Vocabulary Reflection

The three strategies that I used were the Frayer Model, Semantic Feature Analysis, and

Semantic Mapping. I chose three literature terms for all strategys as that is the field Im most

familiar with. The words were, Chronology, Dialogue, and Episode, all of which were

respectively grade 6 vocabulary level. All three use mapping strategies at are similar to one

another and create some form of boxed diagram with slight variations from one another. Frayer

is very much influenced and based off of concept style of instruction, as it used both examples

and nonexamples, key components for teaching a concept lesson. The idea being, to know what

something is, you first must know what it is not. Daylight becomes much more understandable if

one understood, also, darkness. The other two strategies just listed and compared items that were

related to the idea of vocab term, and didnt provide any non-examples in their diagram boxes.

Semantic Feature was different than the others as its layout features laid out in categories on the

top five rows, and in the first column were examples that fit under the definition of the word,

kind of like making latitude and longitude coresidence between the example and certain features.

It was a clever visual that Semantic Mapping doesnt have, the sort of x marks the spot, and what

is more, it gives a great visual of how one word, Dialogue, means all of these things, but at the

same time, there are big difference between Platos rhetorical conversations and the window that

comes up on your computer when you have an inquiry with an issue, as both are dialogues.

Lastly, the big difference I saw with Semantic Mapping which was different than the other two

was it was organized more like a web, whereas Frayer was organized like the diagram you see in

Science classes that have four boxes and talk about chromosomes, and Feature Analysis was

organized and visually like more like a grid, as if one were putting down red and white pegs

while playing the game, Battleship.

Advantages and Disadvantages of each

A disadvantage to all strategies, or at least for this assignment, is that they all require

templates that are edible, if one were to work on the computer. If one doesnt have an edible

template it could be really difficult to format and create similar box diagrams for each strategy.

So they all three lend themselves to working better being printed out and done by hand. The only

one that I can see that would lend itself to being done on the computer was the Semantic

Mapping as I was able to find a website that allowed me to make Webbing maps. As for the

strategy, an advantage for Frayer is that you do get to see non examples of the term, and the

lesson could go hand in hand with teaching synonyms and antonyms, but it could get confusing

in your non-examples for using anonym vocabulary that perhaps they are not familiar with. So

instead of words, perhaps ideas and images might work best for younger audiences. Also even

though there is a box for teaching distinctions, and even though that is a part of a concept lesson,

even I found it hard to come up with concepts and ideas to describe distinctions that the word

chronology has. So if I had problems thinking of this, I can imagine that low end learners would

also have difficulty deconstructing the thought of word and breaking it down, especially if it is a

new term. Feature Analysis has its strength in being organized in a way thats really easy to

follow and to quickly see and build connections and differences between like examples. A

disadvantage that I can see is that I can see it getting a little confusing if you give them too much

information about a word. In the books example, even though I loved the example, they gave

hero as the word. But both their examples and features to pin point out are probably literary

concepts and ideas that would need lots of explaining to students if they didnt have background
knowledge on. Advantages for Semantic mapping is like I said it works better for bringing digital

learning into the classroom, or also works good for letting students maybe come up to the white

board and working in teams or as a class to quickly get ideas out. A disadvantage that I see is

what if some students arent good at organization, so they make one box too big or not big

enough and it bleeds over into other boxes. Sometimes just lots of ideas flow for just one new

box, so you almost need to use a computer or whiteboard, if that is the case.

Favorite Strategy

Maybe the funnest and my favorite strategy was Semantic Feature Analysis. I liked the

look of it and its idea of making more of grid-coordination based map if you will of specific

examples that fit under a word. I really enjoyed the example in the book of heroes and it got me

thinking how this strategy could be applied to other literature units and ideas other than just

learning new vocabulary. What is more, it was a little fun to come up with your examples and

features and then put the Xs in each correct box, like one was playing Battleship. Visually it

quickly in seconds would show the brain what are specific examples of the word and differences

between those examples, whereas, Semantic Mapping wouldnt.

Content Lesson

As I stated above the example in the book was heroes and it just screamed that this would

be great learning tool in teaching, not vocabulary, but teaching literary ideas and structure. What

is more, one could break down a Semantic Feature Analysis even further for each example and
feature. Tragic figure is one of the features listed on page 81, but in fact, tragic heroes in

literature have at least 5 different features in of themselves. And that is just the classic Aristotle

view, not to mention Shakespeares view, and the modern view. So there are 3 additional

Semantic Feature Analysis you could make from just one simple map! I can just see how this

type of structuring can easily break down a big concept into little chunks and is a good resource

for even studying literary examples. Every literary genre has many features in it, this would be a

great way to teach modernism, lets say, in college, and then for your examples put down, Yeats,

Eliot, Joyce, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway. And then you can even break that down into specific

novels that demonstrate those features, like Gatsby and Old Man on the Sea. But for children I

can even see where this could be turned into like a battleship game. Imagine learning the terms

antagonist and protagonist. One student represents Antagonist and the other protagonist. They sit

across from each other but they cant see whats on the other students grid. Then they can

maybe ask clues about their word. Or someone can read clues off to them that describe their

words, I dont know Im sure more ideas would simmer if I continued to think about it further on

how to turn it into a game. Another idea is the map idea of corrientes. That too could be used

creatively like what about the imagined geography of a fictional novel, for example, this map

could help students organize systematically what different places within the setting are like and

not like. Or if the story took place in multiple time frames, it could help map out those events

that took place in the flashbacks and the present. I just saw this strategy just opening up the door

to more lessons in literature than just vocabulary because of their brilliant example in the text.