When delving into a new topic, be it science or social studies, sometimes the hardest part can be the vocabulary. Academic vocabulary can be difficult, because these are words we don’t use every day and are often large and complicated. But what if I told you there was a strategy that not only activates students’ prior knowledge on the content area, but also engages and develops their ability to utilize context clues, root words and affixes, as well as their knowledge about parts of speech and sentence structure to predict the meaning of words? Not only this, but students can also become more engaged while learning these vocabulary words, as they are eager to see if their predictions are correct. All of this is possible with a strategy called Possible Sentences, in which students will attempt to construct sentences utilizing vocabulary they are likely unfamiliar with.
Getting Creative With Word Walls
Most primary classes include word walls. One of the great things about word walls is that they are so diverse. You can make them with sight words/high-frequency words to academic vocabulary or stationary word walls to interactive and portable word walls. This video is going to demonstrate and showcase some unique and interesting word walls to inspire you to create your own or to model one of them in your own home or classroom. Just remember, a good word wall is one that is part of daily instruction and a tool that can be used by students. They can be themed, evolve over time, or there can be multiple word walls in a classroom. To get your mind going, do not limit your word wall to English Language Arts; can you think about how to use one for maths or the sciences?
The “Process Drama” Strategy
Process Drama is the technical term for dramatizing written prose when it meets the following criteria: the text must be spontaneously role-played out, the teacher creates the dramatic ‘hook,’ and the students have specific roles that are found within the text. For example, in the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, students could take on the roles of Ponyboy and Johnny during and after major events: before the rumble, after the rumble, in the abandoned church, and in the hospital, for example. Students would ask the characters questions after the scene and learn more about context and subtext: motivations, feelings, perspective, and dramatic irony. This activity works well for students of all age levels from Pre-Kindergarten through to Grade Twelve and can be used with English Language Learners. It is best used to get a deep perspective into specific, pivotal, or rememberable plot points within the text. It requires students to understand the text in order to ask appropriate question, so it is best used in Novel Studies or Social Studies where students have prerequisite knowledge of the material. It is a good tool for instruction on Oral Language, Comprehension, and Content Areas. For tips and pointers see the workshop video.
Choral Reading
Choral reading is a common strategy predominantly used in primary classrooms, and with English Language Learners (ELL). This strategy helps students to develop oral language skills, student comprehension, and student fluency. Choral reading is best used for poems or short stories. This strategy is effective for developing expression and fluency in the students’ reading. Choral reading is also very beneficial for struggling readers, as they feel their voice can be drowned out amongst the other students. There are a few ways to best execute choral reading. It can be done as a whole class activity with all students reading together or all together with specific students reading small portions of the book or poem. Another method is to have students in small groups responsible for a section of the story or poem. Four arrangements to have students do this suggested in “50 Literary Strategies” are echo reading, leader and chorus reading, small-group reading, and cumulative reading. These will be discussed further in the video to follow. They key element of choral reading is repetition. Students will rehearse the words they are reading many times during the reading, or in practice to read aloud to the class.
How to Muster Some Clusters!
The strategy that our workshop is based on is clusters, which is a web-like diagram that can be used to brainstorm and organize ideas. This strategy is great for grades ranging from 3 to 12, as it can be adjusted for different learning levels. There are two types of clusters, organized and unorganized. Organized clusters contain a few big ideas branching off of a main idea that is in the center, with more information branching off of those big ideas. An unorganized cluster involves a main idea in the center with numerous ideas branching off of the main idea. These clusters can be used individually, in groups, or as a whole class and are an effective strategy because they help students visualize their ideas in a fun, engaging way. This strategy also allows students to practice their vocabulary, writing, and thinking skills. In order to find out how to implement this strategy in your own classroom, watch our engaging and informative video!
Guided Reading
The Guided Reading Strategy is a highly engaging activity for students PreK to Grade 2. Guided Reading is a strategy where small groups of children sit with a teacher and read a book to themselves. This strategy is only used for small groups of children as it requires special attention to each member of the group. The teacher selects the appropriate books and before starting the activity will talk about the book with the group. This is an individual activity and not an activity that has students share their reading. The teachers role is to help the students decode words, deal with sentence structure and comprehend ideas presented in the text if they are struggling. This strategy helps create an interactive lesson as teachers tend to create 3 to 4 different groups completing different activities while the one group is completing the guided reading. Guided Reading is a great way to provide one on one skill building with your students and assess their reading and comprehension levels.
ALPHABET BOOKS!
Words are structured by letters like how teaching lessons are structured by the basics, as the basics are what make up everything we learn. With that being said, wouldn’t it be easy to wrap up that thematic unit with something simple as just using the basics? That’s where Alphabet Books come into play. The Alphabet Book strategy is as simple as getting your students to choose a letter and make a connection to the theme with a word that starts with that letter. This activity gets the brain thinking and making connections by expanding their vocabulary and using their writing skills and more. It is great for students grades 3-8 and has so many options for ways to teach it. This strategy is a project that uses a collection of words and pictures representing each letter; this can then be made simple for a younger grade like using small phrases to explain the words, or can be more complex for older grades and challenge students to expand their vocabulary and write dense sentences and/ or paragraphs to explain their thought process. Overall it gives students multiple, meaningful experiences with the topic words that are used to make this alphabet book. If this is something that interests you, it is suggested to take a look at this video as it explains all that the alphabet books has to offer and more about when and where to use them!
Plot Profiles
This strategy, designed for grade 3 to grade 8, focuses on reading comprehension. This strategy is best used as a tool when reading a book to discuss a novel. It is important to note that this particular strategy is intended for chapter books, not picture books. Plot profiles are best used to discuss the different conflicts in chapter books or other complex stories. Students can use a graph to track tension points throughout the chapters, and after use a reading log to discuss their findings. Once students have read the entire novel and completed their plot profiling, they participate in a grand conversation with the teacher and the class. This strategy encompasses two other strategies once completing the plot profiling. These strategies are: reading logs and grand conversations. Therefore, this strategy contains UDL because it includes multiple ways for students to understand what is happening throughout the course of the novel.
Prereading Plan (PReP)
This is a great strategy that improves learning for all students by increasing the understanding of the content they read. It activates and helps you to build additional knowledge before students read. PReP has simple steps to put into action and will engage all your students. It helps you to assess students’ prior knowledge that will inform you of the level of guidance they need from you. PReP is more effective when performed with children in grades 6 – 8 and it is implemented before they read informational books or chapters from textbooks. If your goal is to help your students or children boost their vocabulary, reading comprehension and metacognitive strategies, watch the following presentation to learn more details about how to assist them on becoming lifelong learners.
Sketch-to-Stretch
Sketch to stretch is a process that allows students to tap into criteria and information they have learned previously. They use their prior knowledge to connect to the topic at hand. With this strategy students are able to express their understanding of the text that is read by drawing out their thought process and by illustrating their ideas. Students are able to be creative with their work and express how they interpret the text by using lines, shapes, colors, symbols and words to display their feelings. Students are first collaborating with their classmates and discussing their ideas, generating insight and extending their understanding. From there students gather their thoughts and start to develop concepts of their own in an individual setting. With this strategy elementary students are assessed on their creative ability along with the detail provided. Students are encouraged to provide illustrations and text that better explain their understanding of the concept. The benefit of this strategy is that it can be adapted to almost any subject that is taught, also teachers can adapt this strategy in many other ways. Such as have the drawer remain silent and have the other students interpret the drawing and then compare their interpretations. This activity can be a fun way to encourage different styles of learning such as students who learn through visualizing or students who learn information through lecture and participating in group discussions such as auditory learners.