Word+Cycle


 * Word Cycle**

A word cycle is a vocabulary-building strategy that helps students identify the relationships between and among words. A word cycle is an open-ended activity that encourages students to think in creative ways in order to find relationships between words or phrases and to diagram these relationships in a meaningful way. It is applicable in any situation and in all subject areas where an understanding of relationships among words or concepts is required. A word cycle is used to introduce a new topic or unit, to review newly learned material or concepts, and to assess knowledge of vocabulary and concepts.
 * Description**

The teacher:
 * Method**
 * explains and models the strategy: for instance, placing terms from a prepared list in adjacent positions and indicating their relationship on an adjacent band;
 * encourages students to see that there is more than one way to look at relationships between words and concepts;
 * selects the words to be used to build the word cycle;
 * decides if the strategy is used individually or in small groups;
 * decides where in the learning process to use the strategy (e.g., as an introduction, as review, or for assessment);
 * provides prompts when students are having difficulty building relationships or seeing connections.

Word cycles:
 * Considerations**
 * work best with six to eight words or concepts;
 * require a visual frame, preferably a teacher-prepared frame at first;
 * require an environment where unique or creative thinking is encouraged;
 * usually enable the first few connections to be made easily; as fewer words are left, the connections become more difficult.


 * Illustrations From The Mathematics Classroom**

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 * Elementary**

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 * Secondary**