Read Page 262 -- what do you think the value is of preparing students to read? Share some ways you prepare students to read material.
I've done the Strategy Lesson # 33 -- Textbook Treasure Hunt -- it is a great lesson to do with kids. They love it and get a lot out of it. Take a look at it -- try it with any of your content area subjects -- it's a great lesson.
Robb suggests that the lesson of Questioning the Author is beneficial for weaker readers -- review the lesson -- is this a lesson you could use with your whole class and then differentiate -- or is it only appropriate for your weaker readers?
Skimming a Text -- such a good lesson -- please review it and try it with your students. It's a valuable skill for kids to have as they enter middle school.
The three-part lesson is Building Concepts -- Read P. 301 -- comment on what you think of what Robb says about teaching concepts in content and not just skills. Review the lesson on Building Concepts -- what do you like (or dislike) about the lesson.
Use the remaining materials for your personal files. Notice the planning guide for Content Area
use it for long- and short-term planning goals.
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Week 2
ReplyDeleteIt is a great value in preparing students before you teach them. First, you as the teacher can get a true understanding on the strengths and weaknesses in your class. We should never assume that a student remembers something that they learned last year. I have several students this year who did not know how to do ladder division because they came from another school. I pulled those two students to the back table in the morning and gave them some notes and a quick lesson. When I taught Math that afternoon those two caught on quickly. I decided to review ladder division with the entire class just for a few minutes before I taught the lesson.
Textbook Treasure Hunt – I’ve done this with my students with their Social Studies textbooks. I did it with partners. It was fun and a great learning experience for the students as well.
Questioning the Author: I have never approached it like that but I do find it beneficial for whole class and then differentiate from their. It will allow and help all my readers to self-monitor themselves. A great tool to use throughout your teaching curriculum.
Skimming Text: helpful I think. In fifth grade the students tend to want to highlight everything. We are currently reading a Recycling book and the students have difficulty deciding what is important and what is not. I try to tell them what bolded is and italicized usually important.
Building Concepts- I liked the lesson and do feel it is important. This is one reason why I like the Everyday Math program. It constantly goes back and reviews things that were taught. It does in math boxes and also in the beginning of the lesson it gives examples for the students that they can practice with.
Week 2:
ReplyDeleteIt is extremely important to tap into the students' prior knowledge before moving on to new material. Sometimes I ask what they THINK they know about a subject, or I ask questions that will be answered in the text and sample a few. Then I tell them they have to pay attention to see if their guesses are correct. Another thing I do is play a game like hangman but I use key words from the text. After all the words are guessed, I ask if someone would like to predict what the reading will be about. Another way to tap into prior knowledge is to skim the text. We look at bold headings, pictures, captions, maps, and the questions at the end of the chapter.
Discussion with partners or small groups is always beneficial, especially when our classes are so heterogenous. I find that many times a child can explain a concept to another child better than I can because it's from a child's point of view. A true understanding of a concept and not just a memorized formula will help the child remember the lesson. I thought the ideas presented by Robb were excellent although there are quite a few children who will struggle with connecting the concepts to a different text. This seems to be higher level work which is excellent to present to the better students. Explaining the concept in a journal is an excellent way for the children to process the idea.
Preparing Students to Read: I feel that preparing students to read is essential to their comprehension, regardless of the subject matter. Pre-reading discussions and activities help to bolster students’ sense of engagement in the text and allow them to forge more meaningful connections as they read. Some strategies that I employ to prepare students to read are KWL charts, think-pair-share, and distributing pictures or books containing relevant background knowledge. I also think an important part of preparing students to read is setting a purpose for reading the text.
ReplyDeleteQuestioning the Author: I can definitely see the utility in using this lesson with the entire class, not just the weaker readers. In reading Robb’s presentation of the lesson, I was struck by the difficulty of the queries presented. Many of the “initiating queries” focus on the “main idea”. To identify the main idea is a very difficult skill, particularly for weaker readers, so I would definitely plan to scaffold these questions. I might use graphic organizers or a series of questions pertaining to the details of the text so that students can put these answers together to come up with the main idea. I like the overall message that this lesson sends, though: good readers are always actively thinking and asking questions as they digest a piece of text.
