Studying vocabulary can be difficult enough in the secondary English Language Arts classroom let alone finding ways to get middle school or high school students to practice at home. Making digital vocabulary activities that are fun, engaging, and relevant has become key in my teaching practice as I’ve learned to navigate distance learning. These strategies can be used any time students are 1:1 in the classroom. Read below for a list of fresh ideas to incorporate in your classroom!
Create a Google Slideshow
Provide your students with a vocabulary list or allow them to self-select from a text. Using Google Slides, have students create a set of two slides for each term. On the first slide, they should have the word and the definition along with a photo that represents the word set as the background. On the second slide, they should describe why they chose the term. This is an easy, low-prep activity that allows students to think about the words in a more visual way. My students always enjoy this one and end up remembering the terms with ease.
Try Flocabulary
Check out Flocabulary‘s SAT Vocabulary Activities for grades 9-12. There are a ton of really great lesson ideas here.
Google Forms Self-Grading Quizzes
Have your students watch a video on YouTube to teach them about self-grading quizzes. (This one is a quick, easy example!) Have your students create practice quizzes for each other with the terms.
Create a Quizlet Set
Students love Quizlet sets because there is a multitude of ways they can be used. The terms can be seen as traditional flash cards, but then there are also a lot of games that students love. For distance learning, I would ask students to create their own sets from a self-selected set of terms.
Make a Class Padlet
Another powerful tech tool is Padlet. Students could use this to create an individual or group word wall for any text.
Alphaboxes
Alphaboxes is a great activity for face to face learning, so I recently made a digital copy that you can access in my Free Resource Library. The gist of the activity is to provide students with an organizer featuring each letter of the alphabet. They then self-select words and fill in the definitions based on any text they read. You can find more information on this activity in my blog post about it here.
Vocabulary Logos
Looking for something completely unique? Try to have your students create logos for their vocabulary terms. Use these as examples. This would be a good way to use Google Drawings. Your students will enjoy figuring out the best way to portray their word.
I hope this post helped you find a new way to use digital vocabulary activities for your vocabulary instruction! How do you use technology to teach vocabulary in your classroom? Sound off on the comments below or follow me on Facebook or Instagram to join in on the discussion!
Happy teaching!
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