Sound It Out

Comments

I, too, like word searches for the building of vocabulary. It is a way of teaching synonyms and antonyms and keeps new vocabulary words in front of the students so they see them. More exposure to new words better the chances they will make them their own and use them on a daily basis. I think they are great for ELL and at risk students. Motivation is key for these students and finding the words makes the students focus on word parts and the words themselves. I think the author is correct. Too many teachers have probably used them as busy work on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon so now must pay the price. Any teaching tool can be good and/or bad: it always depends on how it is being used in the classroom. Used wisely these can enrich the lesson. It was suggested that this is not a good use of student time at our school as well but I disagree. We have not been forbidden to use them but it is strongly discouraged. I use them but only to reinforce a particular skill.

I agree that word finds have little educational value. In a time when we are trying to produce thinkers and problem solvers, the passive act of locating words seems a waste of instructional time. If they are used as Jamie has mentioned, as a tool for teaching synonyms, antonyms, etc. they could prove useful as a quick activity but too many teachers use them as time-fillers. Crossword puzzles have a bit more instructional value but can also be used inappropriately. One way to up the instructional value might be to have students create word searches and crossword puzzles of their own using content words, literary terms, etc.

I love the idea of having kids create their own crossword puzzles. Seeing a student-written definition of a word would certainly help a teacher gauge that student's understanding. Molly had to create her own word search last week using her spelling words. It was definitely a time filler.

I see no educational value in word searches. Vocabulary is not built by matching and circling letters. Word searches are "busy work". Vocab lessons should focus on USING the vocab words.. not matching their letters. Play a matching game with the word and a definition or sentence so that they can see the word in CONTEXT rather than just as a group of letters.

As a parent of a child with dysgraphia, we have spent hours searching for words in word searches. We used various strategies (i.e., using a strip of paper and screening the list of letters vertically, horizontally, and on the diagonal. The time we spent evenings looking for scientific terms in science, history, etc. could have been spent studying content materials. I also did not feel it was a fair for my son to be graded on them. Finally, during his last year in school, his IEP contained Specially Designed Instruction that does not allow any grading of word searches or scrambles for him. Hopefully, as a freshman in college, we will not see these activities being used as an assessment tool.

Thanks for adding the voice of a parent of an older student with dysgraphia. I agree with your statement that the time spent poring over the word search grids could have been spent actually learning and getting excited about content! Argh. And, as a former university professor, I can say that during my 7 years on faculty, I never once saw a university professor use a word search. Hopefully your son is through with those!

As a teacher, I see the use of crossword puzzles (with a word bank) and word searches to be find vocabulary and spelling benefits for elementary students. As a parent of a middle schooler, I have been shocked at the number of these labor intensive and time consuming puzzles that have been assigned as homework to be graded and there is obvious low educational value. It have been difficult to get a biology teacher to stop sending these home when other reinforcing assignments need our child's time.

Most of my argument has been stated in the previous posts, but I would like to add my story:
Although many teachers give out word searches at some point in the year to free up a little time in their schedules, there are a handful that rely on them. Take, for example, my sixth grade teacher, Ms. Allen. She would give out a huge (I'm talking 35 by 35 character monsters that took up a whole page at 12-point font) word search every week or so. She would then come around to every table and grade them, grade something that requires no ingenuity at all, does not build any skills at all except for toning eye muscles by putting them under stress. (Training for a job entailing computers, perhaps?) So, please, if you are a teacher or plan to become one, at least assign some creative journaling assignments and spare us schoolchildren from hours of useless torture. Signed, A Rising Eighth Grader ☺ ☻ ♥ ♪ ♫ ☼

I think word searches can be useful for word bank building. If the word study is focusing on long a spelled with ai, then looking up the words with the ai spelling is a good review. Also, if the students are studying nouns, it is a good way for students to be exposed to a variety of nouns so that they can get more examples of nouns. It is a good supplementary resource if used in the proper context of exposure to words. Tools teachers use should be judged on how they are used by the teacher and not be written off because of the way some teachers misuse them.

I believe word searches are useful to help students build stamina and help with learning to key in on details. Testing is a game of stamina and attention to detail. I use it to help my students learn that you look everywhere to help find information. I would never use it as a grade because I feel their is no benefit to the word search in this manner. ADHD students learn to slow down when working using word searches, as long as it is not to complicated.