Building Concepts: I agree that it is important to foster students’ understanding of concepts as well as skills in content areas. Although it seems that there is not enough time in the day to teach for deep understanding in all subject areas, investing the time so that students grasp concepts can save time in correcting mistakes made in using skills. For example, a student who understands the concept that the denominator of a fraction indicates the size of that type of fraction will not add one-fourth and one-half and come up with a sum of two-sixths. In the lesson presented by Robb, I especially like the before reading section, as it gives all students a chance to build their background knowledge of an important concept. This knowledge can then accompany them as they venture on to tackle new information and develop connections between the new material and their prior knowledge. In terms of dislikes, I found the “Building Concepts” transparency to be fairly advanced; it seems to be geared more toward secondary students.
Week 2 Due 1/24 Content Area
ReplyDeletePreparing students to read makes a lot of sense in my opinion. I liked Robb’s strategy of front-loading to link and capitalize on prior knowledge. When students know something, anything, about a topic they are more likely to raise their hands and participate in a discussion. When you show children pictures of important events, you get their interest and they want to learn more. A simple picture of thousands of people watching Martin Luther King speak in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial prompted an interesting discussion in my class about why they were there and what was happening. I discussed the March before reading a book about Martin and it really held the students attention.
Textbook Treasure Hunt- We unfortunately do not really have a lot of textbooks to hunt through in fourth grade. I have never tried this, but I plan on it. I know that in the Math program in the first unit we look through the SRB like this, but it is not as fun!! I will have to try it when we use a different history book later in the year. It seems like a great idea.
ReplyDeleteQuestioning the Author- This is a nice way to isolate a paragraph and really take it apart. I have used this strategy before but I usually don’t use it in this way. I ask the students to question why the author made the choices he or she did as it relates to character development. This is a totally different way of looking at questioning the author for me. I am going to follow this example with my lower reading group with an upcoming science or social studies lesson and see how it goes.
Building Concepts- When I read this section, I couldn’t get it off my mind. It really got me thinking about whether the students really understand a concept, decimals to be exact. Since we recently did them, I was laughing will reading this. When we went to the science lab, I assured the teacher that my students could read and understand decimals. We had just finished a unit in math with decimals. I was so surprised when they were asked questions about one and six-tenths, how to write it and say it, I couldn’t believe how many students didn’t get it right. They could perform it for the test, but they obviously could not apply the knowledge in a different setting. I was shocked!!! We went over it again in class and I totally understand the frustration that Robb and the teacher saw. I assure you, we have been building concepts about decimals ever since that happen to insure that the students can think flexibly about the concept, and not just perform it on a test. I also loved the way that Robb built comprehension for the word revolution. Very appropriate for fourth grade!!!
ReplyDeleteI think it is essential to prepare "students to read." By so doing, it sets the stage for the acquisition of new material/information. For those children who are familiar with the content area, it serves as a refresher/review. For those who have no prior knowledge, this preparation gives them some background information and makes learning easier since they have a fundamental amount of background information when the lesson actually begins. In addition, using charts, graphs, maps, and other visuals etc. gives an additional way to learn the material at hand. It is particularly valuable for the visual learner.
ReplyDeleteI feel that Questioning the Author is a great device to help children understand what they have read. I think it can be used with the whole class. The more advanced students could work independently. The lower achieving children would need guidance to answer the queries.
I believe students learn when they have a connection to the topic. Learning as an isolated subject is not as meaningful as presenting the same concepts with information that the child is connected to or familiar with. It is, therefore, not abstract or isolated.
Teaching grammar from a grammar book has little transfer to a child. When you use the child's own work to teach these same skills, it has more relevance. When I began teaching at SR, we were NOT allowed to teach grammar except individually as the need presented itself for each child. This included spelling. I still collect words that each child misspells in his/her daily assignments. Every few weeks, each child has an indiviualized spelling lesson and test. His/her words are recorded in a personal word bank.I feel this is more meaningful to the child than words that are presented in a published list and which are not a part of the child'd writing vocabulary.
1) It's very important and valuable to activate prior knowledge prior to reading. I will implant vocabulary or do a picture walk with my students before a guided reading lesson. I am constantly reminding them that they need to "get ready to read" before they begin. (Similar to warming up before a basketball game) This week the students read an article from LadyBug magazine. This story did not have a lot of pictures in it, as we were working on "picturing." I used the SmartBoard to view 2 short clips from YouTube get their minds ready to picture a lion cub learning to climb stairs. The kids loved it.
ReplyDelete2) The Textbook Treasure Hunt is a great lesson. In fact, my daughter had one in her 8th grade class to get to know her Science book. One way I could use it in my program is to learn more about the children's dictionary. The children's dictionaries have so much more than definitions (maps, flags of the world, etc.) It would be something fun to try.
