Below is a no frills graphic organizer that I use to teach vocabulary. As studies indicate that a person needs to be familiar with 93% of the vocabulary in a text for full comprehension, we do a lot of vocabulary. A lot. At the beginning of the school year I make about as many copies as I can get away with and our first vocabulary lesson is creating our own personal dictionaries. I give the students card stock so they can create their own covers, either drawing or designing something digitally. We use the dictionaries all year.
Note: These are not quick. Students need between 3-7 minutes for each organizer. So one sheet of three can take up to twenty minutes for some students. However, to engage more deeply with words to fully integrate them into their working vocabularies takes time. But they can be used for homework review, group work, or once they are routine, give them a vocabulary list to do with a sub. Music pairs nicely with these, as well.
