I had a U.S. History teacher who gave our class about 50 vocabulary terms a week to learn and memorize. To say the least, that was the death of me! I like how this article speaks of the importance of not only learning vocabulary words and their definitions, but expanding to learn synonyms, antonyms, prefixes/suffixes, root words, etc. I see the value in exposing students to words in various ways and through varied texts. I believe when students see words in various contexts, they are more like to understand its meaning and learn correct word usage.
(In reference to the other websites mentioned in this section, I really enjoyed the links that led to student work samples. I love the Wanted Ad, and the “What Am I” Great Depression poems. Both of these would be great to use if I end up teaching Social Studies!)
