Personal Vocabulary Blogs

Vocabulary can make my students feel insecure. Though I have abandoned textbooks, I have not entirely abandoned vocabulary lists. I tend to present them more in semantic groups with visuals or in contextual situations now, however.

My students kind of wish they had more, though, something they could refer to and refresh themselves on what they actually do know.

I think a record of self-selected vocabulary is the solution here, something that they decided is useful–for whatever reason–and want to be able to access easily. And since blogging worked so nicely this year, I think it’s a great way to keep their vocabulary references in one place.

Here’s my plan.

Weekly task

Words can be new words used in class (in directions, notes, blogs, stories, telenovelas, etc.). Or they can be words they came across in their own exploration (Pinterest, self-selected homework). Or they can even be new words they just looked up out of curiosity.

2. Find and cite (or create) an image that represents each word.
A lot of my kids–regardless of artistic ability–prefer to upload their own doodles just to avoid citing an image. Otherwise, students can track down a photo or clipart that represents the MEANING of each  word (not what it sounds like), as long as they give proper credit. (We might interpret a text like this to get a little ethical and TL input at the same time.)

3. Copy a context sentence.
They can use sentences straight from any text they were reading or listening to: blog, story, show, or pin. (If they use a classmate’s blog, though, they’ll need to verify and/or improve sentences’ accuracy, or go with Plan B.) Plan B, say if they can’t remember or find the sentence–or it’s one of those words they just wanted to know, well, that’s one of the many things that makes WordReference so beautiful: contextual examples! Also: Google.

4. Write their own context sentence.
I want to keep this a quick and easy assignment, but I think it’s important to see how students can use their vocabulary in context. A definition doesn’t tell me nearly as much as the kind of sentence they write using the word.

Each week, they’ll post their 5 words, pictures, and context sentences in a blog post labeled VOCABULARY.

As far as grading, my plan is to just give a 10/10 if all steps are included, even if their sentences are wrong. However, I would like to comment on at least every other vocabulary post with at least one question for them about what they’ve written plus a general AAPPL score to give them an idea of where they fall. No pressure, just feedback. I do want to build in time for them to answer my questions later, though.

Monthly reflection