English Instructional Plan – Using vocabulary skits to connect unfamiliar words by tapping into social emotional memoryAfter being introduced to a series of new words through a cloze reading activity, students will create mind maps (using graphics, word origin maps, and meaningful sentences) to learn a set of words that will be used within a thematic unit. Once students have some time exploring the words, they will be tasked with creating vocabulary skits that connect the words to their personal experiences, so that they will encode the words by tapping into their emotional memory. This activity will include a model lesson, but is intended for teachers to adapt to any set of words. The content of the lesson is best suited for 8th grade

This activity is designed to help students gain practice with word derivations. The teacher will divide students into groups of two or three and give each group a dictionary.  Students will identify the meaning of the listed base word and will work collaboratively to identify as many derivations as they can in the allotted time. Students should identify the part of speech for each derivation and write a definition for each derivation.