Strategy #10: Personal Word Bank

This strategy is closely tied to my Strategy #9: Word Wall, except this strategy is for the student’s personal use and tailored specifically to the words they are struggling with, which may not necessarily be new vocabulary. The words are chosen by the student and written on index cards. Beers explained how she had her students keep their cards in a pencil pouch in the front of their notebook; however, my experience has been that students have trouble keeping up with a pencil, let alone a pencil pouch. As a result, I would opt for the second option: Keeping them in the room in either a personal card file, pencil pouch, or a simple envelop in a hanging file designated for that particular student (they like having a personal area in the class, even if it is just a hanging folder). Although this strategy is designed to increase word recognition, I would incorporate either a definition, or a pictorial representation of the word on the opposite side. I’m a visual learner. I like pictures. I like colors. I will encourage students to use anything they believe will help them learn the word.