It has been quite the exhilarating year as Vocab Gal.  From the Vocabulary Relay Game in January to the Vocabulary Playlists in December, I’ve been trying all kinds of vocabulary activities and vocabulary games to help students learn words in a fun and interesting way.  I enjoy the forced creativity of blogging for you each week to keep both my students and myself on our toes!

Plus, the authors I’ve gotten to interview this year have been nothing short of phenomenal!  My students LOVE the Ned Vizzini and Ally Condie videos from January, and from then, the list just got better-John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson, James Dashner, Heather Brewer, A.S. King & Jackie Morse Kessler, Veronica Roth, Deborah Hopkinson, Kathryn Erskine, Allan Wolf, Ilsa Bick (my students just can’t get enough of her book Ashes), Jack Gantos and the most recent coup Daniel Handler (just browse by the tag “Meet the Author”).  If you want to know how I use these videos in my classroom each week, just check out my blog post Chart ‘Em and Write! 

This year I’ve also gotten some celebrity recognition.  I still can’t believe that one of my favorite authors-Sara Zarr-instantly recognized me at this year’s NCTE, shouting out “Hey, it’s Vocab Gal!”  Way to make my year Sara-THANKS!  A.S. King also rocks my world by tweeting with me and favoring my posts-especially my Vocabulary March Madness game (which you can play any time of the year). Thanks Amy!

I have a whole bunch of new interviews to edit and post from this year’s NCTE, plus I’m still not done with all the interviews I got at last year’s ALAN conference.   Keep coming back as I promise many more new and great YA authors talking words.  As always, I will have lots of new vocabulary strategies for teachers and students too.

Finally, I must thank all of you for reading, commenting and trying out my ideas in your classrooms.  We have a tough job that is stressful and scary, yet exciting and enriching.  Keep your thoughts positive as we head into the second half of the school year!

I will be back next week with my resolutions for teaching vocabulary in 2013.  Until then, enjoy your holidays.

Common Core State Standards:
Language Standard 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts.
Language Standard 4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown words
Language Standard 5. Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meaning.
Language Standard 6. Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge

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