Interactive Word Walls
Larry Ferlazzo, Katie Hull Sypnieski · 2025
An interactive word wall is a thematically and graphically organized wall of words with related visuals. While traditional word walls are teacher created, alphabetic, and rarely include visuals, interactive word walls are co-created with students, making them more student-centered. Interactive word walls make grade-level content understandable to students and help develop their language. Planning ahead for interactive word walls pays off in the long run. It is helpful to share the expectations with students explicitly since some may not know or be comfortable with co-creating word walls. Teachers with many classes in one day face a logistics problem around how to have two, three, or even six interactive word walls. Environmental print provides easy access to students and is preferred over online versions. However, it is possible to create alternative versions of interactive word walls using technology, primarily for online teaching situations.