The Word Wall

Although I am not new to blogging, I do still hate the first post. It always feels like it should be a culmination of entertainment, information, and wit. I probably will not succeed at all three, but here I go.

One of the initiatives that Rolla has put in place this year in the high school is 'The Word Wall.' We decided that there is a bank of words in each curricular area that students need to have a good working knowledge of to be successful in that class. Each teacher was asked to put words that fit their content area on the wall and review them with their students on a regular basis.

I wish I had a picture of my first word wall. I decided to let my students create it.

I do not know why I do this to myself. I know I am a perfectionist. I know what I want. I even think I know how to get my students to create an adequate reproduction of what I want. Sometimes I am very wrong, but I try to follow the motto that students will learn more about a topic that they have invested time and energy into. High school students smell this, I swear, and do the opposite!

Since it was the beginning of the year, I decided to review rubric use. I gave each student a ELA term they would need to know for proficiency and assigned them the task of putting their term on a piece of paper in a clear and easily visible manner, learning the definition of the word, finding an example, and sharing with the class. I developed a simple rubric that would assess these areas.

I did everything I thought I was supposed to do. I gave them the rubric ahead of time, I created a couple of word wall examples myself, I demonstrated how to present the definition and the example, and then I set them loose.

Good Lord. I got a disaster. I forgot to include SIZE in my rubric, so some were tiny and some were huge. Some were colored, and some were not. Some were handwritten (AARRGG!), and some were typed. It was the most horrendous mish-mash of creativity (I use that loosely) I had ever seen.

Resigned, I let them put them on the wall. OOOHHHH. I hated that wall. How do you rip down all that work and effort? And besides, the requirement was to just have a word wall, right? No one said it had to be nice!

Then, Devine intervention. I suddenly remembered my one colorblind student. He couldn't read the word wall!!! Yeah! I took down the offending mess and replaced it with a black and white version that is interactive, not only visible to a very colorblind little boy.

My word wall now consists of white legal sized envelopes separated into groups that are labeled with the ND State ELA Standards. Each envelope has a term written on the outside in easily readable black letters. Inside the envelope is the definition of the term on an index card. As my classes move through the school year, we have been utilizing the word wall, not just for the definition that lives in the envelope, but every time we find a very good example of the term, we write it on a new index card and include it in the envelope. I have to say, we are compiling quite a comprehensive set of definitions and examples that span all grades from 7 to 12.

The lesson. Who knows? Be better prepared. Do not be a perfectionist. Do things yourself if you are going to be really picky. Rejoice in the wonder of revision. All that aside, the 'word wall' concept is a great one if you create a wall that you can use with your students. I love mine . . . now!