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TeachingStrategies:5IdeasforInstructingVocabulary
By:JanelleCox
Aschildren,manyofusremembertheteachingstrategiesourinstructorsusedforvocabulary:Wedcopydowndefinitionsintoournotebooks,andthenfor
homeworkwewouldhavetorewriteeachwordforwhatseemedlikeamilliontimes.
Wecanprobablyallagreethatpassivelearningisnotaneffectiveteachingstrategytoinstructvocabulary.Studiesarenowshowingthatstudentsneed
multipleexposurestoawordbeforetheycanfullyunderstandit.Theyalsoneedtolearnnewwordsincontext,byreading.Teacherscanemphasizeactive
processingbyhavingstudentsconnectnewmeaningstowordstheyalreadyhaveknowledgeof.Themoreexposuresstudentshavetoaword,thebetter
chancethattheywillrememberit.
Hereare5teachingstrategiesforinstructingvocabularywordstoelementarystudents.

1.SemanticMaps
Asemanticmapisagraphicorganizerthathelpsstudentsvisuallyorganizetherelationshipbetweenonepiecesofinformation.Researchershaveidentified
thisstrategyasagreatwaytoincreasestudentsgraspofvocabularywords.Sematicmappingcanbeusedasaprereadingactivitytoactiveprior
knowledge,ortointroducekeywords.Asapostreadingactivity,itcanbeusedtoenhanceunderstandingbyaddingnewconceptstothemap.Hereshowit
works:
Theteacherdecidesonakeywordandwritesitonthefrontboard.
Studentsthenreadthekeywordandareaskedtothinkaboutotherwordsthatcometomindwhentheyreadtheword.Studentsthenmakealistofall
ofthewords.
Studentssharetherecordedwords,thenasaclassthewordsarecategorized.
Oncecategorynamesareassigned,aclassmapiscreatedanddiscussed.
Studentsarethenencouragedtosuggestadditionalcategoriesforthemap,oraddtotheoldones.
Anynewwordsthatrelatetothetopicareaddedtothemapasstudentsreadthroughthetext.

2.WordWizard
Cooperativelearningisaneffectivewayforstudentstolearnandprocessinformation.Thejigsawlearningtechniqueisaquickandeffectivewayforstudents
toworkwiththeirpeerswhilelearningkeyvocabularywords.Forthisactivityeachstudentisresponsibleforlearningthreenewwordsandteachingthose
wordstotheirgroup.Hereshowitworks:
Theteacherdividesstudentsintogroups.Eachstudentinthegroupisresponsibleforlearningthreenewwordsinthechapter.
Eachwordwizardisinstructedtowritethedefinitionofthewordinhis/herownwordsaswellasdrawanillustrationoftheword.
Aftereachwordwizardhascompletedtheirtask,ittheirjobtocomebacktotheirgroupandteachtheirpeerswhattheyhavelearned.
Eachgroupmembercancopythenewwordsthattheylearnfromeachmemberintheirnotebooks.

3.WordDetective
Themostvaluablethingthatyoucandotoincreaseyourstudentsvocabularyistoencouragethemtoread.Researchshowsthatwidereadingisthemain
pathwayforwordacquisition.Thisactivityenablesstudentstoseewordsindifferentcontexts,thereforedeepeningtheirknowledge.Itrequiresstudentstofind
newwordsastheyencounterthemintheirdailyreading.Hereshowworddetectiveworks:
Theteachergivesstudentsalistofkeywordstosearchfor.
Studentsaretowriteeachtargetwordanditssentenceonastickynote,thenplaceitontheirdeskeachtimetheyencounterakeyword.
Attheendofeachschoolday,devoteafewminutestoreadingeachstickynote.
Youcanevenmakeagameoutitbyassigningeachwordapoint.

4.WordConnect
AVenndiagramisagreatwayforstudentstocomparesimilaritiesanddifferenceswithinwords.Italsoprovidesstudentswithnewexposurestowords,which
helpsthemsolidifywhattheyhavelearned.Forthisactivity,studentsaredirectedtoconnecttwowordsthatarewritteninthecenterofaVenndiagram.Their
taskistoconnectthetwowordsbywritingdowneachwordsdefinitionontheVenndiagram,thenexplainingthereasonfortheconnection.

5.ConceptCube
Aconceptcubeisagreatstrategytoemploywordparts.Studentsreceiveasixsquarecube(whichwilleventuallybefoldedintoathreedimensionalcube).
Oneachofthesquaresstudentsareinstructedtowritedownoneofthefollowing.
1.Vocabularyword
2.Antonym
3.Synonym
4.Categoryitbelongsto
5.Essentialcharacteristics
6.Example
Studentsthencut,foldandtapethecubetomakeasquare.Then,withapartner,theyrolltheircubeandmusttelltherelationshipofthewordthatlandson
toptotheoriginalvocabularyword.
Implementingavarietyofapproacheswillhelppreventboredom.Experimentwithdifferentstrategiesandtechniquestodeterminewhichonesworkthebest
foryourstudents.
Doyouhaveanyideastohelpyourstudentslearnvocabularywords?Sharewithusinthecommentsectionbelow.Wewouldlovetohearyour
thoughts.
EnhanceyourBacktoSchoolideaswithTeachHUB.comsUltimate5WeekPrepGuide!Eachweek,youllgettips,tricks,andideasthatwillhelpyoubea
betterteacher!
JanelleCoxisaneducationwriterwhousesherexperienceandknowledgetoprovidecreativeandoriginalwritinginthefieldofeducation.Janelleholdsa
Master'sofScienceinEducationfromtheStateUniversityofNewYorkCollegeatBuffalo.SheisalsotheElementaryEducationExpertforAbout.com,as
wellasacontributingwritertoTeachHUB.comandTeachHUBMagazine.YoucanfollowheratTwitter@Empoweringk6ed,oronFacebookatEmpowering
K6Educators.

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