Personalized Vocabulary Instruction

Personalized, differentiated instruction — automatically tailored to your skill level — helps you achieve lasting outcomes by prioritizing higher order thinking over memorization.

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Membean is used in more than 2,500 schools in over 45 countries.

“After implementing Membean, from 2018 to 2019 we saw an increase in 9th grade scores of 12.49% and in 11th grade scores of 7.47%. Our school was recognized by the district for exceptional growth in the 9th grade scores.”

Lisa Boyd, English Teacher Luella High School Locust Grove, GA

“My students are proud of their writing because they have been able to choose a precise word to communicate what they want to say. That's authentic learning, and Membean has made it possible.”

Amy Wampler, English Teacher Faith Christian School Grapevine, TX

“Memorizing words from a list one week and forgetting them the next is neither effective nor useful. We want to teach our students how to learn and retain those words, and Membean shows them how to do just that.”

Deb Bok, English Teacher Walsh Jesuit High School Cuyahoga Falls, OH

“With a large international student population, we knew it was crazy to teach the same words to both native and non-native speakers. Membean almost felt like a video game versus sitting with an old-fashioned workbook.”

Andrew Butler, English Teacher Scheck Hillel Community School North Miami Beach, FL

“Our English teachers appreciate that students are learning words in their zone of proximal development; they also are impressed that Membean successfully addresses each student’s different learning styles.”

Anne Hartman, English Teacher Annapolis Area Christian School Severn, MD

“We surveyed our students and teachers and, by a large margin, they preferred Membean. We primarily liked that Membean let us address problems at different levels for each student.”

Anthony Corsi, ELA Curriculum Director Community High School District 218 Oak Lawn, IL

“Membean calibrates to each one of my students. It accepts them where they are and teaches them. Their confidence increases by being part of the learning community—they no longer feel ostracized.”

Bonnie Warne, English Teacher Fremont High School St. Anthony, ID

“Our students are not only expanding their vocabulary but are also learning how to learn. I credit Membean’s effective pedagogical structure and methodology with guiding our students in the right direction.”

Karl Schaefer, Digital Learning Coordinator Durham Academy Durham, NC

“All my students are at varying levels. Fortunately, all their needs can be met through Membean’s truly differentiated format – it’s simply wonderful. Membean enriches each student’s education at their own individual level.”

Mary Mangiacotti, English Teacher Stratton Mountain School Stratton, VT

“My students have so many learning styles, which makes differentiating with Membean very effective. I appreciate how I can personalize with ease. Membean saves me time every week!”

Patti Donnelly, English Teacher Durham Academy Durham, NC

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at a Glance

Automatically differentiates and personalizes to each student’s skill level.
Makes teachers more efficient by saving them time and lightening their workload.
Prioritizes higher order thinking and word consciousness over memorization.
Works alongside any curriculum, including AP, IB, ESL, and more.
Promotes multiyear retention instead of focusing on short-term performance.
Gives teachers control over each student’s goals and objectives.

How Works

Encoding vs. Retrieval

Retrieving what you need from your brain is often a bigger problem than just learning what you need. Membean continually reshapes your memory to make information more retrievable by spending 80% of training time asking you nuanced questions of varying difficulty.

Conventional Method

You forget much of what you learn quickly because more time is spent encoding instead of helping you retrieve the information you are being taught.

How Membean Works

Membean leverages the benefits of continual retrieval to train your brain to remember longer and retrieve reliably.

Blocked Learning vs. Spaced Learning

The timing of practice matters a great deal. Blocked learning creates the illusion of mastery. In actuality, rapid gains lead to rapid forgetting. Alternatively, spaced practice – where learning a single concept is stretched over a longer period of time – leads to true mastery.

Conventional Method

Weekly word lists are taught in a short period of time – similar to cramming for a test – followed by limited amounts, if any, of follow-up learning.

How Membean Works

Membean’s algorithm introduces the same amount of material over a significantly longer period of time, resulting in long-term retention.

Memorizing vs. Higher Order Thinking

Easy learning is not strong learning. Membean elicits nuanced thinking and allows for mistakes, causing the experiences of surprise and internal dialogue, both of which aid in retention. We utilize 9 powerful pedagogical approaches to help you understand there’s more to a word than just its definition.

Conventional Method

You are repeatedly presented with definitions and examples, resulting in memorization instead of robust mental connections.

How Membean Works

Membean applies layer upon layer of nuanced meaning and increased difficulty, encouraging you to form a rich mental picture of each word.

for Educators

Saves you time to do what you do best!

Lofty levels of literacy are possible for all your students – not just your top students. Teachers report saving up to 4 hours a week thanks to the powerful tools Membean provides, including the following:

Customizable goals
Training warnings and alerts
Rich dashboards and reports
Auto-generated and graded quizzes

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We give control back to you.

Customize how long and how often your students learn. Set the quantity of questions on quizzes and how frequently they're issued. Tailor each learner’s individual experience in every class. Individualized preferences for students who need accommodations? We do that! Tweak each class to your own satisfaction.

Genuine literacy for every student.

ELL? Gifted? Unmotivated reader? Membean customizes for all students and engenders word confidence. Learning definitions is just the beginning. Literacy requires deftly using words, recognizing them in text, and encountering them repeatedly, all of which eventually lead to a nuanced understanding.

Designed by teachers.

Collectively, the Membean team has 150 years of experience in the classroom. We get that students have varying levels of proficiency and diverse learning styles. We get that you need actionable data to monitor, support, and challenge students. We get the demands of state testing, especially when it comes to literacy. We get that your instructional time is precious. We get you because we are you.

Empathetic human support.

Our friendly, helpful support staff of former teachers who have used Membean in the classroom is standing by to help you with empathy and understanding. Our support team specializes in classroom needs at every level. We’ll get back to you the same day. If it’s an emergency, you’ll hear from us within the hour. We’re here for you!