You can give them a passage or something a little more demanding for the Do Now with some thought questions under it. Highlight a vocabulary term from the passage and ask them what they think it means based on context.
You can do this with passages, maps, graphs... let them encounter a new word in the wild so to speak and ask them to try to pin down its meaning based on context. It will also allow you to ask other content-based questions so that your vocabulary is just one small part of the assignment.
You don't necessarily have to collect them. When I give Do Nows, I walk by each student and read random answers. If a kid needs help, I'll help them at their desk. If they show they're trying, they get full credit regardless of whether it's right or wrong.
This is more a psychological tactic than anything else. At the start of the year, I'll look through many student answers and give them feedback/encouragement. As the year goes on, I do it less. The more you do it towards the beginning, the more you instill the value that the Do Nows are important and that carries over the rest of the year to the point where they will do it automatically by the end of the year without you having to comb through everyone's book.
For me, the Do Nows are more about taking risks and trying new things. They're not going to be perfect at it, so you have to give them room to err and fix it. They're also short assignments that set up the rest of the lesson, so the checking and feedback has to be within the first 7-10 minutes of class.
My classes have 34 kids in them, so it would be impossible to collect everything from every kid for 5 classes a day. The more you can get them to work on their own without you combing through everything, the better it will be for you and them.
The only things I really comb through and give feedback on in a thorough manner is homework and exam essays. I try to conserve my energy for those things while checking other things in a more cursory, general way.
I make it a grade in my classwork/participation category but weigh it at 10x (one for each week in the quarter). The cherubs all get a copy link for a Google Doc with "suggested" formatting of a simple 1x2 table with a date column and an answer column.
Then be as strict as you want with it. I'm pretty rigid on the requirements on it because the questions are never that hard (and sometimes random) and they might see all of 2 minutes to type into their doc.
I can share copy links with you, so shoot me a DM if you want them.
You could do a Cloze activity.
Write or find 3-4 sentence paragraph about the essential understandings for the lesson. Then, delete key vocabs and leave those spaces blank. Kids must guess what word goes there, can pair after 2 minutes to compare, and then you read the original paragraph.
Kids need to understand that more than one word can be used in the blank. So, let’s say the sentence was…
“Native peoples were forced to ______ into white Christian culture.”
Kids might guess “join” even though it was really “assimilate”. When I share the correct word is “assimilate”, they are now connecting that word with a word they already know. Sometimes I’ll explain why my word is a slightly better, more specific word.
They write it down with a simple definition - however you want to systemize that is fine. I often just have the first couple lines of notes be vocab in this way - lined notebook. Make them underline it, capitalize it, highlight it, whatever makes the word stand out.
Don’t obsess about collecting and grading. Grade engagement and participation on these formative tasks.
You can do this on the top of guided notes or just off the board/screen.
Definitely have students encounter vocab words in the wild as it were.
I would use 3x5 cards and get rings for each student (cheap at Amazon) and as they complete the exercises/work on a word they add the card to their vocab ring.
You could do a modified Frayer where for the first 2 days they ask questions, make connections of the word with the context found and other vocab words (on the front), then the back could be the actual information. You could then use this to help create discussions about how their thinking changed from one side to another.
How about a Frayer diagram that they draw in a notebook?
If you haven’t heard of it, it’ll be way easier for you to look up than for me to try to explain.
My answer largely depends on your personal belief in kid ownership and “holding their hand.”
Personally, I do vocab warm ups as well. I give them one to two words, plus the definition. I don’t want them looking it up because kids today google it and write down the first answer. If I give them the definition, I know they’re getting the information I want.
I then have a discussion about each term with them and show them a video to hopefully make it stick. For example, our vocabulary word might be Louisiana Purchase. I’ll show them a map of the Louisiana Purchase; talk about it. Then show a video of someone explaining it. That way they’re getting multiple explanations and various angles.
Now. I keep student vocabulary notebooks in my classroom; each period has a bin. In a perfect world, I would love for my 8th graders to be responsible and bring their notebooks everyday. But they don’t. So I keep them. I also spot check for a participation grade each day. As they’re writing, I’m walking around and seeing who is writing and who is not and making a mental note.
