Last month, eighth graders at Correia Middle School in San Diego, CA answered more than 25,000 questions on Vocabulary.com, earning 5,325,175 points, mastering 1,632 words, and topping our school leaderboard for February 2013. Here, English teacher Deborah Ryles talks to Vocabulary.com about Correia's use of the site.

Vocabulary.com: First let us say congratulations! We’re impressed by your students’ level of play and curious to hear how you’re using Vocabulary.com in your English classes. 

Deborah Ryles: Thank you. We were surprised!

VC: What got you started using the site?

DR: Desperation, I guess! I’ve been teaching over 20 years and I’ve tried so many different things, on the computer and off. Our kids tend to struggle with word learning these days because they don’t read as much as we used to. It’s an area of need, but how do you do it without reading?

Then I thought of Vocabulary.com. I’ve used it off and on because I’m an English teacher and a word person. I’ve enjoyed the way the words are presented and the game quality that keeps you going. I knew there was the capability of making your own list. When I saw how easy it was, I thought, Why not try this?

VC: Did you give your students a list to learn right away?

DR: We tried introducing a list to them as just the words. I wanted them to find meanings and draw graphics to go with each word, but it turned out to be very intensive and I wondered how much were they really learning or using.

Now, we’ve decided to introduce the lists on Vocabulary.com first, so they can sift out the words they’re having trouble with. Then we have them do the work on just those words on their own. They pick words from the list that they feel they most need to study. They do that vocabulary work in their notebook.

I like that it differentiates learning. Some of my English learners are writing all of the words on the list down. Some are writing just 10. If by some chance you know all 10, you have to find 10 more in the reading that you don’t know. It’s self-governing.

VC: You were teaching To Kill a Mockingbird. How did you go about making the lists based on the book?

DR: I love the grabbing words from text feature! I just enter the text and let [the list building tool] grab the vocabulary. Then as I go through reading the book, I select the words that are most commonly used and important for my students as academic vocabulary, as well as a few that might be necessary for comprehension. I go back to [the list], picking just those words, and fixing the definitions [to make sure they match the context of the word]. I love that the examples come right from the text — it makes a direct connection to what they’re reading.

VC: How do you structure assignments?

DR: Twice a week I introduce a new set of words for the pages we’re going to be reading [in To Kill a Mockingbird]. The students go on it once in class for about 15 minutes to become comfortable. The rest of it is on their own. We use netbooks in the classroom but almost all of them have some way to get online at home. Then on Mondays, I have them take screen shots of their points and email them to me.

VC: Do they like it?

DR: They’re taking it on in a very competitive way. It’s very game-like to them. They’re really impressed by the number of points they’re gaining and I do notice that they’re gaining points fairly quickly. When you feel success you want more of it.

VC: Is it teaching them the words?

DR: It’s still new and we haven’t done a full test yet, but I just gave my first quiz and the kids did very well.

Want to test your vocabulary knowledge against the students from Correia Middle? Quiz yourself on this list of the top ten words they're struggling with: "10 Tricky Words From 8th Grade Vocabulary Experts." Then make sure you're signed up to play for your school in your account profile, and see if you can beat Correia's high score in March!

Find Ms. Ryles' To Kill a Mockingbird lists here: Chapters 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-11, and 12-14, or check out To Kill a Mockingbird lists made by Vocabulary.com's curriculum development team: Chapters 1-6, 7-11, 12-15, 16-19, 20-25, and 26-31. To learn how to create Vocabulary Lists on your own, watch this short video.