Julie Hutcherson didn't sign up to be an English teacher.
Usually she's all angles and fractions and complex numbers, but for 30 minutes every day, she gets wordy.
Along with every other teacher at Orchard Knob Middle School this year, Hutcherson is helping to pilot a vocabulary enhancement program called Word Generation. The idea behind the program is to give every student an extra 15 minutes - or 30 in Orchard Knob's case - of multidisciplinary activities aimed at enlarging students' vocabularies.
"Usually vocabulary is taught in isolation in different classrooms. They're words that aren't going to be commonly used," said Elisabeth Zachary, Hamilton County Schools director of secondary literacy. "[Word Generation] uses words that should be in a kid's vocabulary anyway."
So at the end of sixth-grade math class, Hutcherson changes hats. It's a switch she has embraced, she said, because a bigger vocabulary will help her students in math.
"Our students really struggle with vocabulary. If they can't read what we're giving them [in other subjects], they can't answer the questions," she said.
Zachary brought the program to Orchard Knob this year after attending a Harvard University training session last summer. She believes it's a perfect fit.
"It's so good for Orchard Knob. These are kids who have impoverished vocabularies," she said. "[Principal Maryo Beck] is new, and he's really open to innovation and anything that's going to help those kids."
In Hamilton County, about 90 percent of middle schoolers read at or above grade level, according to standardized test scores. At Orchard Knob, 67 percent of students have hit that mark.
Every week, Orchard Knob students are given a list of five new vocabulary words. Last week's selections were "benefit," "create," "indicate," "context" and "variable." Through the week, the students then have one task per day - science experiments, debates and math word problems, for example - that use those words.
Some students say the topics make the lessons relevant. From broad topics like school uniforms to questions such as "Why aren't there more women in math and science?" kids have plenty of opinions.
"I like it because some of the questions in here are interesting. I've learned new words," said N'Shay Caldwell, 12, citing "interpret" as a word recently added to her arsenal.
Other students in N'Shay's seventh-grade class say they also like the program's interaction.
"In regular class we just sit and listen, but here you get to talk," said Lashawna Brewer, 12.
"You get to express your feelings and what you think," added Jocelyn Blount, 12.
The program is only in its second week, and no one knows for sure whether it will work.
There isn't much extensive research on the new program, but according to a "quasi-experimental" study using the materials, middle schoolers who used Word Generation "showed significantly greater growth" in vocabulary than their peers who had not.
Beck, the principal, said the true test will come when students take the standardized Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program next spring.
Not only is there a vocabulary section in the reading/language arts portion of the test, but he hopes the new lessons will help his students perform better in all subjects.
"We wanted kids to realize vocabulary is important in everything you do," he said.
Zachary said she wants to gauge the program's success before deciding whether to implement it at other middle schools. But because the curriculum is free, there would be little sacrifice either way, she said.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To learn more about the Word Generation vocabulary program, visit wordgeneration.org.