It’s a system that works for me and my kids. It doesn’t have a lot of student ownership taken out of it, but at the end of the day I’m responsible for if they learn or not so I’m going to do whatever I can to set them up for success, so I have the best chance to succeed.
Obviously, depending on your school / kids, YMMV.
When I still taught high school, I made my do-nows, usually open-ended questions, and would sneak in the vocabulary words we covered or are covering.
Example from my Law and Society class:
"What are examples of negligent homicide that you heard about? What happened, and how was the defendant proven negligent? " That way, they're using the concept, and we get a discussion going. Getting them to talk about it, though, was a whole other story, lol.
I give 3-5 sentences that each use a different vocabulary term, but some use the terms incorrectly. Students have to identify whether the sentence is correct or incorrect and if it’s incorrect they rewrite it. The only catch is getting kids to rewrite the sentence with the word rather than replacing the word, but they get the hang of it. The only time I let them replace the word is with another vocabulary word. I don’t do the same thing every day, so I probably use this type of activity most weeks.
I do vocab notes/practice and bell ringers as separate assignments. I teach 7th grade and I make a packet of vocab charts on bright colored paper for a whole unit, some kids still lose them, but it makes it easier for them to keep track. They’re still responsible for the assignment, but it helps set them up for success with only 1 thing to keep track of. I collect it intermittently to check progress and at the end. Bell ringers are a separate 1 page template printed on a different shade of colored paper with a space for one week on each side. I only collect it when it’s completed because I just don’t want to deal with the papers every week.
OP, I share your struggle. Finished is not the same as learned. I have grown tired of collecting crap ass stick figures, or “used in sentence” that don’t show meaning/understanding. And I don’t want to spend forever grading this. Colleague has ‘em walk in the door and log-into Blooket for a 3-minutes game. You can print/view Blooket reports for accountability grading. I also like to snip the report on Friday afternoons and email parents, “It looked like Trixie did not take advantage of the opportunity to practice her vocabulary terms this week. A link to the game can be found in Canvas if she’s like to practice over the weekend.”
Look at Fast and Curious from Eduprotocols. Add in a Frayer with it and it will be a good start. I did it pretty consistently this past school year and my kids did much better with content vocab. It is quick too.
I second the prayer model/diagram, or perhaps a stripped down model (doesn't need a sentence or it's opposite, only a picture).
Have it maybe up on Google Classroom or something for the week so the kids don't lose it.
But if they keep losing it, then it's on them. Their grade will suffer.
You sound like me! I ended up trying a raffle ticket program where I gave kids raffle tickets based on good work and vocab words and the such. It kinda worked for some students…
Give them a paragraph that uses all the words, and a word bank. I find its better to do contextual exercises more than individual word practice. We spend one day at the start of the unit doing vocab (definitions and sentences) and then they have periodic practice. Either a bunch of non-connected sentences or a paragraph, or write me a story, etc.
edit: i use contextual things because my vocab tests are also contextual. a photo, a sentence, a scenario, etc.
Writing definitions? Try having them write the meaning of the word with a synonym or three words. The synonyms fill out their vocabulary faster. I love your drawing a picture because visual learning is best.
Have a contest who can say the words or do chorus.
10 minutes to study for a spelling test for ten words. This puts their little brains on hyper alert and they will learn them faster and because they can spell, say, draw and recall the synonym they will be set to go.
Teach them to square off the tricky letter sequencing. And to say the word then the squared off letters. This will help them learn, their, ei.
Your activity is already good, although there are some nice suggestions in the comments on tweaking how they're receiving the new information.
