WORK TIME Explore Networks of Related Words to Deepen Understanding of New Vocabulary A key way to help students recall the vast number of new words they are learning is to place those words in networks with other words, forming collections of related words. According to Elfrieda Heibert and P. David Pearson (2013), generative vocabulary strategies, such as the ability to generate the meanings of new words based on a student’s knowledge of how words work in English, are the keys to successfully understanding complex texts. Here are a few kinds of word networks you might help students generate.
SUBTOPIC NETWORKS Students can think about which subtopic a word they’re learning might fit into, and then generate other vocabulary words that are important to that subtopic.
EXAMPLE AND NONEXAMPLE NETWORKS Students might generate a word network to deepen their understanding of a particular word’s meaning by saying, “This word is similar to…” and “This word is different from…” and list words in each network.
PARTS OF SPEECH NETWORKS Students can think of and list the nouns, verbs, or adjectives that go with a topic word.
WORD PART NETWORKS Students might generate a network of words that have similar word parts. They might think about how the familiar word part affects the meaning of each word.
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Bend I • Strengthen Nonfiction Research Skills: Researching Plants
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