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double entry journals was one of my microteaching strategies found from Adlit. The format of the "double" has students not only write down what they notice in the text: vocabulary, meaningful phrases, questions, as well as include their thoughts or reaction side by side on the paper. This supports an active reading approach.

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DEJ's allow for interactive reading with the text. Rather than have students only read at surface level, they take time to comprehend why a phrase or word stuck out to them and their honest reaction to it. From Adlit: "students are able to reply to the author as they write their responses."

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Although adlit has a pdf template, I would maybe set up DEJ's to be a strategy that students set up in their own notebooks/google docs however makes sense to them. During our microteach, it seemed that many of our "students" were taking notes in alternate ways, so I would appreciate having some form of student agency in this. For example, after presenting DEJ's and modeling, eventually, the hope would be "okay! we are reading something new today, let's spend 10 minutes doing a DEJ" and have students take charge from there.

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first lines are all about prediction (pre-reading technique). Essentially, you have students read the first line of a text (whether that be a poem, choice book, or a book for a unit) and have students write down their predictions for the book (based on support from the info in the text). The goal would be to return to these predictions as we read/after we read and have students update their predictions. I saw this strategy presented in class, but also found more information on adlit!

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from adlit, it seems like first lines are a way to build predictions as a class (emphasis on group share out and helping each other with their predictions by pulling out ideas from the text). Plus, I really like how FL allows students to enter the water slowly, so to speak, on a text rather than giving them a new text and expecting them to understand it immediately. It helps slow down the process and reminds students that as readers we should be looking for clues in the text.

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I very much like the idea of returning to our predictions as we read and continuing to add more predictions based on quotes/ideas from the text. I can see First Lines working best with a book being used for a unit, and FL strategy as a way to build analysis while we read. Again, not sure if I would use the Adlit pdf as its limiting in adding more to the sheet past the first prediction, but could adapt it to something students return to and reflect on.

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https://www.adlit.org/in-the-classroom/strategies/double-entry-journals

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Teachers and students love double-entry journals because they are inherently collaborative and foster a connection between reading and writing.

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https://www.adlit.org/in-the-classroom/strategies/first-lines

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Background

First Lines is a strategy in which students read the beginning sentences from assigned readings and make predictions about the content of what they're about to read. This pre-reading technique helps students focus their attention on what they can tell from the first lines of a story, play, poem, or other text. As students read the text in its entirety they discuss, revisit and/or revise their original predictions.

Benefits

The First Lines strategy is a versatile and simple technique for improving students' reading comprehension. It requires students to 1) anticipate what the text is about before they begin reading, and 2) activate prior knowledge. First Lines helps students become active participants in learning and can include writing as a way of organizing predictions and/or thoughts generated from discussions. Monitoring each student's predictions provides teachers with information about how much the students already know about the topic. This allows teachers to tailor instruction accordingly.

Create and use the strategy

Choose the assigned reading and introduce the text to the students. Then describe the purpose of the strategy and provide guidelines for discussions about predictions. Explain that students will be looking at the first sentences from texts that they will be reading during the class or unit. You may wish to copy these first lines separately and give them to each student. As with all strategy instruction, you should model the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the strategy. Monitor and support students as they work.

Create and use the strategy

To use the First Lines strategy, teachers should:

1. Ask students to begin reading the first line of the assigned text.

2. Ask students to make predictions for the reading based on what they see in the first sentence.

3. Explain that students should be ready to volunteer the ideas for their predictions.

4. Remind students that there is not a "right" or "wrong" way to make predictions about a text, but emphasize that readers should be able to support their predictions from the information in the sentence.

5. Engage the class in discussion about each student's predictions.

6. Ask students to review their predictions and to note any changes or additions to their predictions in a journal or on recording sheets (see graphic organizers above) before reading the text. Students might work in groups or individually.

7. Encourage students to return to their original predictions after reading the text, assessing their original predictions and building evidence to support those predictions which are accurate. Students can create new predictions as well.

Further reading

Research Citations

Beers, K. (2003). When Kids Can't Read-What Teachers Can Do: A Guide for Teachers 6-12. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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First Lines is a strategy in which students read the beginning sentences from assigned readings and make predictions about the content of what they're about to read. This pre-reading technique helps students focus their attention on what they can tell from the first lines of a story, play, poem, or other text.

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Provide a short summary of what each strategy is and where you learned about it-- in class, in your field experience, from other class members, from other resources. When possible, cite a published support.

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Offer a rationale for why you included each strategy, based on your understanding of and reflection on how they support literacy practices beneficial to students

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Offer suggestions or recommendations to class members (and to your future self) on how the scaffold can be used in the classroom.

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SQ3R was the second of my microteaches in class. We found our information from Adlit (the "it" source for instructional strategies). SQ3R is a comprehension strategy, similar to first lines, helps students slow down and analyze aspects of the text by previewing one aspect of it (such as a paragraph or chapter). Breaks down into: Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review.

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SQ3R helps combat the feeling of when students read a chapter and have no clue what they just read. When modeling this strategy, we can explain that as readers, we are actively analyzing our texts (asking questions, pulling out important details, finding answers).

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as we saw in our microteach, you can absolutely adapt SQ3R to be only SQR or any combination of the acronym. Our microteach combined with stations, had students pull out info from a paragraph (survey) then switch and based on the prior groups survey, create a question about the text, and finally after the last switch attempt to generate an answer to the previous groups question based on reading the complete section of the text.

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https://www.adlit.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/sq3rsurvey.pdf

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pdf worksheet of the strategy or example of strategy

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link to more information on the strategy when applicable

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https://www.adlit.org/in-the-classroom/strategies/sq3r-survey-question-read-recite-review

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Background

SQ3R is a comprehension strategy that helps students think about the text they are reading while they're reading. Often categorized as a study strategy, SQ3R helps students "get it" the first time they read a text by teaching students how to read and think like an effective reader.

This strategy includes the following five steps:

Survey: Students review the text to gain initial meaning from the headings, bolded text, and charts.

Question: Students begin to generate questions about their reading from previewing it.