Based on the fact that your concern seems largely about accountability (students currently phoning it in and rushing), I have three suggestions:
First, display a countdown timer on the board so they stay aware of how much time is left. Do Nows are usually meant to last about five minutes or less, in my experience. Reinforce the time by noting it's passing. Some phrases I use: "you've been working for one minute, this is a gentle reminder that we complete the do now at volume zero", "you are halfway through your do now time, you should be halfway through your do now", "[name] has made it to the back of the do now" "[name] has finished, thank you for waiting patiently, the rest of the class has thirty seconds left"
Second, check all their do nows as soon as the time is up. I see your current grading system is to have them turn their sheets in at the end of the week, and you can continue to do that, but for middle schoolers delayed gratification isn't their best motivator. Create paths through the room (randomize and announce if you're starting from the front or the back, for fairness) where you can whip around and check that each student has at least attempted. During this time, I have the following expectations displayed on the board: "students are: discussing their answers with each other and fixing mistakes / they are not out of their seats or talking to other tables; teachers are: checking that students completed the do now (5 points = attempted all of it, 4 points = attempted most of it, 3 points = unsatisfactory, 1 point = not attempted) / they are not answering individual questions." I keep focused on making this a tight moment in the classroom, I won't respond to students except to remind them that I'm not answering individual questions but that we're about to go over it together. I will continue to positively narrate tables that are doing a good job checking each other's answers.
Third, review it with them (at least the most important parts of it) to check for their understanding. To motivate them to come up with good responses, work to incorporate strong use of accountable talk and accountable talk hand signals (lots of great resources for this online). For example, I reinforce that we hear one voice at a time, but to make sure kids stay engaged I'll name multiple students who give the "agree" sign so they feel recognized as well as the student who gave the answer.
These may be things you're already doing, but I hope some part of this helped!
I start a lot of days with vocab on a game platform—quizzes, Blooket, Kahoot. There are small prizes (stickers, a piece of candy) for the top 3 winners, and for winners in round 2 where the first 3 winners can’t play.
I have to be careful not to overdo it bc kids become bored of games these days, but generally it works well and most kids learn the basic vocab very well.
I add units together as we progress, so students get a lot of practice and opportunities to play and win.
Having a basic knowledge of what words mean makes it so much easier when content is introduced.
You can give them a passage or something a little more demanding for the Do Now with some thought questions under it. Highlight a vocabulary term from the passage and ask them what they think it means based on context. You can do this with passages, maps, graphs... let them encounter a new word in the wild so to speak and ask them to try to pin down its meaning based on context. It will also allow you to ask other content-based questions so that your vocabulary is just one small part of the assignment.
Thanks! How do you recommend I structure this for grading, collection, etc.?
You don't necessarily have to collect them. When I give Do Nows, I walk by each student and read random answers. If a kid needs help, I'll help them at their desk. If they show they're trying, they get full credit regardless of whether it's right or wrong. This is more a psychological tactic than anything else. At the start of the year, I'll look through many student answers and give them feedback/encouragement. As the year goes on, I do it less. The more you do it towards the beginning, the more you instill the value that the Do Nows are important and that carries over the rest of the year to the point where they will do it automatically by the end of the year without you having to comb through everyone's book. For me, the Do Nows are more about taking risks and trying new things. They're not going to be perfect at it, so you have to give them room to err and fix it. They're also short assignments that set up the rest of the lesson, so the checking and feedback has to be within the first 7-10 minutes of class. My classes have 34 kids in them, so it would be impossible to collect everything from every kid for 5 classes a day. The more you can get them to work on their own without you combing through everything, the better it will be for you and them. The only things I really comb through and give feedback on in a thorough manner is homework and exam essays. I try to conserve my energy for those things while checking other things in a more cursory, general way.
I make it a grade in my classwork/participation category but weigh it at 10x (one for each week in the quarter). The cherubs all get a copy link for a Google Doc with "suggested" formatting of a simple 1x2 table with a date column and an answer column. Then be as strict as you want with it. I'm pretty rigid on the requirements on it because the questions are never that hard (and sometimes random) and they might see all of 2 minutes to type into their doc. I can share copy links with you, so shoot me a DM if you want them.
