Strategy Toolbox

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Strategy Toolbox

• Kristi Philips

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Table of Contents

• Researched Based
• KWL
• THIEVES
• Text Structure Organizing
• Anticipation Guides
• Cloze Connections
• Concept Definition Mapping
• Directed Reading/Thinking Activity
• Structured Note-taking
• Retelling

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Table of Contents (cont.)

• Best Practice
• Sticky Note Snapshots
• Think-Pair-Share
• Do the BK
• Brainstorm and Sort
• Dialogue Comic Strip
• Venn Diagram
• Semantic Mapping
• Group Summarizing
• SEARCH Strategy
• Sensory Imagery

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Table of Contents (cont.)

• Original strategies
• Element Ads
• Singing Raps
• Write to a Friend
• Role Playing
• Toss the Ball

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What is a Strategy?

• A strategy is a series of flexible steps to solve
  a problem and becomes automatic.

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KWL Charts (Ogle, 1986)

• What is it?
• KWL uses three columns in which to write down
  information that we KNOW (background knowledge)
  Want to Know (establish purpose) and have
  Learned (main idea).
• Why use it?
• Helps students connect to background knowledge,
  and develops habits of summarizing, questioning,
  predicting, inferring, and figuring out word
  meaning.
• How does it work?
• Create the 3 columns on their paper and on the
  board.
• Ask the students what they know (prompt them) and
  fill in the first column.
• Ask the students what they want to know and fill
  in the second column.
• Have the students read the text.
• Have the students answer their questions from
  column 2 in column 3.

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THIEVES (Manz, 2002)

• What is it?
• An acronym that helps students go through all the
  necessary pre-reading steps Title, Headings,
  Introduction, Everything they know, Visuals, End
  of Ch. materials, and So what?.
• Why use it?
• To get students to build knowledge of the text
  even before they read it.
• How does it work?
• Tell the students We now get to become
  information thieves!. Lets try to steal as much
  information from the chapter before we read it.
• Give the students a Thieves practice form and
  model each of the 7 components Title, Headings,
  Introduction, Everything they know, Visuals, End
  of Ch. materials, and So what?.

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Text Structure Organizing (Alvermann Phelps,
2001)

• What is it?
• Looking at the title and headings of text to
  tell a reader how the author constructed the
  text.
• Why use it?
• Trains students to recognize the common forms of
  text structure, and how to pick out signal
  words.
• How does it work?
• Read a sample text.
• Students pick out signal words.
• Teachers help pick out the appropriate graphic
  organizer.
• Help the students fill in the organizer.

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Anticipation Guides(Tierney Readance, 1999)

• What is it?
• Prediction guides that activate a students prior
  knowledge and set a purpose for reading.
• Why use it?
• Serve as springboards for modifying beliefs and
  opinions about a topic.
• How does it work?
• Identify a major concept, problem or opinion.
• Create statements that question certain notions,
  beliefs or opinions and put them on a guide for
  the students.
• Students mark their responses.
• Students read the text.
• Students fill out the after reading section.
• Discussion

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Cloze Connections(Dewitz, Carr, Patberg, 1987)

• What is it?
• A strategy to show how to connect our background
  knowledge with text information to make an
  inference.
• Why use it?
• Helps students build the habit of figuring out
  vocabulary in context, and also how to make an
  inference.
• How does it work?
• Delete key words or phrases from the text.
• Have students fill in the missing words or
  phrases by looking at the rest of the text.
• Have students underline the words or phrases that
  helped them decide what was missing.
• Discuss their answers with a partner.

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Concept Definition Mapping(Schwartz, 1988)

• What is it?
• Strategy for teaching students the meaning of key
  concepts.
• Why use it?
• Helps students understand the essential
  attributes, qualities, or characteristics of a
  words meaning.
• How does it work?
• Display an example of a concept map.
• Discuss the questions that you want answered.
• Model how to use it by selecting a familiar
  example.
• Have the students make one for a familiar
  example.
• Working in pairs complete a concept map for the
  current topic.

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Directed Reading/Thinking Activity(Stauffer,
1969)

• What is it?
• Reading activity with 3 phases Predicting,
  reading, and proving.
• Why use it?
• Gives students practice in active reading skills.
  Helps them look at heading and subheading.
• How does it work?
• Students preview the assignment by looking at the
  title, subtitles, and pictures.
• Students predict what they think will happen.
• Read a portion of the assignment.
• Discuss their prediction and allow them to make
  new predictions.
• Continue until finished.

