Instructional Strategies Assignment Part I

Instructional Strategies Assignment Part I

RE 5730

Carol Holt

1. Strategy: I Poetry

Kucan, L. (2007). "i" poems: invitations for students to deepen literary understanding. The Reading Teacher, 60(6), 518-524.

Frye, B. (2009). Instructional framework. Retrieved from framework_09.dc

To use the I Poetry strategy, students need to read a text or texts to obtain informationon a given topic. Students use a graphic organizer to sort the information into specific categories. Students utilize the template for an “I am” poem which provides the beginning of sentences only. Students use the information they previously gather to “fill in the blanks” to complete the sentences. Writing I Poems after reading informational text is a creative strategy to help students reveal what they learned about a particular topic or character. Using this type of writing also helps students remember and understand ideas better, because they select textual information, put it into their own words, and use the ideas within a framework.

I Poetry can be used in the classroom to record and retain factual information. This strategy works well for biographies and nonfiction text in Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. The fact that students work with and manipulate text in a meaningful way with this strategy helps them to remember information better. I Poetry can assist students in gaining a greater understanding of newly learned information.

1. Strategy: KWL

Vacca, R. (2002). Content area learning: literacy and learning across the curriculum. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

To use the KWL strategy,introduce the topic to be read, and identify what students know about the topic. Record everything the students think they know about the subject in the K column. Next, students brainstorm a list of student questions and record student responses in the W column. Have the students read an informational text. When they learn something new about the topic, the teacher adds the information to the L column. Review each column on the KWL chart beginning with the K column. Point out any student information in the K column that may not be true. Review student questions in the W column. Discuss the questions that were not answered and those that were answered and recorded in the L column. Discuss any other facts that the students learned.

The KWL strategy can be used in the classroom to help students activate prior knowledge, organize and comprehend new information. Good readers comprehend by relating what they are reading to what they already know. Once the students have completed a KWL chart with the teacher, they can try to use this strategy with teacher guidance as needed. For students who have experienced the KWL strategy a number of times, they can use the strategy to support their independent reading. Give students copies of a KWL chart. Show them how they can complete the K and L columns, silently read a text, confirm and disconfirm information in the K column, answer questions in the W column, and write down what they learned in the L column. The KWL strategy can strengthen students' silent reading comprehension when used in this way.

1. Strategy: Making Notes with a Graphic Representation

Vacca, R. (2002). Content area learning: literacy and learning across the curriculum. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Making notes with a graphic representation is strategy for improving reading comprehension. For this strategy, students use two columns on an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper. The left column is used for summarizing information into brief notes. The left column is used to illustrate each note. Making notes with a graphic representation is a useful strategy for improving comprehension of text that is read, because when students summarize important information and draw a picture to go along with the note, they have manipulated the text in such a thoughtful way that it is better understood.

Because it lends itself for use with nonfiction text, this strategy is useful when reading texts about animals, places and famous people in history. It can be a beneficial strategy in the Language Arts, Science and Social Studies content areas. Students who use this reading strategy can maximize their comprehension of text, identify and summarize relevant information and remember new ideas effectively by their artistic representations.

1. Strategy: Getting the Gist

Getting the Gist is the ability to summarize the most important idea in written text. Summarizing skills promote greater comprehension by asking students to analyze text extracting what is essential, and then putting it in their own words. The Gist strategy is a summarizing strategy that can be used for any content area.

In the classroom, the teacher should first model summarization techniques by identifying the key concepts. Once students are shown how to get the gist in a passage, they try using this strategy with the aide of the teacher is necessary. Eventually, students should use this strategy independently.

1. Strategy: Bubble Map for Character Traits

Hyerle, D. (1995). Thinking maps: tools for learning. Innovative Learning Group.

A Bubble Map, also referred to as a Character Map, is a graphic organizer used for describing characteristics, using adjectives, and studying character traits. It is an effective assessment tool for teachers to use to see what knowledge students have gained after reading. For students, bubble maps help to construct knowledge.

After reading in the classroom, bubble maps may be distributed to students to describe the traits of an animal in a nonfiction text or the main character in a fictional text. Bubble maps can be used at the beginning of a school year by asking students to write their name in the center bubble. In the outside bubbles, students are asked to write words that describe themselves and their personality traits. Students can share their character traits as a way to introduce themselves and learn about their classmates. This activity is a valid introduction for using bubble maps. This strategy can be applied to student reading. After reading, students can use a bubble map to describe a fictional character or use adjectives to describe a real animal that they read about such as dinosaur characteristics. Students can write a summary paragraph using the information on their bubble maps.

1. Strategy: Double Bubble Map to Compare and Contrast

Hyerle, D. (1995). Thinking maps: tools for learning. Innovative Learning Group.