You could do a Cloze activity. Write or find 3-4 sentence paragraph about the essential understandings for the lesson. Then, delete key vocabs and leave those spaces blank. Kids must guess what word goes there, can pair after 2 minutes to compare, and then you read the original paragraph. Kids need to understand that more than one word can be used in the blank. So, let’s say the sentence was… “Native peoples were forced to ______ into white Christian culture.” Kids might guess “join” even though it was really “assimilate”. When I share the correct word is “assimilate”, they are now connecting that word with a word they already know. Sometimes I’ll explain why my word is a slightly better, more specific word. They write it down with a simple definition - however you want to systemize that is fine. I often just have the first couple lines of notes be vocab in this way - lined notebook. Make them underline it, capitalize it, highlight it, whatever makes the word stand out. Don’t obsess about collecting and grading. Grade engagement and participation on these formative tasks. You can do this on the top of guided notes or just off the board/screen.
Definitely have students encounter vocab words in the wild as it were. I would use 3x5 cards and get rings for each student (cheap at Amazon) and as they complete the exercises/work on a word they add the card to their vocab ring. You could do a modified Frayer where for the first 2 days they ask questions, make connections of the word with the context found and other vocab words (on the front), then the back could be the actual information. You could then use this to help create discussions about how their thinking changed from one side to another.
How about a Frayer diagram that they draw in a notebook? If you haven’t heard of it, it’ll be way easier for you to look up than for me to try to explain.
My answer largely depends on your personal belief in kid ownership and “holding their hand.” Personally, I do vocab warm ups as well. I give them one to two words, plus the definition. I don’t want them looking it up because kids today google it and write down the first answer. If I give them the definition, I know they’re getting the information I want. I then have a discussion about each term with them and show them a video to hopefully make it stick. For example, our vocabulary word might be Louisiana Purchase. I’ll show them a map of the Louisiana Purchase; talk about it. Then show a video of someone explaining it. That way they’re getting multiple explanations and various angles. Now. I keep student vocabulary notebooks in my classroom; each period has a bin. In a perfect world, I would love for my 8th graders to be responsible and bring their notebooks everyday. But they don’t. So I keep them. I also spot check for a participation grade each day. As they’re writing, I’m walking around and seeing who is writing and who is not and making a mental note. It’s a system that works for me and my kids. It doesn’t have a lot of student ownership taken out of it, but at the end of the day I’m responsible for if they learn or not so I’m going to do whatever I can to set them up for success, so I have the best chance to succeed. Obviously, depending on your school / kids, YMMV.
When I still taught high school, I made my do-nows, usually open-ended questions, and would sneak in the vocabulary words we covered or are covering. Example from my Law and Society class: "What are examples of negligent homicide that you heard about? What happened, and how was the defendant proven negligent? " That way, they're using the concept, and we get a discussion going. Getting them to talk about it, though, was a whole other story, lol.
I give 3-5 sentences that each use a different vocabulary term, but some use the terms incorrectly. Students have to identify whether the sentence is correct or incorrect and if it’s incorrect they rewrite it. The only catch is getting kids to rewrite the sentence with the word rather than replacing the word, but they get the hang of it. The only time I let them replace the word is with another vocabulary word. I don’t do the same thing every day, so I probably use this type of activity most weeks. I do vocab notes/practice and bell ringers as separate assignments. I teach 7th grade and I make a packet of vocab charts on bright colored paper for a whole unit, some kids still lose them, but it makes it easier for them to keep track. They’re still responsible for the assignment, but it helps set them up for success with only 1 thing to keep track of. I collect it intermittently to check progress and at the end. Bell ringers are a separate 1 page template printed on a different shade of colored paper with a space for one week on each side. I only collect it when it’s completed because I just don’t want to deal with the papers every week.
OP, I share your struggle. Finished is not the same as learned. I have grown tired of collecting crap ass stick figures, or “used in sentence” that don’t show meaning/understanding. And I don’t want to spend forever grading this. Colleague has ‘em walk in the door and log-into Blooket for a 3-minutes game. You can print/view Blooket reports for accountability grading. I also like to snip the report on Friday afternoons and email parents, “It looked like Trixie did not take advantage of the opportunity to practice her vocabulary terms this week. A link to the game can be found in Canvas if she’s like to practice over the weekend.”
