Retain New Vocabulary Through Multiple Associations

It began 12 years ago when Gary Hopkins and Thomas Bean published the vocabulary square strategy in their report on how they had implemented it while teaching in a native American community. Today, as direct vocabulary strategy instruction seems to be having a comeback, it is little wonder that Palomar's reading prof. Erin Feld has reminded us of the effectiveness of teaching students to retain new vocabulary through multiple associations to the word. In the context of helping students with math vocabulary, Erin has devised this handout. But it can be used by virtually any discipline, not just math. I especially like the example and non-example portions of the square. For example, suppose the new word to be recorded and studied on the sheet is "diversity." I would put "My friend went on a trip to Costa Rica, where she saw many unusual birds and animals" as a personal-association example for the meaning of the word "diversity." I would put "Irma (or another student's name) cooks tacos, rice, and beans every night for dinner" as a non-example. These examples and non-examples can come in the form of pictures and symbols, hence visual associations. See the last bullet point in my Feb. 15 post for a procedure to implement this vocabulary teaching and learning strategy in your class, courtesy of Erin Feld.