So, tonight we learned about semantic mapping, and I LOVE this strategy. I am just a very visual person and I constantly find myself organizing and categorizing information after brainstorming or brain dumping about a random topic.
Semantic mapping is basically the teacher choosing a topic and placing it in the center of a piece of paper. Then, students contribute and add words that come to mind that relate to the topic at hand. Once everyone includes what they would like to include on the paper, then the teacher has the students pause to observe all of the words without speaking. After a minute or two, the teacher guides the students in organizing the words into different categories. This is a great way to organize information, both on paper and in our minds. This strategy would work well on a Smart Board because the teacher could type the text in multiple text boxes and then move the words into their own categories, similar to the way we did this during class tonight.
I think this strategy would work well for many age groups. I am observing second grade and I think they would do well with this strategy. In order for them to be successful, I would need to explain what we are doing and why we were doing it. As a student, it is so frustrating to me when teachers do not explain the purpose for doing something and everyone is just wondering what in the world is going on.
An example of incorporating this into a lesson plan is to review concepts and vocabulary as a second day lesson. Say the topic is life cycles. Life cycles could be the main topic and the students could take turns adding related words to the document. Students would probably include names of animals, processes such as life and death, and so on. Then, we could categorize the animals and the processes, as well as whatever else the students contribute. This is a great higher-level thinking strategy that helps students work on analyzing.
First of all, great post! I couldn't be in class during this lesson, but your post seems to capture what we went over well. Although you mention that this would work particularly well in a second grade class (and I believe you're right on the nose with that), it lead me to question how well it would work for a high school class. Then it struck me: Shakespeare. Every goes into Shakespeare the first time with what equates to a second grade understanding of him (especially me. I still have no idea what he's saying most of the time), so it's perfect!
ReplyDeleteWhen students can voice their own opinions and see them on the board, it will create anticipation and keep the students involved. When every student, regardless of learning level, knows something about a topic, it will also keep the students engaged.
ReplyDeleteI am glad this strategy spoke to you! I think I am more visual than I knew... I like this one, too!
ReplyDeleteI loved this one too! The visual and creative part to this is what speaks to me. It was made clear to me that this is a good strategy for any age group when a group of college students seemed to be engaged and participating in this activity.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great strategy! I am glad you enjoy it and I do too simply because I am also a visual person.
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