EDR 307(92)Vocabulary Past Experiences by Lisa Gordon

Erin Mylod

1018246_1 — 2026-03-30 17:56:51 UTC

In elementary school, I remember learning vocabulary through weekly quizzes. We would be given a word each day with the definition and then the following week have a quiz with a total of ten words. I do feel like it was effective to an extent because it broaden our vocabulary. But, at the same time, I feel like we were just learning to memorize.

Hailey Little

2026-03-30 18:12:15 UTC

In grade school we would get vocabulary list each week and each day of the week we would work with the word a step further. It would first start us by us having to spell out each word three times. Then we would have to put the words in alphabet order. Following that we would define the words and to finish put the words into a sentence. On Fridays we would be tested for what we learned through the week.

Paige Grube

pg1038513_1 — 2026-03-30 19:39:23 UTC

I remember in elementary school the teacher would read a story every week and pull out vocabulary words we would have to learn, then get tested on them later that week. I do not think this was effective because it would just give students anxiety, since we knew there would be a test at the end of the week.

Jas Scott

js1036452 — 2026-03-31 01:24:55 UTC

I remember in school doing vocabulary activity worksheets (match words to definitions), or just having a worksheet that we would have to write the term and definition to remember the words. We would then take a quiz by the end of the week. I feel like it was effective it helped me understand the meaning of the words.

Cameron Mannella

2026-03-31 04:00:42 UTC

I remember in middle school in ELA we would learn our words and then play Sparkle as a class. We all loved the game, so it made us want to learn the words more, so we could win the game. That was my favorite part about learning vocab words.

Kayla Shaffer

2026-03-31 14:11:45 UTC

In elementary school, I remember learning new vocab each week and having quizzes on Fridays. We were taught new words with flashcards that my teacher would teach us on Monday and then display on our Word Wall throughout the week. To practice, we would play Kahoots and Blookets to practice matching words and definitions. We would also play partner games like memory where 1 card had the term and another had the definition. We would lay all the cards face down and try to remember where each term and definition was to make matches. This was effective because it helped to memorize terms and their definitions, but could have used a little more practice in implementing these words into our writing.

Kayla McArdle-Ratka

2026-03-31 18:33:38 UTC

In elementary school I remember how we would have a list of words and practice them in class and at home. We then would have a quiz writing or matching the definitions. Also in highschool I had vocabulary tests in english that would correlate with wthat book we were reading.

Ella Quintin

2026-03-31 19:00:43 UTC

I remember in elementary school, each week we would get a list of vocabulary words. We would have to define them, put them in a sentence, organize them into alphabetical order, and draw a picture to go with it. We then would have some sort of assessment to test our knowledge on these words.

Skylar Long

2026-03-31 20:01:15 UTC

Back when I was in elementary school, we had something called "word wall words," which were essentially the list of words we practiced from Monday through Thursday, and then on Friday, we would have a quiz. I remember in first grade, my teacher would create a song about each word, which would then help us to remember them. However, vocab words seemed to not be as common as i was in higher elementary grades.

Emilia Fiore

2026-04-01 06:28:33 UTC

Throughout elementary and middle school I remember filling out vocabulary worksheets. These were lists of words that were related to whatever topic we were learning about at the time. They were effective in exposing us to new vocab and acting as a tool to reference when we needed to know definitions.

Izabella Miller

2026-04-01 16:02:52 UTC

When I was in elementary school I remember my teacher would write the words on the board, ask if we knew them, and then she would go over them. She then would write them in sentences. Then for homework we would get sent home flash cards or worksheets having to use the word in a sentence or connect each word to the definition. I then remember our vocabulary test/quizzes being very short and only a couple questions to check our understanding. When I got to middle school we would just be assigned homework and would take online quizzes and we would have to get a certain score to be able to stop doing the practice quizzes.

Brianna Bittner

2026-04-01 18:30:53 UTC

Every week in elementary school, we would work through a vocabulary book. Every word for the week was defined on the first page, after which we had to write the word three times. We had to locate synonyms and antonyms for every vocabulary word after those two pages. We took a test at the end of the week where we had to correctly spell and identify the words . We were given the definitions and we had to write down what vocab word we thought and spell the word correctly. I believe this did develop my vocabulary because I noticed I started using the vocab book when I would write essays.

Brenna Ryan

br1040260_1 — 2026-04-01 23:38:11 UTC

In middle school, I remember in my 5th grade class we did vocabulary sheets every week. We had to define them and often did matching practices where we would match the word with the definition. We would then at the end of each with have to take a quiz related to the vocabulary.

