Name of Strategy: Conversations Across Time
Source: Greece Central School District
Description and how implemented: This strategy can be used before, during, and after reading instruction but I focused on using this strategy before. This strategy provides a way to compare and contrast different perspectives and opinions on the same topic. For example, the center square on the diagram can include themes, essential questions, social issues or historical events. The site focuses on using this strategy for the question “Is the world a fair and just place?” and used characters from books for discussion. The last quadrant is for students to answer the question based on life experiences.
Standard Course of Study addressed: 8th grade Competency Goal 1 & 5
How the strategy will work: When students can compare and contrast information from one or more texts, they can make text-to-text connections, text-to-self, and/or text-to-world connections. This strategy will develop critical thinking skills and expand thinking and understanding of the world around them.
Name of Strategy: Anticipation Guide
Source: Greece Central School District
Description and how implemented: Again, this strategy can be used before, during, and after reading instruction. If all level readers, especially struggling readers, can go into “anticipation mode” when beginning a book then it may provide the “hook” to draw them into the book. Anticipation Guides are designed with a series of statements where the student can either agree or disagree using prior knowledge or the essential questions posed by the writer of the book. Anticipation Guides are again revisited after reading the text and students will either defend or support their opinions with specific examples from the book.
Standard Course of Study addressed: 8th grade Competency Goal 3 & 4
How the strategy will work: This strategy will help students not just see a book as a book, but will enable readers to understand the need to examine the entire contents of the book and anticipate essential questions from the text. Or, students can focus on prior knowledge that they may bring to the text.
Name of Strategy: Interactive Notebook
Source: Greece Central School District
Description and how implemented: This isn’t interactive as you might expect. This strategy requires no technology and simply uses a notebook with pages designated for different purposes to condense or summarize ideas from one or more texts, distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information, compare/contrast information from one or more texts, and make text-to-text, text-to-self, and/or text-to-world connections. The left side of the notebook is used to record student’s individual interaction with the information on the right side. A great example is provided in the link above.
Standard Course of Study addressed: 8th grade Competency Goal 2, 3, & 5
How the strategy will work: Just like a graphic organizer, the interactive notebook can provide an organized way for students to use information.
Name of Strategy: Sociograms
Source: Greece Central School District
http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/
Reading/Reading%20Strategies/sociograms.htm
Description and how implemented: A sociogram provides a visual representation of the relationships among characters in a literary text. Before reading strategies include using sociograms to help students understand the relationships among characters. During the lesson, students can add to or revise sociograms to illustrate the changing relationships, the traits or each character, and the emerging primary and secondary conflicts of the story. Click on the link below to see an example:
http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Reading/Readi
ng%20Strategies/hamletmodell.PDF
Standard Course of Study addressed: 8th grade Competency Goal 2, 4, &5
How the strategy will work: The sociogram will provide a visual of the story and bring to life the relationships between characters and main characters. A visual representation gives students another way to “look at” the information from the story.
Name of Strategy: R.A.F.T. (Role, Audience, Format, Topic)
Source: Greece Central School District
http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Re
ading/Reading%20Strategies/RAFT.htm
Description and how implemented: RAFTS are designed specifically for the objective at hand. Click here for an example of a RAFT for 9th grade students to facilitate their reading of Steinbeck’s, The Pearl.
http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Reading/Re
ading%20Strategies/RAFTsample.doc
RAFT can be used for fiction or nonfiction texts and integrates reading and writing in a nontraditional way.
Standard Course of Study addressed: 8th grade Competency Goal 1
How the strategy will work: The RAFT method takes a novel and adds depth. Students will be able to analyze and interpret elements of character development.
May 31, 2008 at 1:06 am |
Hi Katie,
I noted the Sociogram reading strategy too. It seems an excellent yet non-traditional way to get students thinking about what they are reading.
Tiffany
May 31, 2008 at 2:30 am |
Katie,
I really like the anticipation guide that you mentioned. It sounds like something that could be really useful. Having the students think about what they are going to encounter in the text will be a good way to get them to pay more attention to the text itself. They will be reading to see if what they thought is right. Good Strategy.
Mandy Jennings
May 31, 2008 at 3:14 am |
That’s a good strategy to look at.