In Robert Marzano’s book, Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement: Research on what works in schools. (ASCD, 2004), Marzano outlines six steps for maximum vocabulary instruction. They are:

1.  Provide a description, explanation or example of the new term.

2. Ask students to restate this in their own words.

3. Ask students to draw a picture, pictograph or symbolic representation of the term.

4. Engage students in regular activities that help them add to their knowledge about the terms they have learned.

5. Involve students in games that enable them to review and play with the terms.

Word maps are a great way to help students visually learn new vocabulary. Here is a simple word map that can help students visualize the word and link the meaning to concepts they already know.