Here is a great link to a video from Polaris Charter Academy in New York on using an interactive word wall. I love that the teacher, 8th-grade teacher Rich Richardson, is not only checking that the students can define the words, but he is taking it a bit further and encouraging students to think critically by asking them to explain how the terms are connected.

http://eleducation.org/resources/interactive-word-wall#.V7Gtb4sNhHA.mailto