Read: As students read, they need to look for answers to the questions they formulated during their preview of the text. These questions, based on the structure of the text, help focus students' reading.

Recite: As students move through the text they should recite or rehearse the answers to their questions and make notes about their answer for later studying.

Review: After reading, students should review the text to answer lingering questions and recite the questions they previously answered.

Benefits

Do you have students who get to the end of reading their textbook selection and have no idea what they've read? These students can benefit from using the SQ3R because it requires them to activate their thinking and review their understanding throughout their reading.

It also dissuades students from waiting and then cramming for tests since the five steps requires them to review information and create notes during their initial reading. Their notes from the initial reading become their study guides.

Create and use the strategy

As with its sister strategy Question-Answer Relationship (QAR), SQ3R requires the teacher to model.

1. Explain to students that effective readers do many things while reading, including surveying, questioning, reading, reciting and reviewing.

2. Choose a content area passage to read and model the five SQ3R steps.

3. During each step, make sure to explain what you're doing and why you're doing it.

4. After your modeling session, invite students to independently read a selection and practice applying the SQ3R steps. This could be completed as an in-class or take-home assignment.

5. Afterwards ask students to review their notes and reflect on the process. Were they surprised by how much they remember by using the SQ3R method?

6. Students may not be "sold" on this strategy the first time they try it. Not all readings will be worth the time it takes to complete the SQ3R steps, so help students to understand not just how to apply it, but when to apply it.

Related Resources

References

Fisher, D., and Frey, N, (2004). Improving Adolescent Literacy: Strategies at Work. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

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SQ3R is a comprehension strategy that helps students think about the text they are reading while they're reading. Often categorized as a study strategy, SQ3R helps students "get it" the first time they read a text by teaching students how to read and think like an effective reader.

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jigsaw gives an opportunity for each student to become an expert in one aspect of a topic/text. Students have a "home/base group" that all read the same text/read from the same lens and then meet with peers from different groups to present each of their respective aspects before returning to the home group and teaching each other once again. I have been apart of what feels like hundreds of jigsaws throughout my educational career, and we did multiple in CI 5451, but I also found it laid out in more detail as a strategy from readingrocket!

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Culturally informed pedagogy has space for teachers to become students and students to become teachers, and although jigsaw is popular, there is reason for this: students get to become "experts" or act as teachers as they share their findings and present material to their peers! Builds confidence and community.

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Jigsaw can be done during reading or after reading. Mostly a small group task, but can have groups share out to the large group with key takeaways/noticings/lingering questions after the presenting to each other is over.

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https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/jigsaw#:~:text=Jigsaw%20is%20a%20cooperative%20learning,studies%20predators%20of%20rainforest%20animals).

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Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy that enables each student of a “home” group to specialize in one aspect of a topic (for example, one group studies habitats of rainforest animals, another group studies predators of rainforest animals). Students meet with members from other groups who are as…

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visual strategy, and do not fear, we are back to Adlit! I saw this presented during a microteach in CI 5451. Semantics = meaning, maps = connecting words. Like a web. Present students with a concept that is connected to the text/EU/EQ, then have students brainstorm and/or shout out words that are connected as you write them down in a web connected to the first word.

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Help develop students' understanding of concepts and to integrate new vocabulary. If the first concept/word is more difficult, students can begin to break it down by finding connected concepts or words. Can model, and remind students as they read they can do this with big ideas or words they are unfamiliar with to help with comprehension.

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Can have students journal/map individually, as a small group and then present to large group, or as a whole class. More voices may be heard in smaller groups, but for modeling would do a whole group activity first (similar to what the microteach did, they did a silly word first, "transformer" I think? and we connected it to Jacob Black from twilight. Excellent. And, a fun way to call back/remind students later on to come back to this strategy when they need help with a new concept).

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https://www.adlit.org/topics/vocabulary/teaching-word-meanings-concepts

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Although there is general agreement that effective vocabulary instruction should include the five components, there is no such agreement as to the most effective techniques for increasing students' knowledge of specific words. We do know, however, that the most effective instruction teaches word meanings as concepts, using a variety of techniques to help students establish connections among context, their prior knowledge, and the concepts or words being taught. ¹

In this part of the booklet, we discuss specific techniques that have proven successful in teaching word meanings as concepts. These include Concept of Definition Maps, Semantic Mapping, Semantic Feature Mapping, Possible Sentences, Comparing and Contrasting, and Teaching Word Parts.

Concept of Definition Maps

Concept of Definition Maps (or Word Maps) reflect the idea that students need to have some understanding of what a definition is and how it works before they can give the meaning of a word on their own. Concept of Definition Maps are graphic displays that show common elements of a dictionary definition. These elements include (1) the category to which the word being defined belongs ( What is this?), (2) some characteristics of the word ( What is it like?), and (3) some specific examples and some non-examples of the word. Students refer to context, their prior knowledge, and dictionaries to find the elements needed to complete the map.

The following filled-in map for potentate was prepared to clarify the meaning of the word potentate, which appeared in a fourth-grade reading textbook.

Once the map is complete, the teacher models how to write a definition using the information on the word map. For example, "A potentate is a ruler who has a lot of power. The people do not elect potentates, and some stay in office for life. Some types of potentates are kings, dictators, and emperors." After writing their own definitions, students can confirm them by using dictionaries to look up potentate, then revise or add to their definitions, if necessary.

A simpler variation of the Concept of Definition Map is called the Four Square activity. In this activity, each student takes a sheet of paper and folds it so there are four sections. The students write the target concept word (such as soothing) in the upper left hand section of the paper, then write some examples of the concept in the upper right section ( baths, soft music, chocolate), some nonexamples of the concept in the lower right section ( loud music, traffic, crying babies), and a definition in the lower left hand section ( having a calming effect).

Semantic Mapping

Semantic Mapping involves a web-like graphic display. To begin instruction, students are presented with a concept that is central to understanding a selection or subject. They then brainstorm or freely associate words that are related to that concept. As students brainstorm, the teacher writes their suggestions on the board, adding words they need to learn.

