Morphology Mondays: An Easy, but Highly Effective Word Study of Greek & Latin Roots and Affixes

The Importance of Teaching Morphology in Middle School & Beyond!

Introducing Greek and Latin roots to middle school students can significantly improve their vocabulary skills and comprehension abilities. By understanding the meanings of different word parts, students can start to decode the meanings of unfamiliar words they encounter in ANY subject.

I know the Science of Reading is a "hot topic," but any language teacher knows that Scarborough’s Rope has merit. When you look at the Language Comprehension strand of the rope, you can see how critical of a role knowledge of language and vocabulary plays in the development of language, making it a no brainer to include a weekly word study in your class. Developing students' understanding of morphology will establish a solid foundation of vocabulary and language, leading to better readers.

This is why we should take the time to teach Greek and Latin roots in middle school, or even high school--there is too much at stake and the payoff is undeniable. If you haven't yet tried a word study, now is the time. All you need is 10-15 minutes a week with my Morphology Monday Method.

Making Your Word Study Highly Engaging and Effective

The key is to make your word study memorable. There are countless different products, PD books, resources, and methods for teaching the different word parts; however, if you want to see true growth and lifelong learning, you need to make your lessons engaging and memorable.

Over six years ago, I sat through a district PD emphasizing the importance of teaching roots, and we left with a method for implementing it. As with most district mandated lessons, it was impractical and clunky. We were to devote 10-15 minutes of our 42 minute periods to morphology DAILY! Y'all I get it; I've lived it--a word study is important, but I just didn't have that time to give. Plus, by week two, students were bored and disengaged!

So after that two week debacle, I did what any good teacher does--I pivoted (and completely disregarded the orders from my district 🙃). I started to make the lessons mine.

The Morphology Monday Method

I pledged to devote a portion of my Mondays to Morphology, which is the study of how morphemes are combined to form words. The first couple of years, before I tweaked my process, I was still spending a lot of time on Mondays teaching morphology, but now my method is streamlined and lessons take 5-15 minutes each depending on the word part.

The number one key to this method is consistency. Each Monday, I follow the same process and use the same presentation format. The only deviation is the focus word part. If you choose to use a method similar to mine, I highly suggest you tweak it to make it fit your style of teaching and classroom management.

TIP: I'm fairly laid back, so the first part of the lesson, the discovery, is a free for all. I show a picture for students to process, and they will start to share with the class words associated with that picture. If you feel your students need more processing time, they can write those words down or raise their hands when they have a word in mind. (This is the part that you need to make work for you, and then stick to it each week so that students know what to expect.)

Step 1: Discovery (3-5 minutes)

The goal of my lessons is for students to utilize a discovery approach, meaning I do not give them the focus word part beforehand. Students use pictures and background knowledge to help them decode the focus word part of the week.

I use three pictures for each presentation to get students thinking about the focus word part based on the pictures and class discussion. This is the process I use:

I show each picture one at a time before revealing each example word.
I allow time for students to analyze the picture for its meaning. Sometimes, I have to guide students in their thinking by giving them hints.
Once students discover the example word, I click to reveal the word, verbally emphasizing the definition of the word.
I then repeat this step for the next two pictures.

Step 2: Teach (2-3 minutes)

Once students have determined the initial example words, the next slide shows

students the definitions and the example words.

Students analyze the example words on the board, discovering the word part they have in common.
Then, I re-read the definitions aloud to the class, allowing students time to think about what the words have in common, which leads them to the meaning of the root word.
From this review, students can determine the focus word part and its meaning.

Step 3: Guided Practice (5 minutes)

After students have discovered the focus word, I walk through guided practice with students using different activities: more discovery, decoding words, fill-in-the-blank sentences, interactive games, matching, and/or brainstorming sessions. I just add these activities as different slides at the end of the presentation so that we can do the practice as a whole class or at tables.

Step 4: Closure (3 minutes)

As I close out the lesson, we review the word part, its meaning and the example words while students add an entry to their morphology notebooks. I have also done this in interactive notebooks using my printed graphic organizer, or my personal favorite, notecards, which I have students use as flashcards that they keep in a pencil pouch in their binders for any time we study.

The MOST Important Part: Making it Memorable!

So now you have the method, but how do you make the lessons "stick"? I feel the engaging method alone makes the lessons memorable, but here are my number one tips for taking the method to the next level:

Consistency! -- Once again, making sure you are consistent in doing this EVERY Monday with a new word part. It does take a while to build a back stock of presentations, so I have started to make my no-prep lessons available to other teachers.
Choose words that matter! -- This tip is the real key, but it is probably the hardest to implement. I started choosing focus word parts that aligned with words we were encountering organically during text studies or novel studies. This takes time and planning, but not only does this build word knowledge, it also builds background knowledge! It is worth the time! Check out my lessons to see if I have one ready made to save you some time.
Stay relevant! -- Let's be real for a second. No matter how engaging you think your lesson is, we teach middle school. So I have worked really hard over the years to include pictures, sentences, games and activities that I can to keep them relevant to to middle schoolers. In my lessons, I use gifs, memes, and humor to grab students' attention any time I can! Guess what? It works 9/10 times!
Don't skimp on the quizzes! -- I don't use quizzes a lot, but when it comes to morphology I absolutely do. I use standards based grading, and morphology is its own standard (for good reason). I do not feel bad about making students study and memorize the root words because they never change. I give quizzes twice a quarter for my students, and I keep a Gimkit posted on Schoology that I add to each week, so students can "study"any time they want.
Review often! -- You may only do one lesson a week, but it is important to include weekly example words in your weekly activities, whether it's vocab for a novel study, a bellringer prompt or writing activity. Intentionally add these words to your lessons and activities so that students are exposed to them often.

Implementing Morphology Monday in your Classroom

I have been doing Morphology Mondays for 7 years now, and I know it works because I have seen my students' vocabulary scores drastically improve. Through the use of pictures, connections, routine and consistency, even my most reluctant students grow in this area--I see it every year when we take the iReady, but even more in every day conversations within the classroom.

These Morphology lessons on Monday have such a huge impact with just a few minutes of class time. It is now a nonnegotiable part of my lessons for me, and I hope you find ways to implement it in your classroom.