discover how semantic mapping can help your students to have a deeper understanding of everyday...
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8/9/2019 Discover How Semantic Mapping Can Help Your Students to Have a Deeper Understanding of Everyday Vocabulary …
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Discover how semantic mapping can help your students to have a deeperunderstanding of everyday vocabulary while adding new words and concepts.
Semantic mapping is a strategy that can be used in all disciplines to demonstrate therelationships between ideas. When teaching vocabulary explicitly, it can be used as a
tool for students to discover the relationships between vocabulary words. As
semantic mapping builds on prior knowledge, and is an active form of learning, it can
be a very eective teaching tool.
For example, perhaps you would like students to fully grasp the meaning of the word
oyster. !"he choice of word will depend on grade level, as might be expected.#
While most students will have a vague notion of what an oyster is, unless they
encounter them regularly in their lives, the image associated with that word will
remain vague, and will ultimately aect reading comprehension when they read
passages containing that word. Sometimes, their ideas may be in$uenced by themedia, and may be %uite narrow. Semantic mapping will broaden the students&
personal meaning of the word, and teach other concepts surrounding it, as well as
additional vocabulary in many cases.
'ou will model how to do semantic mapping with the entire class, using the word,
and then have the class create their own maps, either by branching o of the original
concept, or using related ones.
(ut the word oyster in a circle in the middle of the board. Ask students to
brainstorm and think of the ideas that come to their head when they think of the
word oyster. Students may come up with words such as pearl, shell, ocean, sand,eat, stew, slimy, hard, gray, etc. Write these words on the board, and then show
students how to categori)e them. *ranching o from the original circle, write the
main categories surrounding the word. 'ou may want to put a s%uare around them.
+ategories for oyster could be habitat, food source, and physical characteristics. So,
you will have the words habitat, food source and physical characteristics in little
boxes surrounding the circled word, oyster. "hen you will list the words associated
with each main category. For example, under the s%uare that has the words (hysical
+haracteristics in it, you will list shell, gray, hard, slimy, makes pearls. For abitat,
you would list the words ocean, sand and so on. +omplete this process for each
category. 'ou may have some words-concepts that only have two categories, while
others may have eight or nine.
"his activity gives you an excellent opportunity to discuss the word with the
students. 'ou will nd that some students thought that oysters could not be eaten, or
that pearls are made articially. "he exercise will broaden every student&s
understanding of the word oyster. /f you would like to ask the students to write
about oysters, the semantic map is a great place to begin. 0ach category that they
have made can serve as the basis for a paragraph, which can result in a very well
organi)ed essay.
"o extend the semantic map1making process, and give students additional practice,
you may want to divide students into pairs or groups and assign a word. 'ou could
assign a word that arose from the activity, such as pearls, or you could assign words
related to the topic in general, such as sea turtle. /n the process, students may nd
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8/9/2019 Discover How Semantic Mapping Can Help Your Students to Have a Deeper Understanding of Everyday Vocabulary …
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that some brainstormed words defy categori)ation. "his is okay. "hey can still be
oshoots of the semantic map, as not everything will t into a category. 2ust make
sure not to put these stray words into a s%uare or structure in the map that would
indicate that they are their own category if there are no other ideas to accompany
them. 3therwise, you risk going o on tangents.
Semantic mapping is an excellent way to teach vocabulary across the disciplines.
3yster is a good word for science teachers teaching about the ocean to use, as well
as for literature teachers who are about to embark on a story involving sea life. A
social studies teacher might want to pick a word she wants to explore in depth, such
as war or /ndian. 0ven older students will benet from looking beyond the
standard meaning of these words and into the deeper meaning. "his will lend a
greater depth of understanding to their reading and help to make them more
thoughtful writers.
Semantic mapping is a good vehicle for students to share their work with the class,
thus becoming the teachers themselves. "eaching a concept to others will increasestudent retention of information greatly. *e sure to discuss the ideas in the map at
length. *y discussing them as well as writing them down, you are catering to
dierent learning styles, and ensuring that all students are increasing their
knowledge of vocabulary. 'ou will nd that by using this techni%ue, you will deepen
students& knowledge and increase their reading comprehension.
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