Vocabulary Strategies
TIP Charts
A TIP(Term, Information, Picture) is an anchor chart that scaffolds vocabulary learning. The teacher introduces the word with fanfare, has the students say it, provides a student-friendly definition, and creates a nonverbal representation. Definitions and illustrations are student-friendly and collaboratively produced. Words are added to the chart as they are encountered and the chart remains for the duration of the unit.
Word Art
Word Art is a creative and engaging strategy that supports the use of nonlinguistic representations in vocabulary development. The goal of Word Art is to make a word’s meaning clear by making art out of the actual text of the word. For example, the word Latitude could be scrawled across a drawing of globe or the word Parallel could be written multiple times, with each time being parallel to the last. Word Art provides students with a moment to think about a new term and feel inspired to create something original.
Which One Doesn’t Belong?
Which One Doesn’t Belong is a thinking strategy that can be used for review and to reinforce new vocabulary. The teacher provides a list of vocabulary words, either by projecting it onto a screen or by cutting it into pieces of paper for a more kinesthetic approach, and students must decide which word they think doesn’t belong with the others. This activity works great for pairs and it is more effective to create a list that has multiple correct answers. The point is not for students to get the “right” answer but to foster critical thinking and analysis and encourage students to provide reasoning for their choices.
Which One Doesn’t Belong… and Why?
Militia Patriot
Colonist Navy SEAL
Army Defense
Soldier Infantry
Word Detective
The Word Detective strategy is simple but effective and is usually used in the middle or end of a unit. The teacher hands out a lesson-related passage that is missing critical vocabulary words. Working in pairs, students discuss context clues and determine which words belong in the blanks. Many times, more than one word will fit in a blank, which is fine. This strategy aims not to get all students to come up with the same correct answer, but to cultivate thinking and reasoning skills and reading comprehension and encourage sharing of knowledge.
Word Detective
Some abolitionists worked in secret to help ______escape to freedom. They set up a system known as the ______Railroad. The Underground ______was a series of escape ______and hiding places to bring slaves out of the ______. The most famous ______on the railroad was Harriet Tubman. She helped about 300 people escape to the ______and became a symbol of the ______movement.
Do You Know?
The Do You Know strategy can be used with vocabulary words or pictures. One student holds a picture card to their forehead---NO PEEKING!! The group members describe the person in terms of their historical significance until the student wearing the picture can guess the answer.