL students.

The following sites come from my own explorations on the internet, tumblr, twitter, etc.

Word Stash   allows you to create separate lists to share.  The site acts as a dictionary and a thesaurus.  It provides a sentence for most words that you look up, the pronunciation (actual sound), the latest tweets that have the word, and recent articles that have the words.  You can also quiz yourself on word lists.  I like to have my students use this as a resource when creating word expert cards or completing vocabulary graphic organizers.

One Word  One word provides you with one word to write about for 60 seconds.  I have not used this yet, but I think it could be a good vocabulary builder to gage vocabulary knowledge.

Vocabulary Games has… you guessed it!  Vocabulary games.

Spelling City has vocabulary and spelling activities.

My Vocabulary has activities with root words, SAT words, themed word lists and more.

Vocabulary.com has discussions on how our lexicon changes.  It also has quizzes, word lists, and quizzes.

Finally, Qwiki can be an excellent way to find related words and learn vocabulary — especially for visual learners!

Also I really love the vocabulary concept maps that can be found on Busy Teacher’s Cafe .

Reblogging myself because all 5 parts were such a labor of love on my part.  And then I got switched grade levels, and didn’t get to use most of what I learned.

Vocabulary.

lessonsfroma4thgrader:

I just want to say that I really love teaching vocabulary. I slip it into practically all of my lessons somehow.

It’s so easy to do too. Here are a few of my favorite ways to teach vocabulary (and they aren’t just for elementary kids):

• Draw a picture of the vocabulary word. (Example: Draw parallel lines.)
• Apply it to their lives. (Example: List any politicians that you know.)
• Act it out. (Example: What does a caterpillar look like in it’s chrysalis?)
• Ask someone. (Example: While you are reading, find me three words you don’t understand. Ask 2 people what they think the words mean and write what they say down. Look it up. Were they right? If not, what does it mean?)
• Use it the incorrect way in a sentence and have them correct it. (Example: You should have wear your new shoes today.)
• Create a graphic organizer for the word. (Example: Show the multiple meanings of the word hot [temperature, spicy, brand new, appearance])

Add your ideas to my list and reblog. Let’s get a great list of Vocabulary ideas going around!

Did you know that teaching vocabulary is my obsession?

Here are my vocabulary tagged posts.

Things that made me feel good:

I mentioned how I had my students show the class their excited faces which was one of our vocabulary words.  Most of my students are second language learners, and I feel like quick opportunities to act out words helps the meanings stick.

I mostly mentioned it because of something funny that happened when we did it.  (I don’t even know how to explain it here).

Later, two of the teachers on my team mentioned that they had their students act it out as well and how great it worked.