ABSTRACT
The new text complexity standards in the Common Core – which shows a triangle of qualitative and quantitative measures, as well as the influence of the reader himself or herself – make the point about vocabulary study really clear: "Researchers recommend that students be taught to use knowledge of grammar and usage, as well as knowledge of vocabulary, to comprehend complex academic text". The understanding that words afford is applicable not only to interpersonal communication, but to thought itself. Words formulate thought, whether the thought turns into speech/writing or not. This chapter also discusses the videos that the author's eighth graders created, and details how students apply the vocabulary terms to their writing. Teachers can't just expect students to regurgitate vocabulary terms by learning to spell them and giving the correct definitions. Students are going to remember a word just long enough to do well on a quiz or a test. and then forget about it.
