One aspect of the Common Core standards is to increase student knowledge of academic vocabulary and to help students to develop the skils to use contextual evidence and analysis to make educated guesses about the meaning of terms.  While it was often thought that using a strategy such as Word Walls was strictly for elementary classrooms, it can also be an effective strategy to use in high school classrooms as well.  In walkthroughs at GHS I have witnessed the use of word walls in a few classrooms already where the cabinets have been used as the word walls.

What is a word wall?
A word wall is a display area in the classroom devoted strictly to high-frequency vocabulary that will be used or is being used during the course of a particular unit of study.


Check out this article on Word Walls in secondary classrooms:  www.curriculum.org/storage/258/1334340769/World_Walls_-_A_Support_for_Literacy_in_Secondary_School_Classrooms.pdf