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MicrosoftWord Walls are making a come back! For years teachers have used word walls to help students learn major vocabulary.
What is your opinion on Word Walls? Useful? Waste of time? Explain your opinion.
If you do use Word Walls in your classroom, explain how you use them with your students.
I developed this idea over the course of the 2017-2018 school year. I teach U.S. History Since 1877 in a small, rural town in Texas. It covers every ‘testable’ student expectation for the STAAR EOC.
The wall is divided by era. Every card around that era either started or was a major part of that time period. Most cards are connected to their era by black string. If an event continues in a different era or impacts another era, I used red string to show the crossover.
Each card is color coded.
Pink - Major Event; Orange - Important Person; Yellow - Important Date; Blue - Government or Laws; Green - Science and Technology; Purple - Vocabulary
I like this idea - how did you start it off at the beginning of the year?
I started it as I ended a unit. I
made the cards, and hung them. Kids got in the habit of reading the
wall every day. Once it was all up at the end of the year, I couldn’t
bring myself to take it down. This year I’m going to cover the era until
we get to that point in history.
I love it! Do the students or do you (the teacher) make the word wall?
I made them myself. Each card represents a standard that could be tested
on the STAAR test. STAAR test is our standardized test that kids must
pass to graduate. I wanted to make sure the cards were worded how
students might see the information on their test.
This is amazing. I am going to use your idea this year. Thanks for sharing. I guess the only issue is wall space :)
I use this idea as well. Only I let the students manage and maintain the wall. I am usually able to steer them the right direction so they pick words I want. Very rarely do I have to step in and suggest a particular word. I teach multiple subjects so each subject has its own wall with every class adding to it. I have really been surprised this year to find that students really sometimes suggest great words that I assumed they knew well but don't. I have really enjoyed making it student-run and would suggest this to everyone.