LINCS Vocabulary Strategy

Some questions to start…• How did you do on your quiz?• What strategies did you use to study?

Strategic Learners…

Who they are:• Are active learners• Think carefully about what

they are learning• Understand information

better• Learn things more easily• Learn more information• Remember things more

easily

What they do:• Set goals and work toward them• Ask questions to ensure

understanding• Organize, change, and

manipulate information to make understanding and remembering easier

• Spend less time studying• Get better grades• Use effective strategies for

learning and expressing information

Why are we learning this?• Better understand what you read/hear• Use words in discussion• Use words in writing• Better grades on tests• All kinds of reasons!

How are we learning this?Like a basketball play…

Coach draws the play and tells players what’s supposed to happen.Coach demonstrates key parts of the play.Players discuss the play and memorize what they have to do.In practice, players walk through the play in slow motion; coach helps.Players practice against other team members; coach watches and gives feedback.Players run the play in a real game.Watch game film; change or practice more if necessary.

An expert explains what to do.

Modeling by an expert.Understand/memorize.Learning how it feels to

do it in simple situations.

Learning how to do it in situations similar to

the real thing.Using it on the real

thing.Evaluating and

adapting.

Explain the LINCS steps.Demonstrate use of LINCS

steps.Students explain the steps

to each other and memorize.

Students practice; teacher helps them.

Students use strategy on actual vocab, take practice

quizzes, get feedback.Students use strategy to

study for real tests.Students check to see how

well it helped; change or practice if necessary.

LINCS is…– A plan for learning that includes “thinking smart”

and using a SET of thinking tactics.– Used for remembering the meaning of new words.– Example: Mnemonic Devices• HOMES • Never Eat Shredded Wheat• My very educated mother just served us noodles• 30 days hath September…• Righty…• In 1492…• “If it’s blue, you’re…”

All about the strategy…

• Helps you remember the meaning of a new word

• Focuses your attention on the parts of the definition you need to remember

• Uses knowledge you already have to help you learn new things

• Involves testing yourself to check whether you can recall the meaning of the new word

• Helps you remember the meaning of some words in a list of related words

• Is easy to apply to some words; is difficult to apply to other words

• Involves leaving out some steps because they are not needed

• Is used when a different strategy is better for memorizing a particular word

• Is used when you already know what the word means

Always Sometimes Never

The LINCS acronym stands for:

List the partsIdentify a reminding wordNote a LINCing StoryCreate a LINCing PictureSelf-test

The LINCS acronym stands for:

List the parts• List the word on the front of a study card.• List the most important parts of the definition on the back.

The LINCS acronym stands for:

Identify a reminding word• Think of a familiar word that sounds like the new word, or part of the

word.• Write it under the new word.• An effective reminding word:

– ALWAYS sounds like part or all of the new word, is a REAL word, has a meaning that you already know, and helps you remember what the new word means.

– SOMETIMES sounds like part of the new word, rhymes with the new word or sounds like almost all of the new word, has a meaning that is very similar to the new word’s meaning, can be 2 or more words that sound like the new word

– NEVER sounds completely different from the new word, is a nonsense word, or has a meaning you don’t know

The LINCS acronym stands for:Note a LINCing Story• Make up a short story (a couple of sentences) about the meaning of

the new word that includes the reminding word.• An effective LINCing Story…

– Always includes the Reminding Word or some form of it, links the Reminding Word to the meaning of the new word, is short and simple

– Sometimes includes both the Reminding Word and the new word, is funny or bizarre

– Never includes only the new word and the Reminding Word, is so complex that it takes a lot of energy to remember it, is long like a paragraph, or includes words you don’t understand.

The LINCS acronym stands for:Create a LINCing Picture• Create an image in your mind of what the word is about.• Draw the image on the bottom right half of the back of the study

card.• An effective LINCing Picture contains a part related to the Reminding

Word, contains parts related to the important idea in the definition, helps you remember the new word’s definition

The LINCS acronym stands for:Self-Test• Self test “forwards”

– Say the new word.– Say the Reminding Word.– Think of the LINCing Story.– Think of the LINCing Picture.– Say the meaning of the new word. – Check to see if you’re correct.

• Self test “backwards”– Say the meaning of the new word.– Think of the LINCing Picture.– Think of the LINCing Story.– Think of the Reminding Word.– Say the new word.– Check to see if you’re correct.

This is how we learn the strategy– as we use the strategy, our brains will move more quickly and these steps will become

so natural you don’t even realize you’re doing them!

Like a chain…Different pieces of knowledge are linked together…

If you can remember the information in one of the links in a chain, you will remember information in the other links.

When you apply the LINCS Strategy, you create a chain between the word and its meaning.

The stronger the links between pieces of information, the easier you can remember them.

Using the LINCS strategy transforms a potentially weak link between a word and its definition into a chain of very strong links.

The LINCS acronym stands for:

List the partsIdentify a reminding wordNote a LINCing StoryCreate a LINCing PictureSelf-test

The LINCS acronym stands for:

List the partsIdentify a reminding wordNote a LINCing StoryCreate a LINCing PictureSelf-test

thorax

Side One

Side Two

Upper part of torso: the part of the human body between the neck and abdomen

thorax

Side One

Lorax

Side Two

Upper part of torso: the part of the human body between the neck and abdomen

Most of the Lorax is his thorax; no Who has a torso like his!

Side Two

Upper part of torso: the part of the human body between the neck and abdomen

Most of the Lorax is his thorax; no Who has a torso like his!