Using PowerPoint to improve vocabulary learning

I dreamed this up this summer and it has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. Besides teaching computer skills, I also teach English/Language Arts to 7th and 8th graders. I usually have to drag them through vocabulary. But this year I divide up the list of vocabulary words, and have each student create a one-slide PowerPoint presentation about their word. I obtain their presentations from their student folders (as flash drives don't always work on all our lab computers), then insert their slides into one presentation for either 7th or 8th grade. With practice, I've got this down to 15 minutes per grade level.

Students clamor to see the latest presentation and then to see it again the day before the test. Great results: using the same type of tests as last year, their grades are significantly higher. In addition, students are super motivated to learn what to do to make sure their slide is included in the presentation - which means they have to create it and save it in the correct place within a time limit. By the second set of words, almost everybody had theirs done, in the right place, and on time (a minor miracle in middle school). And everybody has a spontaneous biweekly lesson in English on what makes a good PowerPoint slide. Their PowerPoint skills are improving, too, of course.

Now that students know what to do, they can create their slides in 10-15 minutes. That's not much time out of a 2-week period. And they're enthusiastic about vocabulary. Now I have to see now long the words "stick."

Fran