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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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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