So during my Master's program, one of my professor's, Dr. Scott, had us use a technique known as SAFMEDS to learn new vocabulary. It's an ABA method and it was an ABA class so it made sense to give us practical experience using it.
The system is incredibly simple and equally effective. The acronym basically says it all:
Say All Fast, Minute Every Day, Shuffled.
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Here's how you do it:
1. Take your set of vocabulary cards (typically 30) and shuffle them.
2. Hold the cards with the definition facing you.
3. Set a timer for one minute.
4. As quickly and accurately as you can, go through as many words as possible in that minute. For each card:
- Read the definition.
- Say the word out loud.
- Flip the card over to check if you were right.
- Stack the cards into correct and incorrect piles.
5. After the minute is over, stop. No cheating because you're only cheating yourself!
6. Count how many words you got correct and incorrect. Your goal is to be able to do 30 words correctly with 0 incorrect in one minute.
7. Chart your results.
- Mark your number of corrects with a dot, and your number of incorrects with an x.
- Any cards you did not get to should count as incorrect. So if you got 17 correct, 4 incorrect, and still had 9 in your hand, you would chart 17 correct and 13 incorrect.
- This is typically charted on a Standard Celleration Chart.
8. Repeat every day.
9. Watch your corrects go up and your incorrects go down.
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In the Classroom
Now this information may be useful to you personally - maybe you're taking classes or studying a foreign language - but when I saw how effective this technique was, my first thought was how I could use it with my high school students.
Now this information may be useful to you personally - maybe you're taking classes or studying a foreign language - but when I saw how effective this technique was, my first thought was how I could use it with my high school students.
My students struggle with vocabulary. Like review it five ways, finally get it right, and forget it two minutes later struggle. A lot of them have learning disabilities and language impairments, so the struggle is real.
From the get-go they have trouble retaining vocabulary knowledge. On top of that I've found that they genuinely do not know how to study. They may want to study but they literally do not know how because they've never been taught. Maybe they've heard of or seen flashcards, but they don't know what to do with them. You might think I'm exaggerating - after all these kids are in high school - but I can't tell you how many of my student wrote their vocabulary words and definitions together on one side of the card, or wrote multiple words on each card.
So yes, they needed this.
And I gave it to them.
AND IT WORKED.
I'm not going to say that the day they walked in to me smiling way too much, packs of index card in my hands, they were jumping for joy at the idea of making flashcards. In fact they hated it. How could I possibly make them write so much?! Why did they each have to make a set? What was the point of it all? Why does the universe exist?
But I made them do it. And it worked.
Preparation and Accommodation
Of course I couldn't just give my students the instructions I gave you above and leave them to it. First I had to consider how I may need to adapt this for my kids. Most of them get 100% extended time on their tests and assignments, so I needed to adjust their fluency target. The standard goal is to do 30 words in one minute. In order to provide 100% extended time, I would have to change this in one of two ways: either they could do 30 words in 2 minutes, or 15 words in 1 minute. My students often shut down and won't try if something seems too challenging, so I opted for 15 words in 1 minute.
I also needed to change the chart I would use. The Standard Celleration Chart is an amazing tool, but I knew my student's would never need a chart that went into the 100s. On top of that, one you hit 5 or 10 on the chart, the acceleration of the growth line (basically how sharply it goes up) drops significantly. I felt this would be discouraging to my students who would likely be starting around that point. The chart can also be confusing to look at and complete, and is visually cluttered.
I ended up making a very simple chart for my students to use. We still used dots for corrects and x's for incorrects and even that was confusing for my kiddos so I'm definitely glad I made this change.
Finally, I needed to ease them into using SAFMEDS. Rather than starting them off with a full set of 30 words, we started with 11 words they had already been exposed to in our figurative language unit. I figured this would allow them a chance to practice the mechanics of this strategy without having to learn new words at the same time. It would also increases their chances of early success (and resulting buy in) since they had a head start on learning the words and they would only have to do 11 in a minute to get a 100 on their vocabulary grade.
Daily Routine
SAFMEDS is now part of our routine. At the start of every class I have a timer displayed on the projector, cueing my kiddos to get their flashcards out. Once everyone is settled I start the timer and they all go through their cards. After the timer is up, they fill out their graphs.
For grading, on Wordy Wednesday, I call the students up to me one by one and have them go through SAFMEDS at my desk, while the rest of the class completes independent work. I then give them a quiz grade based on their total corrects divided by their target. If a student does really poorly they can retake it once more after everyone else has gone, or during lunch.
Doing their quizzes this way takes more time, but I really like the one-on-one time it gives me with them and I get a far better understanding of their knowledge, confidence, and study habits than I would with a traditional quiz.
