Build Automaticity with Weekly Vocabulary Exercises

Do you pass out a new vocabulary list each week? If so, make the most of your word work while reinforcing nightly vocabulary homework by incorporating two in-class exercises before the weekly quiz. I call these exercises the Mad Two and the Mad Three.

What is Automaticity?

Automaticity is the ability to do things quickly and with little mental energy. It is an automatic response that is reinforced through repetition and practice.

Why is it Important for Students to Have Automaticity?

There’s a valuable benefit to building automaticity through the week. Instead of wasting space on the weekly test by assessing your pupils’ knowledge of the definitions, build that knowledge throughout the week and save the weekly quiz as an opportunity to assess their ability to really apply their knowledge by using the words. This shows a deeper understanding than simply matching the term to its definition, or creating a fill-in-the-blank section, which can encourage random guessing.

 

How Can Teachers Build Automaticity Through the Week?

1. Require learners to create note cards the day they receive their new vocabulary list. Then, build in opportunities for quick practice during class time. If the day’s technology is slow to start, they could quickly run through their cards as it loads. If there’s an extra few minutes at the end of class, they could use their cards to quiz a partner. You could even require them to give you a correct definition each day before they head out the door.
2. Use a Mad Two within two days of passing out the target vocabulary. A Mad Two has both the week’s vocabulary words and their definitions, and the student has two minutes to match them correctly. If a pupil has been reviewing these words, he/she should get at least 50% of them correct. If someone falls below 50%, they might not be reviewing their words at home, or the list might be too far above their current ability level.
3. Push their knowledge further by asking your class to apply the words in a Mad Three. This activity has the same number of fill-in-the-blank sentences as there are vocabulary words, but the words are not given. This limits random guessing and really requires that students know their vocabulary words. This activity should be used the third or fourth day of the week (if the test falls on the fifth day of the week), and I suggest that they receive three minutes to complete it.

What Should the Vocabulary Quiz Look Like?

Since you’re asking pupils to learn the words and their definitions during the week, require deeper level activities to assess their application of the words on the quiz. The most telling sections of my weekly vocabulary quiz are where students answer questions that use the week’s words and write sentences of their own using the vocabulary. We discuss context clues and how they help us determine the meaning of an unknown word, so my class knows that they need to use context clues in their answers to show me they understand the word’s definition. Below you will see an example of a question I might ask. The vocabulary word is italicized.

Example Question: What are some of the benefits of living in a rural area?  

• An answer that would not receive full credit: Rural areas are quiet.
• An answer that would receive full credit: Rural areas are far away from the city, so it’s often quieter, making it easier to fall asleep at night.

The student who wrote the first sentence might understand the term’s definition, but they might not. The second sentence explains that “rural areas are far away from the city,” which shows me that this person understands the word’s definition and did not simply memorize a sentence that uses the word.

How do you build fluency and automaticity into your classroom? If you have any tips or tricks for making vocabulary rigorous, please share them with our teaching community! We are always looking for ways to add rigor and make kids college ready!