Community reviews for Membean

When a colleague steered me toward Membean last year, I was intrigued. I got to play with it a little at the NCTE conference in Columbus, Ohio, and after only a few minutes of interacting with the program (and talking to the terrific staff), I knew that I wanted to pilot Membean in my room. What I love about this software is that it's easy to tell that the developers researched "best methods" when it comes to vocabulary acquisition. The underpinnings of the methods are sound, and that is a huge deal for me. Visually, the interface is very appealing and it encourages the kids to interact with the new words in a number of ways, from paragraphs that reinforce the word definitions in context to a section that dissects each word into its prefix, suffix and root word. There are sample sentences pulled from authentic sources. There are sound and video clips to see the new words in even more contexts. Synonyms. Antonyms. Mnemonic hooks. I'm telling you, in three decades of teaching language arts, I have never seen such a robust vocabulary program. It's the best piece of teaching software I have ever used. I highly recommend Membean.

Our school adopted Membean after we phased out our old vocab workbooks. This online program differentiates vocabulary instruction and assessment for all types of learners. Gone are the days when every student in the class studies the same list of 20 words. The best part of the program is its recursiveness. Words are studied repeatedly throughout the year, ensuring that students retain and use the material. I've noticed that my students are eager to use Membean words in their everyday conversations and writing. I've seen a vast improvement in their vocab skills from September to May!

Membean is a great vocabulary tool. I have made suggestions for improvement (like being able to schedule to the minute instead of the quarter hour), and I ALWAYS get a reply from the Membean Team within a day--usually sooner.

Students find that they begin to use terms from Membean fluently within the first marking period. By the end of a semester, we have classroom discussions when they encounter words in reading that they have seen in Membean. Soon after that marker, I notice the vocabulary shift into student writing. They begin to use the words not just in discussion and speaking, but also in their essays and discussion posts. The program gives me a wealth of data on students and allows us to celebrate student word achievements.

In the 3 months that my students have been active, I have seen a subtle difference in their vocabulary. It is working. There are a few things: You have to get student buy-in (essential for it to work). They generally like it - but it does need a little more variety. You have to stress that they need to take their time (in the beginning, especially, they want to rush) - a feature to, not just monitor this, but to stop it would be handy. You get some decent data on their studies - I would love to have more detail to drill down into off their assessments (not just their sessions). It is a start and I like it but it has some room to grow (now, the question is do they?). It is fairly solid and user friendly. It is easy to understand but I wish it was a little more customizable AND I wish it could link into Google Classroom. It is worth while and I can't wait to see how effective it is over the course of a full year. Oh, btw, their support team is awesome (I generally get answers in hours as opposed to days and weeks). Recommend!

I couldn’t create a more individualized vocabulary tool for my students if I tried. My students are able to see real growth by using Membean and our state test scores can prove it. My district sees the value of Membean and is always supportive in providing it for students year after year.

As a teaching tool, this resource has taken some learning and training on my part, but the company provides incredible customer support. I have taken advantage of several professional development opportunities, and that has helped tremendously. Some reviewers have noted that the system appears outdated, and that is true in some regards; however, at a recent training session I attended at an NCTE event, Membean shared numerous plans and examples for their impending upgrades and updates. The Membean team actively pursues feedback and is dedicated to continuous improvement. I will say that some of my 7th graders who struggle with decoding have had trouble with the independent training demands of this program. However, my guess is that the company will continue to explore options that address the needs of all learners. As a side note, I highly recommend completing the training yourself, and this is an included feature of the teacher subscription. It is tough to devote time to this while also supervising your students and making sure that they are also training, but completing sessions on your own will drastically increase your understanding of the program and its features.

Students learn endurance because they need to focus independently for ten minutes. Their list of words becomes personal. For example, a student leaving the room may wish me a "jubilant day". Or on an exit ticket, I might read -The character let his animosity get the better of him. Students are taking a risk to use these words in their every day life.

I appreciate how Membean tailors the learning experience to each of my students' individual needs and skill levels. Students are challenged appropriately and are able to move through the word counts at their own pace. The games and other activities keep learning vocabulary fun and engaging. While spaced repetition is an outdated pedagogy, it is effective in student retention. My students become frustrated with some of the "Select All That Apply" questions on assessments and have been known to email Membean to contest their "wrong answer". Membean is always polite in their response and does a thorough breakdown of how their answer is incorrect. I appreciate their openness to speak to the students, versus letting the correspondence disappear into the void like so many other companies do.

I am the Membean Queen in our district because I love Membean (and so did my whole department). Our MAPs testings scores went up an average of 20 points on the Vocabulary Section. While best teaching practice is to imbed vocabulary instruction, this is difficult and takes a lot of prep time. Membean created vocabulary instruction with very little prep and grading time. It kept kids engaged. It helped them learn about word parts. I spent about 20 minutes each week putting in grades for Membean and I have 120 students. It also had the data required to give students quality feedback. If a student was repeatedly struggling on quizzes, I could look at their study sessions and note that they were spending only x amount of time on each practice question. The kids could see that their lack of effort directly affected their grade. Because of this, students were able to learn study skills!!!! It was difficult to make it work with our Dyslexic students, but we found a way to make it work. I do wish there was a way to add certain words for every kid to learn despite what level they were on. This would allow me to connect their membean words to the novels we were reading in class. While I truly love Membean, I acknowledge it isn't perfect. I do think it is incredibly beneficial to our students. While my English department isn't using it this year because of a curriculum change, the school's social studies department is because it helped with our test scores so much and was low effort for our teachers.