For example, for a unit on weather, the teacher targeted the words meteorology, global, precipitation, barometer, and hurricane in the text students were about to read. ² These words were defined and discussed during the brainstorming session. When the students finished brainstorming, the teacher and the class together developed the following map to show the relationships among the words. The target words were highlighted, and one section of the map was left blank so that the class could fill in another category after reading the selection.

Semantic Mapping is helpful for developing students' understanding of almost any concept. It has been used to develop concepts as diverse as polygons and the Dewey decimal system. ³

Discussion seems to be a crucial element in the effectiveness of Semantic Mapping. ⁴ For example, an individualized mapping procedure, in which students studied maps on their own and did not engage in discussion, did not work as well as a group mapping procedure. As we pointed out earlier, discussion's value is that it seems to engage all students by making them rehearse possible answers to teacher questions.

Discussion during Semantic Mapping may be especially important for students with more limited vocabularies. These students may not know many of the related words, and thus they may learn these words along with the targeted ones. Students with more developed vocabularies can also benefit from discussion. These students may know most of the related words; therefore, seeing them will reinforce the meaning of the targeted words.

Semantic Feature Analysis

Semantic Feature Analysis also draws on students' prior knowledge and uses discussion to elicit information about word meanings. Semantic Feature Analysis is similar to Semantic Mapping, with the exception that it uses a grid such as the one below rather than a map as a graphic display.

The left-side column of the Semantic Feature Analysis grid contains the names of members of the category to which the target concept belongs. The top row of the grid contains names of features of members of the category. Students should be encouraged to add terms either across the top or down the side during discussion. Groups of students or whole classes should discuss whether each item is an example of each concept, marking + for positive examples, - for negative examples, and? for items which might be examples under certain circumstances. The following grid was prepared for a unit on transportation. ⁵

As with Semantic Mapping, discussion is the key in this activity, because there are many ambiguities in determining the feature of a concept, and discussion of these ambiguities can help students clarify the concept they are learning.

Possible Sentences

The Possible Sentences technique uses both known words and new words that are related to key concepts in a reading selection. The teacher begins by choosing some six to eight words from the text that might cause difficulty for the students. (In a content area text, these words are usually key concepts in the text, but they also may be more general words that relate to those key concepts.) Then, the teacher chooses an additional four to six words that are more likely to be known by the students. These familiar words are used to help generate sentences.

The teacher writes all of these words on the board, providing a short definition of each word if desired or if necessary. Most of the time at least one student in the class has knowledge of the word that can be shared. Students are directed to make up sentences that contain at least two of these words, and that might be in the selection they are about to read. The teacher writes these sentences on the board. Both accurate and inaccurate guesses are accepted, but are not discussed at this time. When the students are finished contributing sentences (and all words are included in at least one sentence), the teacher has them read the selection.

After reading, the class then returns to the sentences on the board, and discusses whether each sentence could or could not be true based on their reading. If a sentence could be true, it is left alone. If a sentence could not be true, then the class discusses how it could be modified to make it true.

For a unit on weather, front, barometer, humidity, air mass, air pressure, and meteorology were chosen as the target words, with high, rain, clouds, and predict as the familiar words. ⁶ The criteria for choosing the target words included a consideration of which words might be difficult for fifth graders and which words were central to the concepts taught in a specific selection. The familiar words were words that students were likely to know, and that lent themselves to logical sentences that would relate to the major concepts in the selection.

Comparing and Contrasting

Comparing and contrasting can help students extend their vocabularies by establishing relationships among concepts. A simple Venn diagram can be a good tool for comparing and contrasting such content-area concepts as republic and democracy, organic and inorganic, symphony and concerto, and so forth.

The following diagram was prepared as part of a unit on the American Revolution to compare and contrast the important concepts of protest and rebellion. The teacher first explained that whereas the American colonists thought that acts such as the Boston Tea Party were legitimate protests against British taxation, the British thought that the colonists were engaged in rebellion against their sovereign government. The difference in perceptions led to increasing tensions and eventually, revolution.

Teaching Word Parts

Teaching students to recognize and use information from word parts such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots can be an especially effective word-learning strategy for use with content area texts. These texts can contain many words that are derived from the same word parts. Although words such as misread, interdependent, and substandard can often be figured out from context, decomposing such words into known parts like mis-, read, inter-, depend, and so forth, not only makes the words themselves more memorable, but, in combination with sentence context, may be a useful strategy in determining the meaning of unknown words.

Students can aquire the meaning of word parts by inference as they read. However, although such a strategy may be part and parcel of normal reading, many students - even high school students - are unaware that breaking words into their parts can be a way to determine their meanings. In addition, students often do not know the meanings of common word parts. ⁷

What parts to teach? A number of lists are available that contain hundreds of prefixes, suffixes, and Greek and Latin roots. ⁸ Although such lists may be useful, it is not possible or even fruitful to teach each element on each list. It seems more reasonable to teach students the most commonly used or important elements, and accompany this instruction with the teaching and modeling of a general strategy for breaking words into parts. One such strategy is to teach students to combine wordpart information with information from the sentence context.

Prefixes. Only twenty prefixes account for 97% of prefixed words that appear in printed school English. ⁹ Teaching at least the most frequently occurring nine - if not all twenty - of these prefixes to middle school students can pay dividends in increased vocabulary learning.

Suffixes. The most frequently occurring suffixes in printed school English are inflectional endings such as noun endings (-s, -es), verb endings (-ed, -ing, -en), and adjective endings (-er, -est). ¹⁰ In general, even young students use these endings in their oral language. Therefore, middle school and older students should have few problems learning and using them.

Derivational suffixes (such as -y, -ly, -ial, and -ic) appear in fewer than a quarter of all the words that contain suffixes, but they can also be useful to teach. Comprehension of relatively infrequent words such as exponential and unwieldy can be aided by knowledge of meaning of the -ial and -y suffixes.

The length of some suffixed words can occasionally overwhelm students who are less able readers. Learning to recognize the letter patterns that make common suffixes can help these students to distinguish root from suffix, thus reducing the size of the word and allowing them to focus on relevant information within the word. ¹¹ Activities such as this are a natural extension to decoding instruction that teaches students to look at chunks of words.

