I have a dilemma that I would like to share and any and all comments, suggestions, or reflections are VERY welcome!
One of the literacy strategies that we ask our teachers to use in our school are “Word Walls.” Many of our classrooms in our high school have them.
But I wonder about how they are used and how well they are used. Do our teachers put them up just to be “in compliance” for the teacher evaluation walk-throughs? If they do use them, in what way do they use them? How effectively do they use them? How involved are the students in creating the word walls? How can our instructional leadership team measure compliance vs. quality use?
If your campus uses word walls, please take a few minutes to answer the following questions to give me some insight into how they are used on your campus:
Are all teachers required to have one?
Do they purchase pre-made words for the word walls or do they make them or involve the students in making them?
How do they use them in daily lessons? Are they used?
What evidence do you have of this?
At what level do you feel they are being used? Is it just compliance so the administrators will see word walls in every classroom, or are teachers using them to really help students build vocabulary and think more critically about meaning and context in language?
I am especially interested in the use of word walls on high school campuses, but input from elementary or middle level schools is welcome too!
Thanks!
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I have experience in all grades from K-12. The majority of my experience with word walls comes from K-8 though.
Are all teachers required to have one?
In NYC, yes. Our school requires them to be interactive. Typically that means the students can flip the word card up and see a definition or a picture of the word. It doesn’t always happen like that though and many do have it simply for compliance reasons.
Do they purchase pre-made words for the word walls or do they make them or involve the students in making them?
Some buy pre-made words. I used to have the students pick the words that made the word wall. We would be reading, discussing or otherwise engaging with the SS materials, and they would pull words out that they wanted to know more about, and we would then add them to the word wall. To make it on the wall, we’d define the word, look at it in context (numerous times if possible), discuss the part of speech and any word origin, and the students would need to integrate it into their speaking and writing.
How do they use them in daily lessons? Are they used? What evidence do you have of this?
Some in my class do choral chants off of the word wall, typically in the younger grades though. I’ve heard some classes integrating them into the lessons, or I’ve seen them using the words in their writing. For instance, some students will use the word wall to help them spell while they are writing.
At what level do you feel they are being used? Is it just compliance so the administrators will see word walls in every classroom, or are teachers using them to really help students build vocabulary and think more critically about meaning and context in language?
I know I integrated them, but most of the teaching that I am seeing is merely in compliance, sadly. We’re focusing on academic rigor right now, so this may be something to consider discussing more fully at my school.
Thanks for challenging my thinking.
Thank you for the thoughtful and thorough comment! This is exactly the kind of info/first-hand insight that I was seeking when I wrote the post!
Stephanie