3) Skimming is an important skill, esp with kids that are answering ELA type questions. I ask them to first think where is the info in the story, beginning- middle or end so they at least have a starting point to look. Also, looking for italics, quotations, etc. will help them find the words more quickly.
more to follow.....
gigi
Week 2 – Content Area
ReplyDeletePreparing students to read is essential to good comprehension. I agree with Laura Robb when she said that it deepens students understanding by triggering past learning experiences, as well as supporting students who lack the background knowledge. As a reading teacher I do not teach content area subjects. However, I have worked with students in the areas of social studies and science. I know what they cover and I try and find materials that they can read in order to build their background knowledge. In my fourth grade groups I know that students study the colonial period and the American Revolution. I have found non-fiction books on these subjects. The text is large and the pictures are great. My goal is to strengthen their understanding by building their prior knowledge, so when they go back into their class they can better comprehend their content areas subjects. Even when I am preparing student for the ELA, I always tell them to preview the text first. I want them to look at pictures, captions, charts, and definition boxes before they begin to read. This will help to activate schema and set a purpose for their reading.
Textbook Treasure Hunt – I think that this is a great strategy to familiarize students with the basic features of a text. I do not use any textbooks, but can definitely see the value in this lesson. When students become active participants in their learning their comprehension improves. I agree that knowing the features in a textbook can support their understanding. It is amazing to me how students will overlook things like charts, maps and graphs.
Questioning the Author – This lesson gives students the tools to self-monitor their reading. I teach my students to be active readers, by stopping, thinking and questioning if something doesn’t make sense. If necessary they have to reread to clarify their understanding. The initiating queries help students read between the lines and infer what the author is trying to say. It is a good strategy to show students how important it is to read small chunks of text at a time, think about why the author included it, and then figure out what the passage means. The follow-up queries prompt students to be aware of what the author is doing and why. I believe that this strategy is beneficial for all students.
Building Concepts – I think some of the hands-on activities for building concepts Laura Robb mentions in the three-part lesson are very interesting. I liked the one on the concept of automation. Students had to make paper airplanes in an assembly line. Afterwards, they discussed the benefits and disadvantages of this process. They really began to get a deeper understanding of the concept.
I use fables a great deal in my program. Students have difficulty understanding the moral beyond the text. They can only explain what it means using the characters from the fable. I then have them think about themselves in a similar situation. (Ex. - Prepare today for the needs of tomorrow) They get a deeper understanding when they can make a connection to their lives.
I liked the “after reading” part of the lesson when the students write in their journals explaining the concept learned. Their explanation can show misunderstanding and where the teacher needs to provide more instruction. I do not agree that students who write nothing are sending the message they don’t understand. I work with students who have difficulty expressing themselves in writing. I have them explain orally and then support them sentence by sentence until they feel successful.
I think there is great value in preparing student to read. Activating prior knowledge, introducing vocabulary often help students better understand what they will read. For some books, teaching about the time period or setting is also crucial to understanding. Class discussions often uncover knowledge or questions about which students had not previously thought. As in the example given, since the student wasn’t familiar with the word variable, the lesson held no meaning for that student. There were probably other students who had forgotten the term and needed to review it. There are times when something that a teacher didn’t anticipate occurs and those are often the best “teachable” moments. When this has happened to me, I’ve stopped the lesson and explained what was not clear. I would rather have my lesson take longer than planned and have it be meaningful, than to just continue while students sit in the room confused.
ReplyDeleteTo prepare my students to read, I always go over vocabulary first. It is difficult to understand when there are unfamiliar vocabulary words. I also discuss the title, cover picture any pictures in the book. We make predictions based on the pictures. If a story takes place during a particular time period, I would have a discussion about it so that students have a better understanding of the story.
Treasure Hunt-I like the treasure hunt idea. I can use this with many of my students. The younger ones need to be introduced to these terms and know where to find things in a book. My older students need to understand the terms and structure of a book written in English.
Questioning the Author- This activity would be great for my students. I love how it makes the students think critically because developing higher order thinking skills are important. I like the idea of putting students in pairs for this activity. Rereading a text is an important skill that students often don’t want to do because it takes time. Questioning the author forces the students to reread which is an important skill.
Skimming- This is also a very important skill, especially when students the task is time sensitive. Some students get caught up in detail and skimming will allow them to focus on the main ideas and what is being asked. I would caution students that skimming is not always appropriate and have discussions about when it can be useful.