I would consider myself to be an intelligent, articulate individual, yet I find word searches to be of little value. They would seem more likely to test visual skills and psychology rather than vocabulary. My son recently had to "solve" a "science wordsearch" with nearly 40 words with an array that must have been about 50 x 50...a tremendous task, even for me (I'm a PhD scientist). Assigned on the same night as serious English, Math, and Social Studies homework for return the following day, this simply added pressure to the evening homework routine. Frankly, for my son to have to find words like "science" and "theory" in the midst of 2500 letters when he has asked me about Bose-Einstein condensates and told me he is finally "getting" quantum spin (he's a science whiz...but word searches drive him *NUTS*) is not only silly, but a totally irrational way to judge and grade his science skills!

For those still reading:

http://warp.byu.edu/cgi-bin/wordsearch.py

...this will help you solve your wordsearch...

Last night my daughter spend 1.5 hours trying to figure out a word search assignment. Thank you so much for linking the warp.byu site I can see where this will really put a meaningful skill and a reason to do wordsearches! My daughter suffers from memory problems, ADD and information processing problems. I also find her switching letters in words or with her spelling having all the letters in the word there but in the wrong order. You can see why wordsearches would be a daunting task for her. She loves the computer and is always wanting to learn how to type faster so this is definatly going to be the way to go.

Thanks so much!

Cathy - I agree that word searches are merely level I recall based activity. They require students to use only simple skills without any analysis of text. With that said, I am not convinced that 94-142 was ever developed so that parents like you could control/micromanage how teachers would be permitted to evaluate children….. It is evident that you are laying down a red carpet in front of your child to ensure that he/she will never have to face challenges or adversity. How is that working for you?

I use both word searches and crossword puzzles in my remedial program. I work with emotionally disturbed students with multiple learning needs. Many have attention difficulties and trouble focusing on task. As others have stated, I use specific puzzles (based on the needs, skill level and emotional stamina of the student) to provide practice with vocabulary, attention to word patterns, spelling and more. Often children are asked to use the words in sentences or to select a number of words to use in an essay.
Word searches and crosswords (in print and online) are non-threatening to my students, all of whom have failed in prior placements and so have learned to hate reading and school, and to distust adults, especially teachers. My students work willingly at these puzzles, and over time learn to use the fundamental skills required to solve them in other areas of their school day.

Talk about a leap...because serious educators have No use for ...NO USE for this type of activity. I noticed someone suggesting this is a helpful activity for ELL learners....hmmmm??? Please tell me a program that teaches second language learners using word searches. Teaches vocabulary??? Teaches spelling ???Reallllly, I'm looking for the word "Quetzalcoatlus" I bet I'll be able to spell it as soon as I isolate the "z's". And to Mike (yes, a sentence that starts with and) your logic system allows you to extrapolate that not doing a word search ensures that her child "will never have to face challenges or adversity". That's some logical fallacy you having going... How is that working for YOU?

The only teachers I know that use these are not high achievers. Of the 6 teachers that use them in our school ALL of them have told me they don't check them. I had my son just circle random letters when we got frustrated one night and we decided to do it for the rest of the year. Neither one of the teachers noticed and he got full credit the entire year. I surveyed students in my classes and the students that like them said they were fun and easy credit. What's next math credit for Sudoku???

I see no educational benefit to word searches! The words are often backwards so how can they help a child recognize words. I do the word searches for my children so they will not waste time on them. I hate doing them, they give me a headache. My high schooler still gets them! craziness.
Sudoku is not for math but maybe the kenken puzzles.

Word Finds and Word Searches are assigned as homework at my son's school quite often. They seem like a big waste of time to me since they take an hour or more to do and he isn't learning anything by doing them.

I get so annoyed when I see that my children have been assigned a word search. They stare blindly at the page hunting for cryptic letter after cryptic letter with no regard for the overall word. They scan around. They finish without learning how to spell the word or how to use it in a sentence. I will now read the other comments so see if any of the arguments sway me.

I teach high school. Word searches are a waste of time for bright kids, they should be learning soemthing important. Word searches are a waste of time for students with learning difficulties. They frustrate and turn them off. Word searches are a waste of time for students who like them. They use them as an excuse not to do their other work.

There is absolutely no value in word searches for the normal child. Let's open the book and read or memorize vocabulary or do something that actually involves learning the subject.

I gove wordsearches and wordfinds to my students- but with other activities and related to the topic. They are useful- to remember yesterday's work, reinforce key words and terms and help spelling patterns, however giving these as meaningful activities requires the same effort as any other activity. I ahve never given out one larger than 20 by 25 becuase otherwise they are easily wasting too much time. Just because the research hasn't been done doesn't mean it isn't useful.

As an Educational Major, our teachers will not let us use word searches as a student activity. They all say they have no educational value.