Other suffixes, such as -ful, and -less, are meaningful components of words, contributing to words' meanings in much the same way as prefixes. Even suffixes without such stable meanings, such as-tion or -ly, might also help students identify words, if only to alert them to the grammatical function of words in sentences. For example,-tion indicates that a word is a noun; -ly at the end of a word indicates that it is an adverb.

The following list shows the most common prefixes and suffixes in printed school English.

Roots.When students encounter unknown words such as interdependent, readable, and substandard, they can break them into prefixes, suffixes, and familiar English roots, and combine the information this analysis reveals with conceptual information they find in the context. But what can students do with contentarea words such as biosphere, astronomy, superstructure, or deconstruct? In addition to their prefixes or suffixes, these words contain Greek or Latin roots. Researchers and educators are divided as to whether it is profitable to students to teach these roots. Some argue that the modern meanings of words (especially the most common derived words) often do not reflect the meanings of their historical roots, and that readers - particularly young students - might be misled by a literal translation of root to meaning. ¹² For example, knowing that -mort refers to death may help students to figure out the meaning of mortal or immortal, but it probably does not help them to determine the meaning of mortgage or mortify. Likewise, knowing that saline means salty will probably not help students get the meaning of salary, even though the words are both derived from the same root, sal. (Salt was once so valuable that it was used to pay workers.)

On the other hand, having students elaborate basic information makes it more memorable. ¹³ Therefore, teaching roots may make new words more memorable by adding a story to their definition.

The solution may be to make a distinction between using word parts as an independent reading strategy and using word parts as a word-study tool. When students encounter new affixed words during independent reading, they will find it useful to be able to take off prefixes or suffixes and identify the word that remains. But because poor readers tend to be overwhelmed by long words, you may need to teach them how to use this strategy. For example, you might help students to figure out the meaning of the word interdependent by teaching them to cover the prefix inter-, then see if they recognize the rest of the word. If they do not recognize dependent, you can have them cover the suffix -ent, leaving depend. Providing students with practice in adding and removing prefixes and suffixes might also be useful. For example, you might take the root word dependent and add prefixes such as in- or non- to make new words.

Teaching students to further breaking down words into Latin or Greek roots is not likely to be a helpful independent reading strategy. We doubt, for example, that a struggling reader will be helped by breaking depend down further into de- and pend, even if he or she could assign these word parts meanings such as down and hang.

For the purposes of word study, however - when students have already been provided the meaning of the word - knowing the story or the history of the word may well make it more memorable.

A distinction also should be made between time spent studying those roots, especially Greek roots used in scientific terminology, that have relatively specific meanings ( bio, hemo, meter), and time spent studying those roots, more often from Latin, whose meanings wander all over the map (for example, conceive, deceive, receive).

The following list contains commonly occurring Greek and Latin roots.

For content-area reading, you might find it worthwhile to make up lists specific to each area. Thus, for biology, such a list might include bio-, chromo-, eco-, soma-, and so forth.

How to teach word parts. Introductory word-part lessons should stress the idea that words can be composed of elements, such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots. These elements should be defined for students, but the emphasis should not be on learning the specific terms so much as on learning about how the parts function together to affect word meaning. For example, a lesson on un- might provide both examples of words beginning with un-, and also ask students to generate un- words of their own, including silly words. The use of imaginative extensions may not only solidify for students the meaning of un-, but also may solidify the concept of prefix in general. Providing students with some nonexamples of prefixes, such as under and uncle, also help reinforce what prefixes are and how they work.

After students understand the basic concepts of prefix, suffix, and root, teaching them specific word parts should be easier for you. You can teach specific word parts within the context of other vocabulary instruction, as part of the discussion of a particular word's meaning, or by using explicit instruction. Such instruction should include providing a definition for the target word part, pointing out models of words using that word part, and having students read sentences containing the target parts. For prefixes, you should attempt to extend the instruction to include as many real and silly words as possible. For un-, you might use both real words such as undone, unknown, unimaginable, or unbelievable, and silly, or made-up words, such as unbig, unhamburger, unsleep, and so on. This procedure can be used with suffixes as well as prefixes. Note, however, that although prefixes should be defined, because their definitions tend to be consistent over a variety of words, providing definitions of suffixes may serve only to confuse students. For example, defining the suffixes -ance/-ence and -ment as "condition of, quality of, or state of" does little to help students understand the meaning of amendment or precedence. Adding this information to the definition of a root such as amend or precede will do little to help students understand the meaning of amendment or precedence. A more productive procedure is to give students many examples of words containing suffixes, along with the words from which they were derived.

To teach roots, you might employ a similar teaching procedure. You might also find useful to use a word-part web, such as the following one for the Greek root photo. Such webs introduce students to many new words as well as teach a few key words. Discussing derivatives as part of the introduction of a new word, with or without a web, is useful and motivational. ¹⁴ Including in the discussion and web words that are relatively infrequent (such as geocentric or geode) can make target words (such as geology) more memorable for students.

Clearly there are benefits to be gained from teaching students to break words into their parts as a strategy for determining the meanings of new words. Combined with the use of context clues, this strategy seems to be especially fruitful, particularly in the content areas, where so many of the words students encounter in textbooks contain recognizable parts.

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The most effective vocabulary instruction teaches word meanings as concepts; it connects the words being taught with their context and with the students' prior knowledge. Six techniques have proven especially effective: Concept Definition Maps, Semantic Mapping, Semantic Feature Mapping, Possible Sentences, Comparing and Contrasting, and Teaching Word Parts.

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bonus source https://vocabularyluau.com/how-to-use-semantic-maps-for-teaching-vocabulary/

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When you get a great critical thinking exercise and pair it with a great vocabulary activity...well, let's change their Facebook status to "in a relationship with..."

Semantic Maps are just such a pair. Let me persuade you!

Semantic Maps are a tool we use to help students to identify, understand, and recall the meaning of words they read in the text.
They're research-based, they lend themselves to use with graphic organizers, they support struggling readers, and they are easy to use.
I've found that lots of teachers think they're a great idea, but aren't sure of exactly how to implement them in a real classroom.

