The Digital Word Wall

I don't remember where I first heard or was introduced to the idea of a digital word wall. The first example I saw dealt with math and was a great way to have a constant review of vocabulary or other important terms that students need to remember or learn. I've since seen other examples from various other classrooms from my PLN.
So, I thought that I'd give it a try as well. I wanted to start off a little smaller so we used the vocabulary from some of the texts that we have been reading in our reading group this week. Students worked in groups of threes to create posters for each of their vocabulary words. There was a poster created of the word, the definition, and a picture representation. This is the first attempt.




For this particular Digital Word Wall, we put it together using Photostory. Students were able to load their pictures themselves and arrange them in order. I have seen other Digital Word Walls put together in other applications using Powerpoint and the uploaded to sites such as Slideshare, and 280Slides to name just a few. Our plan is to have this digital word wall playing continuously on our television screen during our reading class. Students tend to pay attention to things in which they create themselves.
I can see this idea being more effective for larger topics during math or even to help teach plot during reading class. Other possibilities could include adding a video of students acting out the word similar to those of Steven Kimmi's students

Another wonderful example is from Mrs. Hines 4th grade class in North Carolina, in which they used a digital word wall to show their knowledge of Polygons in math.


While this is essentially no different than teachers creating their own powerpoint slideshows that rotate vocabulary throughout the day; this is taking things one step farther and tapping into students higher order thinking skills when you begin to have them making connections to the words through pictures and reinactments in videos.