Vocabulary Word Map

Today in class I used the Vocabulary Word Map tactic for teaching about totalitarianism. This is a complex topic and vocabulary word for 7th graders, and I thought a word map might help this capture the big picture. I introduced the word map by doing one on the white board for "depression" which we had just covered with the Great Depression. We did it as a class and it got them used to redefining words, writing sentences, thinking of synonyms and drawing pictures. I then taught on totalitarianism and had them complete individual word maps, similar to that on depression. They came up with the most creative pictures! I could hardly get over how great they were. Also, the kids really focused in on the work, which shows they were engaged and enjoyed it. I am tempted to do these maps with all the words, but am afraid it would use up too much class time. I think for the next unit I may set aside an entire day to do word maps for the new, critical vocabulary.

After the vocabulary map, I adapted the Semantic Feature Map into a plain Feature Map on totalitarianism. I listed features of certain totalitarian governments, and had students select which country's government the feature represented. Of course, some features represented multiple goverments. For homework the students had to use their feature maps to create a paragraph on the topic. This helps them rework the information in their minds. The kids enjoyed this too, but not nearly as much as the word map. I think the drawing aspect of the word map really engaged them.

Reflecting on today's use of some of our Reading Strategies, I come away certainly wanting to use word maps a lot more often. I liked the dynamics they created, and I can see how they mold students into strong thinkers. It really helps them see connections!