ELHS
How to build effective WORD WALLS
and PERFORMANCE TASKS
WHAT IS A WORD WALL?
What a word wall is not…
A list of people/events/terms that are placed
on the wall and never referred to throughout
the year
A static list that never changes
Typed content words on paper that is yellow
with age because they have been there
soooooo long!
What is a Word Wall?
A word wall is
a systematically organized collection of words
that increases and decreases throughout
the year
displayed in large letters on a wall or other
large display area in the classroom
a tool to use, not just display that is
designed to promote group learning
 a student centered/student created list
Why Word Walls?
Words -- the most important tools of a
reader or a writer
Words -- absolutely essential in our
classrooms
Words -- must be in full view so that
teachers and students can work through
texts together
so that students can see them and use
them in their writing
Importance of Word Walls
Word Walls promote vocabulary growth and lead to
improvement in literacy.
Word Walls serve many purposes:
Provide meaningful building of vocabulary with emphasis
on student engagement and higher order thinking skills
(H.O.T.S.)
Build vocabulary thereby improving reading comprehension
and writing styles
Importance of Word Walls
Provide students with high-frequency words that
will be encountered in particular units of study
Reinforce understanding of subject-specific
vocabulary with a focus on students internalizing
key concepts
Help students to improve spelling and make sure
they follow basic grammar rules of CAPITALIZATION
Importance of Word Walls
Provide visual clues for students
Encourage increased student independence when
reading and writing
Regardless of the grade level or the subject
area, word walls are an extremely effective
teaching and learning tool.
Elements of Effective Word Walls
Build over time with shared studentteacher responsibility
Words added with caution-average five
words per week
Practical and used on a daily basis, easily
seen
Hands-on, let the students create them
See back page of handout for check list
Strategies for Engaging Students in
Building the Word Wall
Use students’ ideas and suggestions in
determining words to be used- What words do
they already know?
Point to the WORD as you are using it in
discussion
Vary activities for using words on the word
wall- see handout.
How to Teach Students to Provide OnGoing Maintenance of the Word Wall
Students may
Serve as weekly Word Wall Monitors to assess
condition of the wall
Easy to read and use
Words in good condition or in need of repair
Suggest words to be added to the wall
Develop ideas for Word Wall activities
“Make no mistake about it:
when we teach a child to read,
we change the world.”
What is a performance task?
performance task: An assessment exercise that is
goal directed. The exercise is developed to elicit
students' application of a wide range of skills and
knowledge to solve a complex problem.
performance criteria: A description of the
characteristics to be assessed for a given task.
Performance criteria may be general, specific,
analytical trait, or holistic. They may be expressed
as a scoring rubric or scoring guide.
What does the research show?
Research suggests that learning how and where
information can be applied should be a central part
of all curricular areas. Also, students exhibit greater
interest and levels of learning when they are
required to organize facts around major concepts
and actively construct their own understanding of
the concepts in a rich variety of contexts.
Performance assessment requires students to
structure and apply information, and thereby helps
to engage students in this type of learning.
http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/OR/ConsumerGuides/pe
rfasse.html
What is the goal of the task?
"You can't assess kids' performance unless you
give them the tasks, and you can't assess their
degree of achievement unless they actually
perform the tasks. But first you must be clear
about what you want kids to know and be able
to do, or what we call 'content standards.'
Those content standards become the target for
creating the assessment.”
 Rethinking Tests and Performance Tasks by Robert J. Marzano
Essential Questions:
How can we effectively use WORD WALLS
to ensure our students are engaged in
meaningful vocabulary activities?
 How might we use WORD WALLS for
formative assessment of mastery of
standards?
How does the use of performance tasks
support mastery of the GPS?
Key characteristics…
1. Student centered
2. Must apply knowledge to find answers
3. Open-ended, creates rigor by asking them
to use the HFV-analyze, compare,
contrast, etc.
4. Has a specific outcome
5. Must be tied to standard!