WOW is an acronym for "Word of the Week". I've taken a little creative license here but WOW is so much better than WOTW (not very catchy).
This is something I did with all levels of students. Who doesn't need a little more vocabulary development? This was one way of having an on going discussion of vocabulary words and ending up with a tangible item when the year was done. The levels may change but the procedure is pretty much the same.
Our team would choose words that we deemed to be in need of developing. It certainly could be done by one teacher but it's interesting to see how various functioning students would deal with the words.
To begin with, the students would find the word in a dictionary, hard copy or online. The class would discuss all the various meanings and the teacher would steer them towards the one that was most useful.
Next, the students would use a form (or graphic organizer) to record the meaning, part of speech and any other useful information. For lower levels, this would be displayed so the students could copy it. Also on that form, would be other information about the word such as a student developed sentence, a picture showing the meaning of the sentence and anything that might help to remember the word's meaning. It's surprising how, even older students would get into drawing (love those intelligences).
The last step would be to put the form into a folder or binder. The cover could be decorated in some way - might be fun. Eventually, this would become a dictionary of all the words discussed throughout the year. The word would also be displayed some where in the class and the students would try to use it as often as often as possible.
For secondary classes, this is a great way to get that "pesky" SAT vocabulary into your students heads. It could also be used in many content areas. They might think it would be fun and isn't that the best way to learn? Just another tool to put in your basket. If the public only knew how creative we were!!!
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