On Thursdays they are assigned 5 new words which they add to their stack. Gradually we are building up their vocabulary set, and they are continually exposed to all of their words.
*For students on Access Points, IND Curriculum etc, I increase the time to 2 minutes.
*If a student is processing really slowly but getting the words right, I let them keep going after the timer and give them the option of grading based on corrects divided by total cards instead.
I wish I could say I took data on their vocabulary learning prior to implementing SAFMEDS and could therefore statistically show their improvement after learning the strategy. Unfortunately I can't.
What I can say is this:
So that's about it. I hope I've done an adequate job explaining SAFMEDS and how useful it can be in the classroom. If not, please let me know and I will post an update!
If you use SAFMEDS, let me know how it goes!
So yes, they needed this.
And I gave it to them.
AND IT WORKED.
I'm not going to say that the day they walked in to me smiling way too much, packs of index card in my hands, they were jumping for joy at the idea of making flashcards. In fact they hated it. How could I possibly make them write so much?! Why did they each have to make a set? What was the point of it all? Why does the universe exist?
But I made them do it. And it worked.
◈
Preparation and Accommodation
Of course I couldn't just give my students the instructions I gave you above and leave them to it. First I had to consider how I may need to adapt this for my kids. Most of them get 100% extended time on their tests and assignments, so I needed to adjust their fluency target. The standard goal is to do 30 words in one minute. In order to provide 100% extended time, I would have to change this in one of two ways: either they could do 30 words in 2 minutes, or 15 words in 1 minute. My students often shut down and won't try if something seems too challenging, so I opted for 15 words in 1 minute.
I also needed to change the chart I would use. The Standard Celleration Chart is an amazing tool, but I knew my student's would never need a chart that went into the 100s. On top of that, one you hit 5 or 10 on the chart, the acceleration of the growth line (basically how sharply it goes up) drops significantly. I felt this would be discouraging to my students who would likely be starting around that point. The chart can also be confusing to look at and complete, and is visually cluttered.
I ended up making a very simple chart for my students to use. We still used dots for corrects and x's for incorrects and even that was confusing for my kiddos so I'm definitely glad I made this change.
Finally, I needed to ease them into using SAFMEDS. Rather than starting them off with a full set of 30 words, we started with 11 words they had already been exposed to in our figurative language unit. I figured this would allow them a chance to practice the mechanics of this strategy without having to learn new words at the same time. It would also increases their chances of early success (and resulting buy in) since they had a head start on learning the words and they would only have to do 11 in a minute to get a 100 on their vocabulary grade.
◈
Daily Routine
SAFMEDS is now part of our routine. At the start of every class I have a timer displayed on the projector, cueing my kiddos to get their flashcards out. Once everyone is settled I start the timer and they all go through their cards. After the timer is up, they fill out their graphs.
For grading, on Wordy Wednesday, I call the students up to me one by one and have them go through SAFMEDS at my desk, while the rest of the class completes independent work. I then give them a quiz grade based on their total corrects divided by their target. If a student does really poorly they can retake it once more after everyone else has gone, or during lunch.
Doing their quizzes this way takes more time, but I really like the one-on-one time it gives me with them and I get a far better understanding of their knowledge, confidence, and study habits than I would with a traditional quiz.
On Thursdays they are assigned 5 new words which they add to their stack. Gradually we are building up their vocabulary set, and they are continually exposed to all of their words.
*For students on Access Points, IND Curriculum etc, I increase the time to 2 minutes.
*If a student is processing really slowly but getting the words right, I let them keep going after the timer and give them the option of grading based on corrects divided by total cards instead.
◈
I wish I could say I took data on their vocabulary learning prior to implementing SAFMEDS and could therefore statistically show their improvement after learning the strategy. Unfortunately I can't.
What I can say is this:
- My student were excited to see their progress lines go up and would call me over to show me their graphs. When was the last time you saw high schools excited over vocabulary?
- They were analyzing their graphs. If they noticed their corrects weren't going up as fast, or that they plateaued, they were trying to figure out why and trying new techniques to improve.
- I've seen kids who never speak to each other offering encouragement and studying together.
- Some of my kids challenge each other on Wednesdays to see who will get the top score and or go through all of their cards the fastest.
- Sometimes kids will gather around my desk to cheer for the person taking their quiz.
- Students have told me they now use SAFMEDS for vocabulary in other classes.
- My kids have been spotted reviewing their cards on the bus, in the courtyard, during lunch, and in other classes (sorry coworkers!)
- I no longer stress about vocabulary instruction.
So that's about it. I hope I've done an adequate job explaining SAFMEDS and how useful it can be in the classroom. If not, please let me know and I will post an update!
If you use SAFMEDS, let me know how it goes!
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