🌺 What is a Semantic Map?

Semantic Maps are a visual strategy for teaching vocabulary.

"Semantic" just means "related to meaning in language", so a semantic map is essentially a "map" that connects related words.

With Semantic Maps, students create "maps" or webs of words.

Words are sorted into categories based on what they are, what they do, or other categories.

Semantic Maps can be very simple, using just words grouped together, or they can be more complex, using graphic organizers or other visual structure.

Often, the words are generated as a list and then coverted in a more visual format.

Semantic Maps can be created on paper or digitally.

Semantic Maps can be created individually, in small groups, or as a whole class activity.

Semantic Maps are dynamic. Students can add to their maps as they learn more information and gather more words.

Do Semantic Maps sound like something that could be useful to your students? I'd love to tell you more about exactly how they work in class.

🌺 How are Semantic Maps different from graphic organizers?

First, let's look at what they're not.

While Semantic Maps may use a graphic organizer to arrange the words, Semantic Maps go beyond just a graphic organizer.

The don't ask students to recreate already mastered/learned information.

They ask students to think, "What do I know related to this? What does this make me think of?"

Their strength is that they build on students' current schema or understanding, allowing those neural pathways to fire up.

Here's an example of a graphic organizer I created using Smart Art in PowerPoint. This has one "right" answer, doesn't it? If a student put anything else under "legislative", we'd be worried, wouldn't we?

Here's a Semantic Map over the same topic. In this case, I just gave the student the word "Government" in the center, along with the three branches of government. The student then created the Semantic Map, generating lots of words related to those three areas. This was also created using Smart Art and shapes in PowerPoint:

Do you see the difference? We're still looking at branches of government, but we're going to get different results from different students.

It requires less rote recall and more thinking.

I'll be coming back to graphic organizers later.

🌺 How do I teach students to use a Semantic Map?

When introducing Semantic Maps to students, I find it's best to guide them in two processes: generating words and then grouping or categorizing those words.

For example, let's say we've just had a lesson on the structure of the cell. For a review, I could write the term "cell structure" on the board (or screen) and ask students to think of all the words they can think of related to cell structure.

Tell them to think of words that:

define what we're talking about

describe what we're talking about

tell the purpose of what we're talking about

give information about what we're talking about

I could do this as a whole class activity, have students work in pairs or groups, or have students work individually.

Once we had a list of words and terms, I would ask them to sort those words into groups. I can either give them categories, or I can have them come up with categories on their own.

If students are coming up with their own categories, tell students that to this, they need to think about ways in which the words are alike and ways which they are different.

Once they've grouped their words, they come up with a word or term that describes the group.

If I'm giving students the categories, I will simply tell them what they are and have students sort their words into the category in which they think they fit. That's what I did in the government example above.

For my cell structure example, I'd give students the categories Nucleus, Cytoplasm, and Cell Membrane.

You can use Semantic Maps as a simple daily activity that takes only a few minutes, or you can have students work with them to create a visually pleasing representation.

🌺 Semantic Maps Step-by-Step

There's no one right way to use Semantic Maps (you've already seen a couple of ideas here), but I did want to share a sample idea that is a great way to get started if you're unfamiliar with the strategy.

Choose a word from the text you're using. This could be a textbook, a story, or any other part of your curriculum.

Write that word on the board or using a digital tool. Just make sure everyone can see it.

Have students look at the text that's near that word to see if there are any words that are connected to this target word.

You may wish to have students look up the word in a dictionary or thesaurus (that would add to the standards addressed!).

Brainstorm words the class can come up with that are related or connected to this word in some way. Remember, these should not only include examples of the word ("cat" is an example of an animal, for example), but also what the things can do. For instance, "can fly" or "can run".

Once you have a robust list of words, then you do the categorization. Remember, you can give categories or you can have students generate categories.

Now, transform these into a map. This can be a circle with spokes coming off of it or a more formal graphic organizer.

Here's an example of a simple one generated after a discussion of verbs.

🌺 How can I use Semantic Maps with technology?

You've seen above how you can use PowerPoint to create Semantic Maps. There are other tech tools that work, as well.

This table lists some possible tech tools, with the pros and cons of each.

PowerPoint/ Keynote

Free

Students probably familiar with it; very flexible; easy to convert to other formats (images or PDFs); SmartArt has built-in graphic organizers

Harder to integrate with other platforms (uploading, etc.); difficult to collaborate; takes more time than some other tools.

Google Slides

Free

Same as PowerPoint except Smart Art

Not as powerful as PowerPoint, so fewer possibilities.

Google Draw

Free

Very similar to Google Slides, except a little more flexible

Students are usually less familiar with this than other Google tools.

Google Jamboard

Free

Built for collaboration; easy to use; easy to share; easy to add images; no need to own software

Students may be less familiar with this than other Google tools.

Freemium (free & paid versions

Built for collaboration; browser-based, so no software to download or install; low-distraction interface; easy to share; easy to present with

The free version is very limited, which gets frustrating very quickly.

Mindmup.com
Freemium (free & paid versions)

Easily converts to PDF, PowerPoint, or outlines; easily save to Google Drive; add images or even documents; easy to share

Students and teachers are usually unfamiliar with it, so there will be a learning curve.

🌺 What are the benefits of using a Semantic Map?

Semantic Maps are particularly useful for students who are struggling or who are English Learners, but they work really well with everyone.

First, we have the creativity side. One of the Torrance Traits of Creativity is Fluency - coming up with lots of ideas.

That's the first part of what we do with a Semantic Map.

Next, we have the added strength of categorizing. Sorting and categorizing are powerful tools. We see it in little children sorting blocks, but the power of dividing things into categories or groups isn't something that ends in Kindergarten.

We can have students come up with their own categories, or we can give them the categories we want them to use (as I demonstrated above).

If we really want to up the ante, we can have them create new categories and recategorize all of the words. That's super fun!

Another benefit of Semantic Maps is that they are a no-prep activity. Nothing to print out. Nothing to copy. Just minds and something on which to write. It just doesn't get easier than this.

🌺 How do Semantic Maps work with graphic organizers?