Look at Fast and Curious from Eduprotocols. Add in a Frayer with it and it will be a good start. I did it pretty consistently this past school year and my kids did much better with content vocab. It is quick too.
Thanks!
I second the prayer model/diagram, or perhaps a stripped down model (doesn't need a sentence or it's opposite, only a picture). Have it maybe up on Google Classroom or something for the week so the kids don't lose it. But if they keep losing it, then it's on them. Their grade will suffer.
You sound like me! I ended up trying a raffle ticket program where I gave kids raffle tickets based on good work and vocab words and the such. It kinda worked for some students…
Give them a paragraph that uses all the words, and a word bank. I find its better to do contextual exercises more than individual word practice. We spend one day at the start of the unit doing vocab (definitions and sentences) and then they have periodic practice. Either a bunch of non-connected sentences or a paragraph, or write me a story, etc. edit: i use contextual things because my vocab tests are also contextual. a photo, a sentence, a scenario, etc.
Writing definitions? Try having them write the meaning of the word with a synonym or three words. The synonyms fill out their vocabulary faster. I love your drawing a picture because visual learning is best. Have a contest who can say the words or do chorus. 10 minutes to study for a spelling test for ten words. This puts their little brains on hyper alert and they will learn them faster and because they can spell, say, draw and recall the synonym they will be set to go. Teach them to square off the tricky letter sequencing. And to say the word then the squared off letters. This will help them learn, their, ei.
Your activity is already good, although there are some nice suggestions in the comments on tweaking how they're receiving the new information. Based on the fact that your concern seems largely about accountability (students currently phoning it in and rushing), I have three suggestions: First, display a countdown timer on the board so they stay aware of how much time is left. Do Nows are usually meant to last about five minutes or less, in my experience. Reinforce the time by noting it's passing. Some phrases I use: "you've been working for one minute, this is a gentle reminder that we complete the do now at volume zero", "you are halfway through your do now time, you should be halfway through your do now", "[name] has made it to the back of the do now" "[name] has finished, thank you for waiting patiently, the rest of the class has thirty seconds left" Second, check all their do nows as soon as the time is up. I see your current grading system is to have them turn their sheets in at the end of the week, and you can continue to do that, but for middle schoolers delayed gratification isn't their best motivator. Create paths through the room (randomize and announce if you're starting from the front or the back, for fairness) where you can whip around and check that each student has at least attempted. During this time, I have the following expectations displayed on the board: "students are: discussing their answers with each other and fixing mistakes / they are not out of their seats or talking to other tables; teachers are: checking that students completed the do now (5 points = attempted all of it, 4 points = attempted most of it, 3 points = unsatisfactory, 1 point = not attempted) / they are not answering individual questions." I keep focused on making this a tight moment in the classroom, I won't respond to students except to remind them that I'm not answering individual questions but that we're about to go over it together. I will continue to positively narrate tables that are doing a good job checking each other's answers. Third, review it with them (at least the most important parts of it) to check for their understanding. To motivate them to come up with good responses, work to incorporate strong use of accountable talk and accountable talk hand signals (lots of great resources for this online). For example, I reinforce that we hear one voice at a time, but to make sure kids stay engaged I'll name multiple students who give the "agree" sign so they feel recognized as well as the student who gave the answer. These may be things you're already doing, but I hope some part of this helped!
I start a lot of days with vocab on a game platform—quizzes, Blooket, Kahoot. There are small prizes (stickers, a piece of candy) for the top 3 winners, and for winners in round 2 where the first 3 winners can’t play. I have to be careful not to overdo it bc kids become bored of games these days, but generally it works well and most kids learn the basic vocab very well. I add units together as we progress, so students get a lot of practice and opportunities to play and win. Having a basic knowledge of what words mean makes it so much easier when content is introduced.
I’m preservice but I’ve always thought a vocab journal is best bc everything stays in one place and they can go back into it