Reflection #7

The Many Faces of Word Walls in Middle School Science Classrooms: Variability In Function and Content

I really enjoyed reading "The Many Faces of Word Walls in Middle School Science Classrooms: Variability in Function and Content," by Jennifer Hooper and Janis Harmon.  I have been encouraging my colleagues to use word walls for the past few years, but to no avail.  I have started printing and creating word wall sets for the science and math departments at my school to better serve the EL population.  I really  liked learning more about digital displays for words, and think that I will start using a digital display for vocabulary in the classroom.  I also found it helpful that the article discussed presenting word walls for academic vocabulary that is not content specific.  I have heard from many of my colleagues that this is surprising, and that they only teach content specific vocabulary.  I aim to teach more academic vocabulary in my class, and encourage this practice in content classes as well.