Building Concepts- I agree that building concepts is important. In the example given, the students were just memorizing how to set up a decimal problem and didn’t understand the actual concept of decimals. If they were asked about place value in decimals they wouldn’t know how to do it. It is important that students know the concepts so that they can apply them to other situations. Skills can be memorized and used for the moment and then forgotten.
Building concepts - I really liked this lesson. As Patty pointed out, there are definitely times when we think the kids 'have it' when in reality they don't. I liked the way she set a purpose for learning decimals, money. batting average, etc.
ReplyDeleteI also like the 'during reading' activity where the kids use a post-it to write down connections or thoughts while they are reading. Kids love to use post-its and they can take a chance and not feel pressure about what they are writing. The goal here is concepts, not spelling and grammar.
~Gigi
QTA - I love this technique. It forces the students to slow down, digest and THINK while they are reading. When students are not thoughtful, they just plow thru the text and do not fully digest what they are reading. I think this lesson is beneficial to all students. In fact, I used this phrase/technique with my daughter recently. She was beginning a new novel and stopped and asked me for help b/c she was confused. (Thank you for monitoring your reading!!!!) We went through the first few pages together and I kept asking her, "Why did the author say ......?" "Oh, b/c he is probably poor" etc. It was effective and helped her get over the beginning hump of starting a new book. Thanks! ~gigi
ReplyDeletePreparing Students to Read:
ReplyDeleteThis is an essential step in the reading process. It is when you set the stage and anchor students vinto what is going to happen next. It also helps the students understand what they are going to read. Some pre-reading activities I have used are, KWL charts, mini lessons that focus on a specific strategy, discussion of pictures, charts, graphs, and previewing vocabulary, title of chapters to predict what they will be about.
Questioning the Author:
I have not use this strategy but believe that it would be a great way to engage my weak readers. It would help them to think about their reading and help self-monitor themselves. It is a good way to practice and learn inferential reading skills.
Building Concepts:
This is an important concept. Too often students just memorize information for specific tests and then the information is forgotten, especially with weaker students. By building concepts students internalize the information and then can access them when needed.
Laurie, it's true that building their background knowledge or pre teaching certain content is so helpful to students. I like the skimming the text for the US and Canada book too. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMarsha, sounds like you use a type of anticipation guide as an introduction to a topic. I love having students answer key questions and they check their answers when done reading the topic. Thanks for sharing.
Laura, I agree that the QTA lesson could definitely be started whole group and then differentiate from there. You have a nice selection of building background prior to reading. Thanks for sharing.
Patty, that's an interesting story about the decimals. It would be interesting to see how their understanding changes after some direct instruction on concepts. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteKaren, I really love the idea of teaching grammar and spelling in an individualized way -- sounds like that was a great approach to teaching grammar. I agree the more connected the student feels to the learning, the better they do. Thanks for sharing.
Gigi, I love You Tube and Teacher Tube for accessing prior knowledge -- you're right the kids love it. I agree that QtA really brings the student's attention to what the author is doing and trying to say. Thanks for sharing.
Edwina, I agree that the QtA helps students read small chunks - definitely helps struggling readers. I like the idea of having them write in their journal as a response to understanding concepts -- it shows what they know and do not know.
Lisa, what a good point about having the lesson take longer as long as the students have more understanding. I agree that QtA encourages students to reread what they have read -- such an important skills. Thanks for sharing.
Michelle, sounds like you have a variety of strategies to use for building background knowledge. It is so important to do prior to reading. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletePreparing Students to Read – I think having students activate their prior knowledge before reading gives students a strong platform to take off from. I have noticed when students activate their prior knowledge before reading, they retaining the information better. I also find it clears up a lot of questions students have throughout reading and it creates a better fluency. One strategy I use to prepare students to read is to have them look at the cover, the title, the back of the book, and flip through the pages. Sometimes I ask students who struggle with vocabulary to read through the glossary. After they preview the book, I ask students to think about what they already know about the topic. They turn and tell their partners what they already know and then we share as a class.
ReplyDeleteQuestioning the Author – I think this lesson is a great idea! I would differentiate it to use with my whole class. I think every student would benefit from this lesson.
Building Concepts – I agree with Robb about building concepts and not just testing skills. I have found many students understand how to perform a skill but do not understand the concepts behind it. For example, I recently taught my fourth graders how to multiply multi-digit numbers. Students knew how to multiply but didn’t realize the whole concept behind it. They would put a ‘0’ as a place holder, but didn’t understand the ‘0’ was there because we were now multiplying the digit in the tens place. I really like Robb’s lesson, however, I do think it would be very time consuming.