While you don't need to use a formal graphic organizer to create a Semantic Map, they go very well together.

Almost any graphic organizer can be used as a Semantic Map.

If you use Thinking Maps®, then a Bubble Map® or a Double Bubble Map® would be my first choice.

The key is to pick a graphic organizer that works for the students, so it's less about what it looks like and how effective it is in helping them create a visual represenation of their thinking.

You've got a few options:

Give students a particular graphic organizer that you want them to use

Give students a few graphic organizers they can pick from to use

Have students generate their own graphic organizer

Let students search for a graphic organizer

The most important thing is to not let the organizer become more important than the thinking!

🌺 How do Semantic Maps align with standards & research?

Semantic Maps have been studied in research, and those studies have shown some strong benefits.

Semantic Maps are a part of the group of "[i]nstructional activities that allow for a visual display of words and promote students' comparing and contrasting of new words to known words [that] can be a beneficial means for increasing their vocabulary knowledge " (Rupley, Logan, & Nichols, 1998).

As we practiced above, Semantic Maps not only identify important ideas, but they also show the relationships among those words and ideas (Kholi, & Sharifafar, 2013).

That's where research shows their power lies.

As far as standards, clearly they address some of the CCSS ELA standards, such as:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

But you also see them apply in math standards such as:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.EE.A.2.B
Identify parts of an expression using mathematical terms (sum, term, product, factor, quotient, coefficient); view one or more parts of an expression as a single entity.

If you're using Next Gen Science Standards, Semantic Maps are a strategy for Crosscutting Concepts, as students begin to recognize the patterns.

These are just examples. Whatever standards system you're working with, Semantic Maps fit beautifully.

🌺 How do I use Semantic Maps in Writing?

Semantic Maps can be used to organize thoughts before writing, creating a structure students can follow. They are a perfect pre-writing strategy.

When students group their ideas, they can easily see where there is unbalance.

They can then add in more details where they are lacking or eliminate some where they have too many.

🌺 Wrapping Up

Semantic Maps are a vocabulary strategy that belong in every teacher's toolbox. I hope that after reading this you feel confident in giving them a try.

There's no "wrong" way to do them and the rewards are terrific, so go ahead and see how they work with your students.

Like anything else, it may take a few tries until you (and your students) feel comfortable.

Pretty soon, the strategy will be second nature to you! 🌺

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How to Use Semantic Maps for Teaching Vocabulary | Vocabulary Luau

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When you get a great critical thinking exercise and pair it with a great vocabulary activity...well, let's change their Facebook status to "in a relationship with..." Semantic Maps are just such a pair. Let me persuade you! Semantic Maps are a tool we use to help students to identify, understand, and recall the meaning of words they read in the text.

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The Frayer Model is a graphic organizer that supports student vocab learning. AMT taught us about the awesomeness that is the Frayer Model, but I'll cite "the teacher toolkit" down below as well as a pdf that has a Frayer model made already. Essentially, students have one vocab word and they generate the definition, and examples of that word as well as non-examples, and give characteristics (in words or illustrations).

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Students can draw on prior knowledge and/or experiences to help define the new word. A way to (hopefully) make vocabulary learning more interactive (if working with groups/partners) as well as make the definition personal to each reader rather than simply give students a one-size-fits-all definition of a word.

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Can be individual/in partners/small groups. Can use pdf or have students draw four squares on a piece of paper, or even fold a sheet of paper hamburger and hot dog so that they have four squares :). Would want to make clear the difference between definition and characteristics, as thats not as clear of a contrast as examples/non examples is.

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https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/ela/bank/6-12_L.VAU_Frayer_Model.pdf

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https://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/frayer-model

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GIST is an acronym for Generating Interactions between Schemata and Texts. It is a summarization procedure that helps students to understand complex texts. May include Who What Where When Why How questions, followed by a 20 word (hard limit) summary of the text. Justin used this in CI 5441 and felt it was effective after modeling and practice that he could tell students to "write a GIST" and they could do it without much support from him.

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helps students find the "most important" words and/or concepts in a text in order to understand the text as a whole. A way to check for student understanding and vocabulary practice.

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Break down larger texts into smaller sections. Learning for justice has a section on GIST & ELLs: the strategy is "effective because it encourages the use of simple answers to craft a more detailed answer." And, "smaller chunks of information helps ELL better process the information."

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https://www.readwritethink.org/sites/default/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson290/Template.pdf

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https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/teaching-strategies/close-and-critical-reading/gist

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What?

Generating Interactions between Schemata and Texts (GIST) is a summarization procedure that helps students digest complex texts by requiring contextual word learning. GIST explicitly combines the most important words with reading and writing to comprehend complex texts.

Before, during and after reading

The skills required for GIST are the core of reading for understanding. This strategy provides all students with the opportunity to deeply understand and gain access to rigorous and complex texts.

1. Select a central text.

2. Highlight a passage that either explains an important concept, including difficult vocabulary, or promotes discussion about a central topic or theme. These might include social justice, social action, racial or cultural discrimination, or linguistic diversity. Do not consider reading level when selecting the passage.

3. Project a copy of the text in a visible location.

4. Read the text aloud and then direct students to read a section aloud using choral reading.

5. Revisit your targeted vocabulary words you selected during Word Work.

6. Ask students what words or concepts they consider most important to understanding the text. Highlight both the vocabulary words you selected and the words the students choose. Add them to the GIST Worksheet.

7. As a group, fill out the "5Ws and H" (who, what, where, when, why and how) in the GIST organizer worksheet template.

8. Check for student understanding of key vocabulary using the context of the central text.

9. Have students think aloud and write a one-sentence summary of the text using as many of the listed vocabulary words and concepts as possible.

10. Repeat the process through subsequent sections of the text.

11. Create a topic sentence to precede the summary sentences; students can edit the end result into a summary paragraph.

English language learners

The GIST strategy is effective because it encourages the use of simple answers (who, what, where, when, why and how) to craft a more detailed answer. By working with smaller chunks of information at a time, English language learners are better able to process the information and ultimately arrive at a more detailed summary. Collaborating and partnering throughout the task also benefits English language learners. Whether an English language learner completes the larger summary sentence or not, by engaging in GIST he will definitely be able to answer some of the 5Ws and H questions.

