Extended Word Definition

How it Began!

I attended a training through the county - and learned so much. But one thing stood out to me and became a regular class protocol that includes so much learning and such a deep relationship with vocabulary...

...and brings in root words and etymology too!

The Purpose

The original concept was one of students filling out the boxes by researching using their tools - from hard copy dictionaries to online resources. They then use that information to complete the sentence stems. With the original goal of using that information to write an informational essay - we've never reached such lofty levels.

#goals

Why It Became a Protocol in Our Class!

As a 'student' working through this in the training, I saw the power of learning the vocabulary this way. Digging deep, connecting with etymology - so much! I immediately into the classroom and we got to play.

Students quickly got to make connections to other words as well as their root word training and prior knowledge.

When I started to introduce this to my virtual students, I immediately needed to find ways to include the reflection that we did automatically in class, into the process. The result was a second page asking the students to think about their work and answer questions to open up their minds to what connections they had made. Students began to see the purpose behind the work - always a top goal of mine. I began to work through them in our virtual meetings, and there is no doubt that the interaction makes everything better!

Over time, I realized that our online students needed more guidance and support. That led to the third iteration - adding in a teaching video (occasionally two) to show the word or a connection to the word in a video format to support the student's ability to think and reflect about the meaning.