Marzano's 6 Steps to Vocabulary Instruction #2: Have Students Re-State the Definitions in Their Own Words

If you followed Marzano's first step, your students now have the vocabulary terms and a definition, explanation or example of each.

Great, but we want our students to be able to do more than just recite back the definition they were given (rote memorization); we want them to understand and be able to apply them.

So, how do we get our students to be able to make deeper connections to the words so they can understand and apply them?

​Dr. Marzano says the next step is to have students re-state the definitions in their own words.  This is kink of the Social Studies version of showing your work in math - it lets us see their thinking and connections.  I achieve this step in a couple of different ways...

1. Vocabulary Charts - On the first vocabulary day of each unit, part of my students' assignment is to put the definition into their own words on their unit's vocabulary sheet.
2. "Partner Clues" Warm Up Activity - One of my variety of daily vocabulary warm up activities is called "Partner Clues".  In pairs, one student picks a work from the list and defines it in their own words for their partner who then tries to guess the term.  If the partner is correct, they switch, if not, they get another clue (the first partner tries a different definition).

This same concept is built into the "Turn and Talks" I embed in most of my interactive notes presentations to help my students understand the content better by hearing their peers put it into their own words.

So, if you are interested in seeing more great interactive vocabulary resources, be sure to click the link below, and also check out the rest of my store for more great interactive Social Studies resources!

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