contributed by Alan Davson

‘Anyone who has visited my classroom knows how much I love words.

I teach multimedia arts, but I talk about words so much that most people assume I must be an English teacher.

Over the years, no matter what subject I taught, I kept noticing the same pattern. My students
were bright, creative, and capable, but they were often easily thrown when they encountered
unfamiliar words.

Sometimes it only took one word to derail them. Some students could sound things out, but when asked to explain what the word meant, they would shut down.

Some students could sound things out, but when asked to explain what the word meant, they would shut down.

At a certain point, I realized the issue went beyond reading. Students weren’t just struggling to
decode words. They were struggling with language itself. They didn’t always have the words to
explain what they were thinking, to ask for help clearly, or even to describe what was bothering
them.

That gap showed up academically, but also socially and emotionally.

I tried the usual approaches. Word walls, vocabulary lists, and games. I made a point to model
stronger language during discussions. It helped, but only to a point. Students could memorize
definitions, but the understanding didn’t always stick.

The shift happened during a simple moment. A student got stuck on the word transport. Instead
of defining it, I broke it apart into trans and port. Then I asked the class what other words they
knew that sounded similar.

They started calling things out. Transfer. Transform. Portable. Import. Export.

As we talked through those words and their meanings, something clicked. The room changed.
Students started to see that words weren’t random. They had structure. They connected. They
could be figured out.

From there, it became something we did regularly. We started breaking words apart, comparing
them, and connecting them across subjects. Sometimes it led into conversations…