OVERVIEW

Definitions Are Us is a cooperative assessment that prompts students to demonstrate their complete understanding of a term or expression by creating their own definition.

IMPLEMENTING THIS ACTIVITY

1. Make and distribute enough copies of the Definitions Are Us graphic organizer.
2. Assign each student an important vocabulary word or expression.
3. Instruct them to find a formal definition of the word and to identify the two most important words in this definition.
4. Students should then get into pairs. Prompt the pairs to share the words they chose and to discuss why they chose them.  Have students record all four most important word selections and their respective reasoning in the graphic organizer.
5. Once the partners have discussed and recorded their choices, they should work cooperatively to create their own definition of the word or expression.
6. An expansion of this activity includes frequently administering these assessments and having the student’s build their own glossary for the course.