Week 2:
ReplyDeleteI think it is very valuable to prepare students to read. I often discuss difficult vocabulary or concepts prior to reading to support the various reading levels of students in my class. When I prepare the students, it really helps to familiarize the students with a topic. I find that they are more interested because they are less intimidated with the subject and can make more connections to the reading.
Textbook Treasure hunt
I think this lesson can be used with the whole class at first, and then used later to differentiate for the weaker readers. I think it is a valuable lesson for the class but will take several lessons where the QtA is modeled. I like the idea of pairing students; I can really address a student’s needs with flexible grouping. I also think students can later use this technique to self-montior their comprehension.
Skimming a Text – This lesson is a strategy I do with my students weekly in our Social Studies textbook. It really helps students understand what they are about to read plus they can always refer back to an information section of the text. I love it!
Building Concepts- Robb says that teaching concepts is important because it will help increase student memory and application of new concept. It is also important for student connection to this new concept. I agree with Robb because students sometimes try to hide when they don’t understand a new concept. I usually check comprehension by giving the students a quick exit slip, but now I try this lesson. I like the lesson on Building Concepts because I think it will help build understanding of a unit of study. For example, in Social Studies we are discussing the concept of climate and vegetation in North America and their effect on people. This topic is very broad for students. This strategy may help students will seeing the “big picture.”
~Ally :)
Margaret, I likek the idea of turn and tell when building background. It's true the building concepts can be time consuming -- but may be worth it for really challenging concepts. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAlly, I love the skimming the text and textbook treasure hunt for the social studies unit. I like your idea of having them work in partners. It's what you say that students will sometimes hide that they do not understand a concept -- building concepts might help with that. Thanks for sharing.
I never assume my students have background knowledge. Before we start a story we talk about the time period, we talk about the places or topic they’ll be reading about. I feel very strongly that tapping into their prior knowledge leads to a better understanding for the students. I love when they say, “oh we talked about that!” I really like the form, Reflections on my Test Performance. My students will come to me complaining about their grades in various classes. I think this would be a great self -reflective tool to use.
ReplyDeleteThe Textbook Treasure Hunt is so valuable. I begin the year with my 7th graders doing this with their Science and Social Studies books. It is amazing how little they know about the parts of a book and how to find the information they need. Sometimes with my intensive group I will review this lesson before mid-terms and finals. It helps them complete the review sheets and study if they know how to navigate the books.
Questioning the Author – I love this. I find this helps my weak readers understand the text more. I like the idea of posting these questions. I also like the list she includes; it splits up the overall question into bits that they can handle. I am introducing skimming the text to my 5th & 6th graders. I’m starting by using a strategy I called “say it on the side” which is writing 2-4 words that will remind them what the section is about. I know several teachers use this strategy as well. Eventually I’ll couple this with recognizing the key words in the questions. I like how she explains that even noticing quotation marks is a way to help skim.
I never assume that my students have the appropriate background knowledge on a topic either. I like the scaffolding approach to building new ideas and information from the bottom up. Before we read or discuss a topic we always start with something to assess prior knowledge. This allows me to modify the lesson as needed depending on what the students already know. Sometimes I like to do a jigsaw activity to allow the students to research main ideas we will be reading about and discuss as a group. I find this to be very valuable because the students can share their information as well as their ideas on the topic to teach their classmates.
ReplyDeleteTextbook Treasure Hunt: I do not use a science textbook in 6th grade for 2 reasons- first of all, there is not one textbook that contains all of the varied 6th grade topics in a single book. This makes it difficult for the students to store. Secondly, I find that elementary textbooks either have too little content information, or they are too difficult for 6th graders to read. I also agree with Laurie that highlighting skills are important, so I prefer to photocopy pages, or write my own notes for the students to practice their highlighting skills. I have used the textbook treasure hunt in Math though, which I found to be very helpful. Even the basics- such as understanding how to use the index is an important skill for students to learn.
Skimming the text: I find this to be an important strategy for a few reasons. I often use this method with students after I have taught a particular topic. For example: in science, we are studying the layers of the earth. After the lesson, I had the students review the information we discussed by using a reading packet to answer key questions from the lesson. Since the packet was rather lengthy, one of the skills we focused on was skimming the text to review. I also think this is a good idea in the beginning of the lesson to preview what new information will be learned.
