Word Walls at Work!
In recent years, there has been a renewed focus on word walls within our school. At the end of the 2013 school year, teachers were asked to self-reflect about their use of word walls. During the 2014-2015 school year, we will again highlight the importance of this learning tool.
Word Wall Self-Reflection
After a year of trying out word walls K-5, teachers were asked to complete a Word Wall Self-Reflection sheet. During a staff meeting, teachers were numbered off and grouped in order to discuss the results of their self-reflection with a small group. This reflection time did allow teachers to further reflect on their current practices in regards to word walls as well as to gain insight into how they are used by both teachers and students in other classrooms and content areas.
After teachers had completed a self-reflection and the group reflection, teachers were asked to write down one idea that someone else talked about that they want to remember for next year. Responses from the teachers varied from tips they had gleaned from the group conversations to questions that they still had about utilizing word walls in preparation for next year. |
In order to best determine an area of focus for the utilization of word walls next year, the data collected on the self-reflection sheets needed to be analyzed. A Word Wall Self-Reflection: Data Collection Form was created to organize data. This data was shared with the Instructional Coach and the Principal in order to facilitate future discussion about the use of word walls.
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Word Wall Staff Development
At the start of the 2014-2015 school year, all staff members attended a presentation about word walls. The feedback gathered from the Word Wall Self-Reflection: Data Collection Form was the basis for the presentation. The Deconstructing Word Walls PowerPoint presentation was created to give guidance to teachers as to the purpose of word walls, and helps answer the following questions:
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Click on the button below to download the Deconstructing Word Walls PowerPoint.
This PowerPoint was created with input from lots of different resources. The last page of the PowerPoint gives credit to the resources used. Each slide, where appropriate, gives image credits to examples of word walls found online.
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Content Area Word Walls can include pictures, examples, and non-examples for vocabulary to assist students as they discuss and write about content area topics (VDOE, 2012). The wall will provide a visual cue for students as they discuss and write about content area topics. The wall should be a “work in progress” growing throughout the school year as new terms are learned. The examples below come from classrooms at Wenonah Elementary School.