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5 thoughts on “Word Strips”
I use word strips a lot for phrases. I like the word strips as they are easy for me to store. I can also offer the verbs conjugated out since for Mvskoke, whole verbs change (verbs connected to movement) to completely different words depending on the numbers of actors involved in the process. This is helpful to the students (and me) as we try to speak.
I think that the form a teacher uses for their word wall is teacher specific, but a word wall that changes (acquistion vs. memorization) is really a key. Some of us are real visual learners–when we can see it, we can know it. A key concept for reading vs auditory only acquistion.
One of our teachers calls it walking the walls. The point and pause method would be another name for it. I know it cements my learning. Often as a learner when I see the word or phrase in my mind, I can use it not just for writing, but more importantly for me to speak it with less effort.
Whatever works is my theory at this point.
A couple quick things:
I have recently, and painstakingly, gone through the glossary of our “district approved resource” and identified the verbs therein for the chapters everyone else is “covering”. The high frequency verbs there would serve as my word wall list.
I will likely put them in a verb phrase, rather than just as a stand alone verb – i.e. se cepilla los dientes /s/he brushes her/his teeth instead of just se cepilla / s/he brushes.
Ben, do you plan on keeping the strips up all year and adding or taking them down after a while? I guess I could argue that for real cumulative acquisition I would want to go back to them occasionally.
I’ve thought about making a verb wall out of the verbs in our textbook as well.
How do we implement the verb wall and word wall, by the way?
Ideally, if it has been acquired, I’m done with the strip. But in reality, of course we go back to them. They’re kids. I wonder what it would be like if we had classes where all the kids really wanted to learn it. Think of the Army. Would they want a platoon of 30 soldiers of whom only half wanted to be there?
Ben–
Last night at 4 a.m. I was contemplating just that. How in education we’ve moved from small little schools where everyone knew everyone to these big factory models. Where did we get the idea that just because the factory model is less expensive to operate it actually does a better job of educating students? From business leaders turned politicians?
Sometimes I just want to amass teachers together to march on the legislatures and demand to let us do what we know is best for students. but they don’t want to go. they don’t have the time and are afraid for their jobs.