JotLog V 2.0 (freeware)

JotLog is a very cool little program that can be used for vocabulary instruction. Essentially, students can make up their own dictionaries by entering a word and its definition. The really cool part though is that students can also draw a symbolic representation of the word. Why is this important? According to my friends in our local vocabulary dream team, "One of the best ways to learn a new word is to associate an image with it. In controlled studies it was found that instructional techniques employing the use of imagery, produced achievement gains in word knowledge that were 34 percentile points higher than techniques that did not. This would include using graphic representations, pictures, and pictographs as well as creating mental pictures of new words and even act out their meanings."