Ben Kroll

2026-04-02 19:26:17 UTC

I remember doing weekly vocabulary lists where we had to write definitions and use each word in a sentence and then take a quiz at the end of the week. This helped me memorize the words for the test but it did not always help me understand how to use them in real situations

Mackenzie Rick

2026-04-02 21:07:46 UTC

I remember in high school, we would have a specific list of vocabulary words that we would have to memorize the spelling for, as well as the definitions for. We would work all week on the practice with the words in the workbook and then be tested on it at the end of the week. I believe this was helpful in practicing the words because I got to see and practice example sentences, which helped me use them in real-world situations as well as broadened my vocabulary in the process.

Tanzila Suraya

2026-04-03 20:25:51 UTC

The thing I remember about vocabulary instruction when I was in high school is that the teacher would introduce the words and later have us make flash cards to remember them. Then we would be given a quiz for it. This was effective because it involved memorizing and I did memorize it, but it didn't help to understand the meaning of the words.

Natalie Weaver

2026-04-03 21:31:12 UTC

I remember staying up late with my dad practicing for spelling tests, but I don't really remember doing the actual tests all throughout elementary school. I do remember however in high school we had these vocab books that we would use in English class and would learn the new words and definitions on Monday and then we would have a vocab test every Friday.

Morgan Holsinger

2026-04-04 16:03:20 UTC

In high school, my AP psych teacher would have us go home and copy down the textbook vocabulary by hand and turn in our notebooks. I didn't retain any of it because he didn't do any other work or activities with the textbook.

Gianna Mincin

2026-04-05 01:57:46 UTC

I remember in 4th grade we would often read a lot of books as a whole class, and the teacher would hand out a worksheet with the vocabulary words on it. She'd first read the book, and while reading it, she'd take a pause at each new word to define it. Then, after the teacher finished reading, she would go over what each of the words meant again. Throughout the week the teacher would take a few minutes to remind us of the definitions of the words, and we would do some in-class and out-of-class work to practice using these new vocabulary words in sentences and try to memorize the definitions.

Crystal Mulvey

2026-04-05 05:50:24 UTC

We got a vocab sheet every week and took quizzes where we had to use the words in a sentence. The vocab sheet helped me learn them for the quiz, but since we learned new words every week, I usually forgot them right after.

Andrea Hook

2026-04-06 17:24:24 UTC

In elementary school we had a vocabulary list each week and we would do different practices with it in class. Putting the words into sentences and playing games. At the end of the week we would have a quiz on the words.

Emily Drobil

2026-04-06 17:44:28 UTC

In Kindergarten and first grade, we would have word walls that we added new words to as we learned them through stories and other lessons. In the higher elementary grades and throughout middle school and high school we used vocabulary workbooks and would have quizzes and tests based on the curriculum.

Emily Drobil

2026-04-06 17:49:30 UTC

In elementary school teachers would have us write stories using the vocabulary words. I found this very useful because it allowed me to look at the words and their definitions to make sure they fit my story and they made sense in the sentences I was writing.

Ella Merritt

2026-04-06 18:33:36 UTC

In elementary school, vocabulary was very prevalent when reading a new book or working with new activities. With each section of the curriculum the class would get tested on the vocab through quizzes. An effective way to learn these words that I recall is through having a bingo chart where whatever you landed on with a plastic chip, that is the activity you had to do such as writing the word five times, writing the word in a sentence, or describing the word through pictures. This was really effective because it gave multiple modes of memorization but in different ways to help practice using them in the world.

Kaylie Parkinson

2026-04-06 22:48:58 UTC

I remember being given weekly vocabulary lists where we copied definitions and used each word in a sentence. This was effective for me because it helped me understand the meanings and remember the words when I saw them in reading and used them in my own writing.

Grace Eppinger

2026-04-07 01:40:01 UTC

In elementary school, I remember doing weekly vocabulary work, where we would get a list of probably 10-15 words on Mondays and then were quizzed on the spelling and meaning of the words on the following Fridays. I think it was effective in the spelling part, but moving on so quickly from the words of the week was hard and I think ineffective because I would just learn it to get a good grade on the quizzes.

Sophia Silva

2026-04-07 02:05:46 UTC

In elementary school, we would get a page of our new vocab words. We would have to cut the words out and glue them next to the right definitions. We would get these pages after finishing a story or a unit. I do think this was effective for us since we had to match the vocab word to the right definition and check with our teacher after doing so for homework.

Bridey Misson

2026-04-07 03:11:48 UTC

In high school I remember when we would read a new book and were assigned chapters to read on our own we would have a separate notebook to both write down our thoughts/important events, but also words we may not have known. With these words we would guess the definition through context clues in the book and come to class and discuss what we thought with the class. I thought that this was a good way to find out new words, but most of these words I have never used since then so I wouldn’t remember what they meant now.