Connection to anti-bias education

The GIST strategy is effective for building an inclusive classroom. It allows all students to approach a complex text on equal footing because classmates help each other access difficult vocabulary and develop summarizing skills. The structure of the strategy allows all students the opportunity to be successful regardless of vocabulary limitations.

For more information on the GIST strategy, click here.

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Generating Interactions between Schemata and Texts (GIST) is a summarization procedure that helps students digest complex texts by requiring contextual word learning. GIST explicitly combines the most important words with reading and writing to comprehend complex texts. Before, during and after reading The skills required for GIST are the core of reading for understanding.

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One of the most iconic assignments of CI 5451. Allows students to map texts that have formed them into who they are as individuals and as readers. Students create a google slideshow presentation of 3-5 texts that have impacted them in their lives (and one leads to the other, often). Model by sharing texts that have led me to teaching, for example. Created by Dr. Alfred Tatum and research on "providing African American boys with meaningful literacy experiences"

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Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop: windows mirrors and sliding glass doors. Give students opportunities to reflect on their own identities as well as other stories that have diverse perspectives and characters. Opportunities for students to critically think about their own reader identity.

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Really enjoying thinking about doing Textual Lineages as a first day/first week community builder to learn each others names and backgrounds as readers. Allows room for students to get to know me and each other. Would opt for not just pictures of books on slides, but actual narration/text that explains why students believe this text had an impact on them and the significance of the text. Plus... I want to know what students are reading and could be a great way to build relationships. :)

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my text lineage https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1F19tJW2UJk6F61mbnvhoLlGOrOjIYMntr2rh3BtmmFI/edit#slide=id.g13d7633b67a_0_523

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https://www.slj.com/story/create-textual-lineages-with-students-diversity-facing-history-and-ourselves

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Invite students into thoughtful reflection on the relationship between the texts they read and their own emerging sense of self.

SLJ Montage/Getty Images

Librarians, literacy instructors, and teachers of literature share the pleasure, and responsibility, of introducing young people to stories that can shape their understanding of the world and themselves. We increasingly realize the importance of offering students diverse stories that can be, as Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop has written, "windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors." As we build out our bookshelves with more representative text selections, we can also invite students into thoughtful reflection on the relationship between the texts they read and their own emerging sense of self.

In his ground-breaking literacy research that focused on providing African American boys with meaningful literacy experiences, Dr. Alfred Tatum developed the idea of "textual lineages," or texts that have meaning and significance in our lives. These might be texts that stay with us throughout our lives because they transported us to an imaginary place or showed us something magical about ourselves. Or perhaps they challenged us to think in new ways or to act differently. The stories in these texts resonate with us, and over time they become part of our own story.

We invite you to explore textual lineages, on your own and with your students. We have provided some learning experiences that help students consider the profound impact that the spoken and written word (as well as art and sound) can have on an individual's identity and sense of self, and the way that our textual lineages can spark our minds, hearts, and imaginations.
Reflect on meaningful texts in your life

1. Generate a list of different types of "texts" on the board. Use an expansive definition where a text can be anything that conveys a meaning: a book, short story, article, journal, essay, work of art, play, mural, podcast, movie, song, poem, cartoon, etc.

2. Then have students respond to the following prompts in their journals:

1. Make a list of texts that have been most meaningful to you in your life. Perhaps they helped shape how you think about yourself, how you understand others and the world, or how they create a roadmap for where you want to go in the future.

2. Put a star by 2-3 texts on your list that have had the biggest impact on who you are today. Explain their significance in a short journal reflection.

3. Explain to students that they have started to create their own "textual lineage," a collection of texts that have had a meaningful impact on who they are today. Use the Concentric Circle teaching strategy to have students share lists, encouraging them to pose questions to learn more about their classmates' choices.

Create textual lineage timelines*

1. Have students review their notes from the previous activity and see if they can expand or deepen their thinking to include texts, defined broadly as above, that may have played an important part in their life in earlier years.

2. Then have them organize their texts in a rough chronology on a textual lineage timeline, starting with texts that might have been read aloud to them or told in the oral tradition, through children's literature and other texts, and up to the present. Model with your own timeline, sharing stories about each text as you add it to your timeline.

3. In a written reflection, have students respond to the following question. Let them know that they can focus on one text or consider their textual lineage as a whole: How have the texts you've read, heard, and seen sparked your mind, heart, and imagination? What makes you say that?

Create a textual lineage for a literary character
In literature, as in life, characters can be impacted by the books they read, the poetry and music they experience, or a film they watch. Think of the way Robert Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" functions in S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, or the influence of Tupac's work in Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give. Texts can become part of the character's identity-the story they tell about themselves and the story they lean on to help them understand others.

1. If you are reading a work of literature together that includes meaningful allusions to texts, help students explore how these texts have impacted a character's identity and sense of self. Review the expansive definition of texts (see above) and then divide the class into groups. Assign each group a character, or have students choose their characters and then move them into groups.

2. Instruct groups to discuss the following questions, recording their ideas in their notebooks or on a piece of chart paper. Start by having them review the story and make a list of texts that have been most meaningful to their character. Briefly discuss why they are including these texts on the list. For example, have these books, poems, songs, or works of art helped shape how the character thinks about themself, how they understand others and the world, or how they help them set goals for where they want to go?

3. Then project or pass out the following questions for small-group discussion. Debrief as a class, perhaps having each group present their responses to one of the questions.

1. How do you think the character would answer the question, "What has been the most influential text in your life?" What makes you say that?

2. How have texts influenced the character's sense of who they are? How about their ideas about other characters in the text?

3. How have the texts influenced how the character sees their future?

4. Imagine that the character has asked you for a text recommendation. What would you recommend and why?

*Adapted from Gholdy Muhammad's Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy , pp. 147-149.
Jennifer Nauss is senior content developer at Facing History and Ourselves, where she creates classroom resources and learning experiences for educators and their students. Laura Tavares is program director for organizational learning and thought leadership at Facing History and Ourselves, where she leads strategic partnerships, designs learning experiences for educators, and creates classroom resources.