Questioning the Author: I love this as well. I agree that this will help weaker readers understand the information in the text better. I like how the question can be broken down into simpler parts for students. I think I would like to utilize this more in the classroom
Week 2: I have found that the children require prior readings in preparation for lessons. Therefore, I feel it is a valuable tool to prepare the children before actually teaching a new unit of study; especially in social studies. At the start of each of my social studies units, I try to have an open discussion to allow the children to brainstorm their ideas. I used to use a KWL chart, but I found that to be too consuming and not as beneficial with the time spent waiting for the children to respond. Therefore, I found that this “popcorn” of ideas allows a free-style conversation and invites more of my students to take risks to get involved. As for concepts in math, I tend to give a short worksheet at the start of a unit that they were supposed to have mastered in the previous year. This allows me to re-vamp my lessons to truly address the concepts. I have learned that I cannot assume mastery of a given concept from a previous year.
ReplyDeleteTextbook Treasure Hunt: This sounds like a great activity. In my grade we do not use a lot of textbooks as the reading levels are too sophisticated for many, but I think I will have to find a way to incorporate this strategy into my repertoire of teaching.
Questioning the Author: I think these suggestions of questioning the author were a great tool to isolate a given paragraph or selection from a reading. However, when I ask the children to try to decide why the author chose to share this or that, I find I need to watch when asking the children too may pin-pointing questions. I am constantly evoking conversations with the children to explain their feelings upon why authors made this character have a certain trait and to explore the relationships amongst the other characters. I think the children need to know that an author writes with a given purpose and as readers, it is our job to locate these techniques and writer’s craft.
Skimming Text: WOW! This is a very challenging skill to teach to the children. I have found it very important to teach the children how to highlight text, rather than color it! I think the other problem is that the reading level of a lot of reference material is often challenging for many of the students.
Building Concepts: Robb stresses how it is important for concepts to be taught and applied to different situations. I feel that many of the children become like robots and merely memorize information without making the commitment to understand the concepts. I love when the children tell me that their parents or someone else taught them a different method, especially with traditional double digit multiplication. I am all for short-cut, but if a student truly understands the concept of multiplication then they would be able to transfer that knowledge of place value into solving multiplication problems with a method known as partial-product. When time is not such a constraint, I try to give quick little exit slips on index cards at the close of a concept. Working with the everyday Mathematic programs does provide an ongoing re-cursive method of concepts, which is quite beneficial to my students.
I think preparing the students to read is essential in order to determine & build background knowledge, set a purpose for reading, and to begin making predictions. As a first grade reading teacher, I never begin a guided reading story without previewing the text. I find that applying pre-reading strategies makes the actual reading of the text much less laborious for my AIS readers.
ReplyDeleteThe Textbook Treasure Hunt looks like a great lesson to help familiarize students with textbook features. Students can apply their critical thinking skills by moving beyond just identifying these features; instead they have to utilize these features in order to complete an activity. I would like to try this activity in the spring with my first graders by focusing on one feature at a time.
I think Questioning the Author is a great strategy which all students can benefit from. What a great way to encourage rereading and to promote peer discussions!
Skimming is such an important skill and this lesson reminds us how important it is to model and practice & model and practice until students can successfully implement this strategy on their own.
The Building Concepts lesson is helpful because all students vary in their background knowledge and concept development. This lesson is a nice way to scaffold learning for the weaker students and to deepen understanding for all learners.
I am also a strong believer in helping children access prior knowledge and sharing that knowledge with each other. I oftentimes use a KWL chart for this purpose. Sometimes before reading a text, like historical fiction, I might do a quick mini research to help students gain a little prior background knowledge so they can more fully understand the text. I have used a cooperative learning jigsaw technique for this prupose and it has been quite successful. The kids also like becoming experts and teaching and learning from one another.
ReplyDeleteI think it is so important to prepare students for the new knowledge, particularly in social studies and science, by helping them access prior knowledge.
I love the idea of the Textbook Treasure Hunt also Kim. Maybe we can work together creating creating an activity using this technique.
I love questioning the author as a way to get students to really think and look inside the text.
I really feel that skimming is a great tool, but I am not sure fourth graders are sophisticated enough in thier decoding to be able to do this successfully. I do have students write in the margin, or use post its if we are in a book, and jot 2 to 3 words that tell the main idea of the paragraph. Then they can skim through their own notes to locate an answer. i am also big on underlining the key words in the questions and focusing their skimming on looking for those key words. These are study skills that we need to work on and continue to work on to help studnts develop and refine these strategies.