Social Studies Insights: Word Walls for Middle School Social Studies

First, I must confess, I'm not a huge fan of vocabulary instruction. Ideally, vocabulary should grow out of instruction, as students encounter words they need to know in order to complete their learning. The world does not consist of ideal students in all cases, however, so we look for vocabulary that at least supports deeper, broader learning. The temptation, though, is to allow teaching vocabulary to become the instruction, so that instead of learning concepts and generalizations that students have created for themselves from guiding questions about, say, the Roman Empire, students simply learn a lot of words that in some way (that they may or may not be able to articulate) relate to the Roman Empire.

BUT.

Vocabulary can be an important part of learning, especially if students have a way to organize that vocabulary in a way that aligns with what they are learning. So, for example, Allan Kerrick at LNJMS organizes his word wall by the five strands of Social Studies, plus a column for academic vocabulary -- those terms that transcend the content of the unit and will be lasting recurring vocabulary.

Mr. Kerrick's word wall changes with each unit. As a way to go even further with this, Vickie Woodford at ACMS keeps her words to a bare minimum, allowing her word wall to be permanent and include every civilization she teaches. She adds the vocabulary as they study new civilizations, and students use the word wall to make comparisons among the civilizations, tying new learning to previous understandings about the religion, government, and culture of world civilizations. Students are able to review the entire course content at a glance and explain how each of these terms relates both to the civilization and to the other items in that same column.

Another innovative way to re-imagine the word wall comes from Cheryl Thomas at DBMS. She calls it the "Extending Our Thinking" board, and on it, she created eight boxes, using the expanded five strands (breaking "Economics and Financial Literacy" into its two components, for example.")

Throughout every unit, students are constantly challenged to identify a strand that most closely ties to each thing they are learning. Often, students reach different conclusions, so they must provide an explanation for their thinking, as well. For example, a student might identify "Factories" during the Industrial Revolution as part of the Economic strand, because it impacts production, but they might also place it under "Environmental Literacy" for how factories impacted the environment, or perhaps Financial Literacy (people experienced different financial challenges and opportunities), Geography (factories changed the human interaction with the environment), History (Factories were a major turning point!) or even Culture (factories allowed mass production which changed what goods were available for what classes of people). The point is not the "correct" identification of a term with a strand, but that the student's thinking reflects a strong understanding of both the concept and the broader strand.

As we approach the end of the year, this board becomes a great tool for a conceptual review: students can contribute whatever examples stand out for them of each strand or sub-strand, and after a year of practice, they are skilled at explaining their thinking so that both the Ms. Thomas and their peers know why those items are there. As Ms. Thomas says, this board can "show the students how historical events are more than just a date, but an event that affects every aspect of our society."