B++Listening+to+Your+Community+of+Learners

Strategy B: Listening to Your Community of Leaners
Once you have shared your own connections and understandings of new vocabulary terms, invite students to share their own thoughts, experiences, and background knowledge relevant to these terms.

After describing the ways in which the woods **inspired** me as a writer, I took my students into the woods as well, and we spent the afternoon writing there. Upon returning, students wrote about the unique ways in which they found themselves inspired. Then, students were asked to share other everyday experiences that could **inspire** good writing.
 * Example:**




 * Other Ideas from Teachers I've Worked With:**
 * Ask students to interview classmates to uncover their knowledge or experience with new terms. Then, share.
 * Challenge students to make connections between their favorite songs and new terms.
 * Use journal starters: provide words, ask students to write about their connections and experiences. Then, share.
 * Present students with concept circles. Place four words inside each circle (familiar, unfamiliar), and then ask groups to make as many connections as they can between all of them.
 * On Mondays, ask students to use vocabulary words to describe two things that they did over the weekend.