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Invite students into thoughtful reflection on the relationship between the texts they read and their own emerging sense of self. SLJ Montage/Getty Images Librarians, literacy instructors, and teachers of literature share the pleasure, and responsibility, of introducing young people to stories that can shape their understanding of the world and themselves.

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Perhaps the most famous of all of the instructional skills is annotation. Using Edutopia for my resource, but have experience with annotation from my K-12. Ask students, while reading a text, to highlight/circle/underline/label rhetorical devices, unknown words, questions they have, important elements to them, etc. "Alway have a pen in your hand as you read" is the phrase I remember from my 11th grade AP teach.

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Annotation is treated as almost an afterthought...or that kids should already know how to annotate. But, what if they don't? I think annotation can help students organize their thoughts on paper and be active readers (plus, with a lot of these strategies beforehand, annotating the text as you go helps pull quotes/ideas for the use in other strategies, in that way, we need to have background on how to annotate and experience annotating before asking students to go forth with other strategies).

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Annotation is different for everyone...ask students to find their own "style." Personally, I need a pen (not a pencil) and prefer to underline and draw lines out from the text towards the border of the paper to write long notes to myself as reminders. Wondering if annotation is different right now with use of technology/websites/apps (noteability, for one) that give students tools to annotate in their style. Edutopia: "creative annotations" illustration, collaborative annotations, all for the purpose of "personalizing the process of annotation."

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https://www.edutopia.org/article/more-highlighting-creative-annotations/

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Active strategies for annotation like collaborative work and illustration increase students' comprehension and retention.

Annotating texts is not the most exciting tactic for reading comprehension. In my classroom experience, even the mention of the word annotate was met with looks of confusion or boredom. Traditional annotations have been students' only interactions with the text. When students are asked to underline important parts of the texts, they will usually pick the first line that seems appealing or attempt to highlight the whole page of text with pretty-colored highlighters. Simply underlining the text will not meet the needs of our 21st-century learners.

Annotations are a critical strategy teachers can use to encourage students to interact with a text. They promote a deeper understanding of passages and encourage students to read with a purpose. Teachers can use annotations to emphasize crucial literacy skills like visualization, asking questions, and making inferences.

Purposeful instruction with annotating texts is required for students to benefit from this strategy. Focused instructional activities associated with annotation make the process engaging. Teachers can encourage students to participate in the annotation in new ways that use visual and collaborative strategies.

Illustrated Annotations

Illustrated annotations use images to increase comprehension and understanding. Students create illustrations to represent concepts and elements of literature. Prior to reading the text, the students create a visual representation or symbol for the concept or element of focus for the learning target. When the students annotate the text, they use the illustration they created.

I recently used this strategy to teach Hamlet. Specifically, we focused on the seven elements of Shakespearean tragedies. Before reading the texts, students drew visuals or symbols of each element. Students could choose any illustration that enhanced their learning. Those who were not adept at art could draw a "TF" for tragic flaw. After the students created their illustrations, I selected chunks of the texts for the students to annotate throughout our reading of the play.

The process of creating an illustration helps students synthesize information and increases student engagement and creativity. It makes annotating texts a more hands-on experience and makes their learning meaningful and personal. One challenge with this assignment occurs when students believe they cannot draw, do not have artistic talent, or are not creative. Allowing less artistic students to use symbols or simple drawings also emphasizes the importance of student choice. The purpose of the assignment is to capture the symbolism of concepts, so they can create any marking that represents their perception and understanding of a concept.

Collaborative Annotations

Another annotation strategy is collaborative annotation, or an annotation on a shared text by multiple students. Students annotate the same text and analyze each person's annotations to find inspiration, discover similarities, or ask questions.

Students were given guided analysis prompts while annotating the text and their peers' responses. During this lesson, the students were instructed to write two extended comments and pose one question per page of text. The next set of students had to do the same, but they could comment on the text or a previous annotation from another student. Each class was able to view and analyze the annotations of their peers from previous classes. At the end, students had a collection of annotations that showed several different processes of reading a text.

This strategy encourages students to close-read a text. Students think critically and have a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the text. Students also collaborate and communicate about a text with their peers by commenting and questioning the marks of others.

Personalizing the Process

Annotation strategies can be differentiated for learners in a single classroom by adjusting the requirements for each reading. Learning targets for the annotation activities can be modified for different learning needs.

Digital applications may be used in several different ways. In order to facilitate collaborative annotations in a digital format, teachers can use Google Docs. Students analyze the same text and leave comments or highlight portions of the text. Students can easily share documents and comment on other students' annotations. For visual annotations, teachers can use graphic tools like Adobe Spark. Students can pull parts of the texts and choose pictures to represent their interpretations.

Teachers in any content area can use these annotation strategies for any texts in the class to emphasize certain themes or to promote literacy in their classes. Creativity and collaboration are crucial to 21st-century learners. When creative annotating strategies facilitate student interaction with a text, the annotation process is a meaningful learning experience and not just a coloring page with meaningless highlights.

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More Than Highlighting: Creative Annotations

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Active strategies for annotation like collaborative work and illustration increase students' comprehension and retention.

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Another Acronym! First saw STEAL in a micro teach in CI 5451. The purpose of STEAL is to teach students to practice character analysis. S: what the character says/speech, T: what are the character's thoughts, E: character's effect on others, A: consider the character's actions, L: consider the character's looks.

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Students become detectives/researchers of the text and look for clues that create a character. I can see this especially helpful for 9/10th graders that are just starting out on their journey of figuring out what analysis is. Helpful, also, to have a worksheet that the students can fill out information as they find it (quotes/ideas)

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I would prefer to use a STEAL chart and have students fill it out. I could see for a text like Gatsby that has a bunch of characters that are of importance, having students work in groups based on one character and creating a poster/slideshow that includes the aspects of STEAL and then presenting to the class. Helpful to remember characters, and try to figure out why the author wrote them this way!

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https://www.readwritethink.org/sites/default/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson800/Characterization.pdf

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https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/63822/overview-old