The Double Bubble Map is a tool for comparing people, food, ideas, and many different types of things. Students can use a Double Bubble Thinking Map to compare and contrast information from reading passages in the same way that they would use a Venn diagram. This graphic organizer helps students identify and analyze similarities and differences for two things being investigated.

For example, students write the names of two characters in the two larger center circles they want to compare and contrast. In the middle bubbles, students write words describing how the characters are alike. In the two sets of outside bubbles, students write words that describe how the characters are different. The Double Bubble Map guides students in identifying the common qualities or properties, and in identifying the unique or different qualities of items.

1. Strategy: Alphabet Boxes

A chart called Alphabet Boxes can be used by students individually or in cooperative learning groups before, during or after reading. The goal is to try to fill in as many boxes with a word that begins with each letter of the alphabet and pertains to the reading topic.

In the classroom, Alphabet Boxes can be used before reading for students to brainstorm all they know about a topic. This chart can be used during and after reading by students filling in as many boxes as possible with words that relate to the topic. For example, for a book about snakes the students could fill in anaconda in the A box, boa constrictor for B, cotton mouth for C, and so forth. Students may list any information that they read. For example, the S box may have information pertaining to snakes like shed their skin, strike to bite, slither to move, etc.

1. Strategy: Book Jacket Report

A Book Jacket Report is an alternative to writing a traditional book report. With the book jacket report, students still respond to a book they have read by writing a summary. This strategy helps teachers assess a student’s comprehension and writing skills. For students, this strategy allows them to be creative while producing an original jacket that demonstrates their understanding of the text.

To use this strategy in the classroom, tell the students that instead of writing a traditional book report they are going to design a new book jacket for a book. The book jacket should include the title and author, illustrations, a summary and an author biography. Give the students a template to follow as a guide. Depending on the template you use, students may also include their own personal thoughts about their book as a review. Including a book jacket rubric with this assignment would help students follow specific guidelines.

1. Strategy: Sequence Chain

Pearson Achievement Solutions (2006). Sequence Chain

The Sequence Chain is a flow map used by students for sequencing and ordering information. A common and effective use for the Sequence Chain is sequencing the plot of a story. This flow map can also be used in Social Studies to show historical events in sequence, detailing the order of operations in Math and identifying life cycles in Science.

In the classroom, the Sequence Chain can contribute to the student’s ability to comprehend what they have read. Students use the Sequence Chain after reading a text to order the events of the story. Once students identify the parts of a story, they will be better able to retell it to someone else. Sequencing also helps students examine text and story structure, and can help with writing skills. This Sequence Chain not only includes six boxes for ordering the story beginning to ending, but also has boxes for the setting and characters to be listed.

1. Strategy: DRTA

Morris, D. (2008). Diagnosis and correction of reading problems. New York, N.Y.: The Guilford Press.

Directed Reading and Thinking Activity, or DRTA, is a reading comprehension strategy developed to encourage students to be active, intentional readers of texts. This group comprehension activity features predictions and questions on the story events. The DRTA strategy helps students build comprehension strategies as well as improving their skills in questioning. As students read, they generate questions for other students in the group.

To implement this strategy, I have students in a small group generate questions about the text we are reading. The students know that an "In the Text" question is a question that students can find the answer to by looking in the book that they are reading. An "In My Head" question is a question that requires students to think about or infer an answer to the question. Begin with text or book questions first, because they are easier for students. Once a student has a book question s/he should also write the answer to the question and indicate the page number where the answer can be located in the text. After reading, students are allowed to “be the teacher” and ask their book questions to the other students in the group. My students are always excited to do this activity. This strategy helps students become engaged in reading and in comprehending the text.

1. Strategy: Reader’s Theater

Morris, D. (2008). Diagnosis and correction of reading problems. New York, N.Y.: The Guilford Press.

Reader’s Theater is a great strategy to improve reading fluency. Repeated readings have been shown to improve fluency, but rereading a passage 2, 3, or 4 times can become rather boring for students. It can become boring unless the students are reading a play. Reader’s Theater engages and excites students so they do not mind rereading passages over and over.

To try Reader’s Theater, select a lay that is an appropriate reading level for the group. Some plays are designed with multiple reading levels. Make sure that the levels are correctly matched for each student. Once characters have been assigned to the students, have them read through the play initially to discover any tricky words. Read the play a second time to work on intonation. Tell the students to sound like they are talking and not reading. The students may need to reread the play to be successful with expression. Next, record the students reading the play. Finally, let the students follow along as they listen to the tape-recorded play. This usually results in many snickers and laughs when the students hear themselves on tape.