Questions about teaching vocabulary

I am working on a curriculum for MS and HS levels. I used the Vocabulary Workshop series when I was in the classroom, which I loved. But now it seems like I will be creating my own units from scratch. So I'm wondering:
-how do you choose words (other than pulling them from reading)- is it random or based on a theme?
-what do you do to help the kids learn the words? My students loved the Voc WS series because they actually enjoyed the fill-ins (completing sentences and identifying antonyms and synonyms). For assessment I'd group words and ask the kids to use the words in original paragraphs.

Any ideas would be appreciated! Thanks!

Questions about teaching vocabulary

I use flocabulary. My kids LOVE it