Susan Fitzell - Educational Consultant and Speaker » practice http://hightestscores.org Practical Strategies for Co-taught, Inclusive, and Differentiated Classrooms! Tue, 22 May 2012 03:39:08 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Vocabulary and Spelling Made Fun http://hightestscores.org/vocabulary-and-spelling-made-fun/ http://hightestscores.org/vocabulary-and-spelling-made-fun/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:44:20 +0000 Susan Fitzell http://susanfitzell.edublogs.org/?p=116

Wordle.net

 

I’m always looking for ways to make learning motivating and fun. Vocabulary development and even spelling are a passion of mine that has been building for the past year. I constantly hear teachers lament that students don’t remember vocabulary. Reading deficiencies, many times exacerbated by poor vocabulary development are impacting test scores – both state and SAT and ACT. In addition to that, students are developing their own vocabulary and re-spellings because of text messaging. Those new spellings are making their way into student class work.

 

So, how about a homework assignment (students may need access to a school computer) that requires students to create a word collage of sorts with a website like http://www.wordle.net/? Would that encourage practice? It doesn’t necessarily assist with the definitions; however, it is possible to include both the word and the definition in the Wordple design. Not only would this be fun, it would be interactive, verbal linguistic AND non-linguistic representation. We have the best of a few worlds of practice with this activity. I’d love to hear others thoughts on this idea.

 

]]> http://hightestscores.org/vocabulary-and-spelling-made-fun/feed/ 0 Good Ol' Fashioned Flash Card Strategy & Resources http://hightestscores.org/good-ol-fashioned-flash-card-strategy-resources/ http://hightestscores.org/good-ol-fashioned-flash-card-strategy-resources/#comments Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:02:51 +0000 Susan Fitzell http://susanfitzell.edublogs.org/2008/03/30/good-ol-fashioned-flash-card-strategy-resources/ I’m testing for my next level in Kung Fu in a couple months and one of the requirements is to memorize quite a bit of information from the Kung Fu Members Handbook. Memorization has never been easy for me. I think that’s why I have so many strategies in my seminars to help students memorize information. I’ve used the strategies myself with tremendous success and have found students surpass all expectations (their own and those of their teachers) when they use memorization strategies.

One of my favorite strategies is using good, old fashioned flash cards. I’ve almost always used standard flash cards for study and have handwritten the questions and answers using color, pictures, and mnemonics to help me or my students remember. This time, I wanted to try doing them on the computer and taking advantage of colored fonts, san serif -fonts, photos, etc. Then I could print them out and enhance them by hand if I wanted to. I believe that many times students don’t create flash cards to study from because they hate to write them out. So, this seems like a motivating avenue to explore.

flashcard_blog1.jpg

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 The first step is finding out if there are any online resources for creating flash cards. I found some that I thought were not only heartening, they were helpful and effective. The first link I came across was written about a daughter who helped her mom remember words and people after a stroke. I had never considered that implementation of flash cards. So, consider how many ways we might use an age old technique like flash cards for study to help others.

Create Flash Cards in MSWord by Dian Chapman (for her mom): http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=289. This site allows you to download a free MSWord Template for flashcards. This is what I was originally looking for on this quest. Sure I could have made one up myself, but how many times would I have to mess with the dimensions before I got it right? I figure, why reinvent the wheel. Someone else must have done it. Well, Dian did.

This next website has flashcards for ESL; however, the flash card instructions are generic and can be used for any subject. If you are looking for ESL flashcards you can make your own or pay for access to their ready made cards. http://www.eslkidstuff.com/flashcard_printing_instructions.htm

Flashcard Exchange dot com is the site that helped my daughter get through her advanced placement courses in high school. One wonderful benefit we discovered was that if you type in the title of a text book, you might find ready-made flash cards made by another teacher or student! This site has a feature that allows you to download flashcards onto a PDA! I might consider this option. Then I can study anytime anywhere discretely with my PDA phone! http://www.flashcardexchange.com/

And then there’s Quia, a site that allows you to create flash cards, games, activities, etc. www.quia.com

And finally, Microsoft’s website has templates for flashcards and designates exactly which Avery product fits the dimensions.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT102530781033.aspx

 Enjoy making flash cards and seeing your students increase their test prep success!

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