Top Ten Strategies 6, 7, and 8

Quick Write in Journals

            Journals are a great tool to use as an assessment. I would like my students to compose a quick write of two to three sentences at the end of each day of what they have learned or what they have a question about. The quick write can also be used at the beginning of the class to brainstorm and make predictions about what the text is about. I plan on taking the journals up once a week and reading through them to gauge the students comprehension of the materials. This quick assessment will be graded on participation and not on grammar and structure.

Activate Prior Knowledge

            Activate prior knowledge is a great tool to use for reading comprehension. This strategy can be used by the whole class as a discussion at the beginning of a unit or chapter in the text.  Activating Prior Knowledge is important because it helps students make connections to the new information they will be learning.  By tapping into what students already know, teachers can assist students with the learning process. Strong readers constantly try to make sense out of what they read by seeing how it fits with what they already know. When we help students make those connections before, during, and after they read, we are teaching them a critical comprehension strategy that the best readers use almost unconsciously. This strategy is great to use with KWL charts and graphic organizers before, during, and after the reading process. I imagine using this strategy quite a bit when presenting new material in the classroom. Help the students make connections to what they are reading is key in this strategy.

Word Wall

            The word wall is a great tool to help students comprehend what they are reading. Vocabulary from the text will be displayed on the wall at the beginning of the lesson. The word wall will be added to as the students get further in the text, or some of the words will come down, as students master those words. The word wall is also a great tool to help build students vocabulary as they are reading. This tool can also be used when learning parts of the body, atomic structure, and other visual materials that the students will need to learn in science. I plan on using this when learning the structure of a cell. When using vocabulary, sometimes it is easier to relate a picture to the meaning of the word. This strategy will be especially helpful for my ELL students