http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/?utm_source=rss Vocab activities for your classroom Copyright 2010, Thinkmap Inc. All Rights Reserved. en Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/images/common/logo_on_white.gif http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/?utm_source=rss Search for a word in the Visual Thesaurus word http://www.visualthesaurus.com Wordshop http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2209?utm_source=rss Words are like chameleons. Just like a chameleon changes color to adapt to its environment, a word sometimes has to change forms to adapt to its context in a sentence. This might seem like a silly analogy, but if you have ever tried to teach students new words and how to use those words in original sentences, this silly analogy might benefit you (and your students). Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2209 Wordshop http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2177?utm_source=rss For Black History Month, take a look at some of the speeches (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmspeeches.html) that have inspired progress towards racial equality in America. Beyond looking at the historical context of each speech, students can use VocabGrabber (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/vocabgrabber) to analyze the linguistic patterns in a particular speech to gain insight into what rhetorical devices made those spoken words so memorable. Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2177 Wordshop http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2115?utm_source=rss Can you imagine trying to explain the word currency without using the words money, exchange or country? Or, how about trying to explain epic without referring to the words hero, narrative or poem? This activity, borrowed from Hasbro's Taboo game, is a great way to have students review a list of vocabulary words from class in a fun, engaging format. Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2115 Wordshop http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2078?utm_source=rss According to educator and writer Ruth Culham "precise nouns, descriptive adjectives, and energetic verbs" are all examples of the rich language we should be encouraging students to develop as teachers emphasize "word choice" as one of the "6 + 1 traits of writing." Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2078 Wordshop http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2040?utm_source=rss Ed researcher Robert J. Marzano suggests that we can help close the achievement gap by explicitly teaching subject-specific academic vocabulary to those students who are lacking the background knowledge to succeed in school. We urge you to check out this handy-dandy chart that demonstrates how the Visual Thesaurus can help you implement Marzano's six steps of vocabulary instruction. Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2040 Wordshop http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/1968?utm_source=rss In Bob Greenman's "Teachers at Work" column about the value of having students appreciate and create similes, he astutely points out that while writers should avoid using a simile that is a cliche ("smart as a whip," etc.), they should also establish "a comparison with something almost any reader can picture or identify with." Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/1968 Wordshop http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/1913?utm_source=rss Teachers, looking to get students out of their seats and learning some new words? Try introducing pantomime as a vocabulary-enriching activity. As Beck, McKeown and Kucan point out in Creating Robust Vocabulary, "physically responding to words can promote connections to new word meanings." Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/1913 Wordshop http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/1879?utm_source=rss Sometimes our vocational ed (CTE) students have a difficult time reading technical literature because the heavy use of jargon gets in their way, hampering comprehension and frustrating those students who may prefer hands-on learning situations. VocabGrabber (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/vocabgrabber/) can help prevent this experience: students can "grab" a text's jargon beforehand, preview those terms, and then head back to the text with a good understanding of the key concepts they will encounter while reading. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/1879 Wordshop http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/1840?utm_source=rss If you ask a roomful of students to close their eyes and to picture a person who is suffering from acrophobia (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/?word=acrophobia) ("a morbid fear of great heights"), what will they visualize? Some students might picture a person timorously peering off a cliff while other students might envision a person refusing to clean the gutters of their house's rooftop. Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/1840 Wordshop http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/1808?utm_source=rss While many teachers may have their students keep vocabulary logs of the unfamiliar words they encounter in books they are reading or from the world at large, few require students to take the extra steps to ensure a deeper or more meaningful understanding of these words. Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/1808