If you know anything about Caitlin, you know that she believes in working smarter, not harder. Years ago, after not seeing evidence of student growth, she decided to make some small tweaks to how she was teaching vocab. These small tweaks became a system that made a major impact, and today she is sharing her method with listeners!
What if reading long lists of words, memorizing definitions, and then engaging in absolutely no application of the words themselves were NOT essential ingredients of your vocabulary program? In this episode, Caitlin will walk listeners through a better way to approach vocabulary – a system that includes an effective studying routine, real application, and useful assessments.
So if you’re tired of wasting your time and your students’ time with vocabulary instruction that doesn’t work and doesn’t stick, listen in to start implementing this practical approach this year. Your students will thank you, and you’ll love the language growth you’ll see!
Tune in now to hear:
- [01:00] Jessica explains why Caitlin created a new method for teaching vocabulary.
- [02:00] Parts of this method have been shared before at various workshops, but today Caitlin will put it all together for listeners.
- [02:30] EB Teachers: You have access to this full system, along with vocabulary words, graphic organizers, and quizzes. You can pick it up with one of your monthly free resource codes! It’s broken down into 4 levels for 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. We created this resource after lots of teacher requests.
- [03:20] Caitlin explains what vocab instruction was like in her classroom before she made changes. She discusses the importance of application in vocabulary learning.
- [07:50] Caitlin walks listeners through her vocab system, from choosing vocabulary words to implementing a study and application routine to giving assessments.
- [08:30] Cailin explains the vocab note cards that her students created at the start of each week. She also talks about how teachers can help students make helpful associations with words in order to remember their definitions.
- [11:30] Why 5 new words a week and not 10 or 20? Cailtlin explains the importance of introducing new vocabulary in digestible amounts.
- [12:20] Caitlin explains how she checked students’ work.
- [14:20] Caitlin talks about the “word of the day,” which helped students to focus on specific vocabulary and apply it in real situations.
- [19:00] Caitlin explains her bi-weekly and how/why she set them up as fill-in-the blank items with no word bank or option for the process of the elimination. (Of course, exceptions can be made for differentiation with particular students.)
- [22:30] Caitlin shares her final tips to help teachers get started with this game-changing vocabulary approach.
- [24:00] Not an EBTeacher yet, but you’d like to be? Join our priority list here – we’d love to have you in our community!
Note: This resource is now available to EB Teachers to buy with their free code, or for purchase at Teachers Pay Teachers. However, you can also create it yourself by following the instructions in this episode!
Click here to watch on Youtube!
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