Vocabulary and Spelling Made Fun

sfitzell — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:44:20 +0000

Wordle.net

I’m always looking for ways to make learning motivating and fun. Vocabulary development and even spelling are a passion of mine that has been building for the past year. I constantly hear teachers lament that students don’t remember vocabulary. Reading deficiencies, many times exacerbated by poor vocabulary development are impacting test scores – both state and SAT and ACT. In addition to that, students are developing their own vocabulary and re-spellings because of text messaging. Those new spellings are making their way into student class work.

So, how about a homework assignment (students may need access to a school computer) that requires students to create a word collage of sorts with a website like http://www.wordle.net/? Would that encourage practice? It doesn’t necessarily assist with the definitions; however, it is possible to include both the word and the definition in the Wordple design. Not only would this be fun, it would be interactive, verbal linguistic AND non-linguistic representation. We have the best of a few worlds of practice with this activity. I’d love to hear others thoughts on this idea.

Posted in Differentiated Instruction, Study Skills and Test Taking Strategies, technology education Tagged: Differentiated Instruction, learning, practice, teaching, vocabulary builders, Wordple.net

Susan Fitzell-Educational Consultant & Speaker » Wordple.net

Vocabulary and Spelling Made Fun

Wordle.net