Traveling the Word Wall

Vocabulary.

I could let people stew on this word for quite some time.  There is a great deal conversation about vocabulary, how to effectively teach it, the difference between tier one, two, and three vocabulary words, Common Core and its effect on teaching vocabulary, and the list goes on.

The past couple of years, I have had students create a word wall, or hallway, of  words they have studied or want to know more about.  The list explodes beyond the classroom door to create a rainbow of colored word strips throughout the hallway.  All students, regardless of whether or not they have me as a student, see the words every day.  Since the hallway spans several classrooms, there is room for hundreds of words.  It is fun to watch students, and teachers I might add, look at the words before school, during passing time, and after school.

At multiple times during the school year, once words start to cover the hallway, I lead my classes on a word wall walk.  Students bring their notebooks and silently examine the words on the wall.  We move through the hall for a couple minutes giving students a chance to write down at least five words they want to use in their writing.  We then return to the classroom to begin using the words to address a writing prompt, or we continue our journey through campus looking for school settings that inspire us to write about our words.

The great accomplishment of this activity is that once students see words that they have chosen for their writing activities, they tend to see them on a daily, or weekly, basis in the hallway and are reminded of them as they travel to various classes or exit toward their homes.

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