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[Music] Welcome to Greek Myths:

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Understanding Word
Roots and Meanings.

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I'm Carlton Cartwright,

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and I teach seventh
grade Language Arts

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at Pocomoke Middle School.

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Vocabulary is a priority
in my class because,

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first, I love words myself.

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And I think, as a teacher,
one of the easiest ways

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to get students to see and to
feel enthusiasm for learning

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in general is through
the teacher's enthusiasm.

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We're currently in our
Greek mythology unit,

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and we are actually
ending the unit.

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And one of the goals of the unit
itself, beyond just literature

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of Greek mythology, is for
students to understand that many

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of the words, the
vocabulary in our language,

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actually come from
Greek Mythology.

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As we've been reading various
myths, one of the focuses

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for each story has simply
been what one or two words

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that we currently use
in our language come

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from this particular story.

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So, what the students have
done is they go to a website.

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The purpose of this
particular website is for them

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to get information about the
words, research the origin

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of various words
from our language.

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We model the process using
the online resource simply

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because they're able
to see there's more

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than one way you can find
out where a word comes from

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or how a word functions than
just using the dictionary.

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Now that I've modeled the
process using a specific group

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of words, the students,
each of them,

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will be assigned a different
list of four to five words,

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and I chose each
of the lists based

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on the student's
ability or readiness.

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Then, what the students will
do is they have a worksheet

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that goes-just check
for understanding,

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that they're getting
what they're doing.

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And then the final
product from all of this is

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that they'll choose one word,

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and the way that they'll
demonstrate their understanding

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of that word is that
they'll actually write sort

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of a riddle poem that
demonstrates their understanding

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of the history or the
origin and the derivation

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of that specific word.

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Another thing we have done is
we play a game of Simon Says,

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and that's kind of connecting
to the kinesthetic learners

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of being able to, through
movement, and I say you know,

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"Simon Says show me titanic."

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And you have some kids
who'll get up, arms like this

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or another kid actually
stands up on his chair.

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He was a shorter kid, so
he stands up kind of big,

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and I say, "Simon Says stop."

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And then I say, "Well, why are
you standing up on your chair?"

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"Well, I am being
big like Titanic."

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"Oh, why are you doing this?"

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"I am showing something large."

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And so, that is also
an assessment

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of their understanding
of the word.

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A lot of our use of new words
really comes from discussion.

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So, as we go along and
even maybe a week or so

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after we discuss the word,
I say, "Remember that's

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like that other word."

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We also have in the
classroom a word wall.

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It becomes a resource for
students, and I actually talk

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with them about how they might
use it, and that's another way

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of getting the students
to realize, "Hey,

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those are words we can use."

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Again, to build their
vocabulary but also

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to give them more power
with their writing.

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And that, most of the time,
is a teachable moment.

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The student uses one word.

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Well, what would
be a related word

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or how would it relate
to a word?

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So, it's just multiple
exposures.

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I'll be there monitoring,
answering questions.

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And through my discussions with
students, I'll then be able

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to see is the student
totally getting it.

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That'll also give me
some guidance as to

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where I will go from that point.

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The mark of true word
understanding is being able

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to apply the word in different
settings, like in writing

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or reading or speaking.

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By them writing a
riddle poem lets me know

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that they can apply
it and, therefore,

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they know it and own it.

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It's the culmination of an
entire unit, but a different way

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for me to assess that the kids
know the origin of words other

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than just a paper-and-pencil
test.

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And the kids like writing
poetry, so that was kind of one

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of the reasons why I tailored
this particular assessment

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as well.

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[Music] To learn more
about Greek Myths:

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Understanding Word
Roots and Meanings,

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please explore the
additional resources

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on the Doing What Works website.