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Book Nook

Teaching Word Parts to Enhance Student Understanding

Mon May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2009

While teaching roots and affixes may help students make sense of unfamiliar words, supplying students with long lists of "word parts" can sometimes be overwhelming and unproductive. In this excerpt from Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement: Research on What Works in Schools, academic vocabulary expert Robert J. Marzano explains how to focus instruction on those affixes and roots that will give you the most vocab-enriching bang for your buck!

Edulinks

It's Phonics Time!

Mon May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2009

Provide young readers with a fun phonics workout by having them visit these web sites that teach phonics through fun games and activities:

Starfall

BBC Schools TV

AdrianBruce.com: Games

Wordshop

Visualization and Vocabulary Retention

Mon May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2009

If you ask a roomful of students to close their eyes and to picture a person who is suffering from 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.

Word Count

How to Write a Communications Plan

Mon May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2009

I recently met with a client — the CEO of a non-profit organization — who announced that he wanted a communications plan. Having been around the block a few times I knew enough to ask a tough, penetrating question: "What exactly do you mean?"

Language Lounge

To Lump or Not to Lump?

Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009

Have you browsed through a dictionary (the kind printed on paper) lately? If you have, the publishers of it are probably glad you did, while being aware that you may be part of a dying breed. This month the Lounge is the first of a two-parter examining some implications of dictionary-making in the digital age.

Blog Excerpts

What's So Bad About the Passive?

Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009

Linguist Geoff Nunberg questions the aversion to the passive voice inherited from Strunk & White. Listen to his "Fresh Air" commentary or read an extended transcript.

Word Routes

In Search of "Swine Flu"

Thu Apr 30 00:00:00 EDT 2009

"Swine flu is the new Susan Boyle of search terms," announces a headline in Australia's The Age. The Scottish singing sensation was last week's news: people are no longer busy conducting online searches for Ms. Boyle (or for her favored expression, gobsmacked). Instead, they're trying to discover anything they can about swine flu, now that health authorities are warning of a possible pandemic. Let's take a look at how the disease got its name.

Contest

The Visual Thesaurus Crossword Puzzle: April Edition

Wed Apr 29 00:00:00 EDT 2009

In the April edition of the Visual Thesaurus crossword puzzle, we're celebrating National Poetry Month. Figure out the hidden word chain and you could win a Visual Thesaurus T-shirt!