More than just a Word Wall.

I do not pass out the Carnegie books to my students to take home or even put in their lockers. If I did the books would not make it to class everyday and I would have problems getting students to participate in the lessons. So instead I have them tear out a chapter at a time and I keep the packets until we are ready to use them. This eleviates a lot of pass writing for students to get books and eliminates the "I forgot it at home" excuse.

One problem this has created is that students do not have easy access to the glossary from the text. I had them tear it out during the first week of school and put it in their math folder (which I supplied). Some of them did keep it, but many did not. To solve this problem I created a word wall in my classroom.



Despite having an elementary education background, I never truly understood what good a word wall was to a student who did not know the definition. So my word wall has the word, a definition, and when appropriate an example.





When a student does not know the meaning of a word they can look at the wall (even if it requires moving to see it), ask someone near them, or use the glossary that they were supposed to save. My students really like it and it frees me to help students with math instead of vocabulary. Each time I start a new chapter I post the words. This also gives students a preview of what is to come. If I forget to post the words they are always sure to remind me!