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Structured Note-taking(Smith Tompkins, 1988)

• What is it?
• Note-taking system that assists in recall and
  retention of information.
• Why use it?
• It offers students a visual framework that can
  help them determine just which information to
  include as they take notes.
• How does it work?
• Instruct the students as to which type of
  organization the author used.
• Model the note-taking process for your students.
• Assign a passage from the text for the students
  to take notes over.
• Give them an organizer the first few times and
  then have them create their own.
• Share their information with a partner.

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Retelling(Gambrell, Koskinen, Kapinus, 1991)

• What is it?
• Strategy where the student is responsible for
  retelling what they remember from the story.
• Why use it?
• It prepares students for real-life tasks such as
  selecting , organizing, and conveying important
  information.
• How does it work?
• The students are provided with a copy of a story
  map to guide comprehension.
• The story is read.
• Students are asked to retell the story if they
  are unable to remember a part, the teacher may
  ask a question to cue recall.
• The retelling may be taped to further grade the
  assignment.

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Sticky note Snapshots

• What is it?
• Visualizing activity using sticky notes.
• Why use it?
• It allows students to move the images while at
  the same time creating them to meet the needs of
  the text. I also develops inferring, predicting
  and summarizing skills.
• How does it work?
• Tell your students to draw pictures on the sticky
  notes as they read a section of the text.
• May include a brief description on back of note.
• When everyone is finished have them put them on a
  poster board and explain their pictures.

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ThinkPair-Share

• What is it?
• Quick verbal interaction between 2 students that
  allows them to process the content being learned.
• Why use it?
• Pushes students to organize thoughts well enough
  to communicate them with a peer.
• How does it work?
• Create a prompt to get the students to use their
  background knowledge.
• Students think silently and prepare what they
  will say.
• Share with their partner.
• Share what their partner said with the rest of
  the class.

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Do the BK

• What is it?
• Kinesthetic way to build background knowledge for
  a text.
• Why use it?
• Research shows that learners connect to
  experiences that they have seen or done
  themselves.
• How does it work?
• Choose an idea, process, or section from the
  text.
• Create ways to act out an idea (miming,
  gesturing).
• Do the motions as you explain the idea you are
  conveying.
• Have the students also act out the idea as you
  lead them.

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Brainstorm and Sort

• What is it?
• Pre-reading activity to get various ideas from
  the students about the topic.
• Why use it?
• Exposes students to a wide range of collective
  background knowledge that will help connect to
  the new topic. Used for building classifying and
  categorizing skills.
• How does it work?
• Teacher prompts the students to start discussing
  the topic.
• Accept all student responses.
• Write all ideas on the board.
• Ask students to start sorting the ideas into
  categories.
• Create a semantic map and allow the students to
  use it as a note-taking sheet.

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Dialogue Comic Strip

• What is it?
• Comic strips are created to help students
  summarize and infer concepts or topics.
• Why use it?
• Sometimes topics are confusing or difficult to
  understand until they are used in a funny way.
• How does it work?
• Model the process of creating funny conversations
  between animals, or even between 2 numbers in
  math.
• Have the students come up with some of their own
  comic strips that relate to the topic being
  covered.
• Share their comic strip with a partner and then
  with the class.

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Venn Diagram

• What is it?
• Visual representation used to compare and
  contrast books, or principles.
• Why use it?
• Students can visually see the areas that are
  common to both items.
• How does it work?
• Draw 2 interconnecting circles.
• Read the assignment.
• Complete the diagram.
• Share their diagrams and explain their thinking.

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Semantic Mapping

• What is it?
• Visual tool that helps readers activate and draw
  on prior knowledge, recognize important concepts,
  and see relationships.
• Why use it?
• Some students understand a concept better when
  they can visually see how everything fits
  together.
• How does it work?
• Write the subject in the middle of the board.
• Think of words that relate to the subject.
• Students write these words down and categorize
  them.
• Students share their maps with the class.

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Group Summarizing

• What is it?
• Students categorize information into groups to
  better understand the reading assignment.
• Why use it?
• Helps students review and remember information.
  Requires students to distinguish between key
  concepts and subordinate ideas and condense
  information.
• How does it work?
• Students survey a text passage to identify major
  topics.
• Divide paper into 4 parts with headings (provides
  purpose).
• Read the text.
• Record information under each heading in complete
  sentences.
• Develop class summaries.

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Search Strategy

• What is it?
• Activity used to research a topic. The topic
  should have a focus or a question to be answered.
• Why use it?
• Stimulates students to find answers to questions
  they have generated from their reading. It will
  mean more to them if they try to answer their own
  questions.
• How does it work?
• Select a topic.
• Establish what students know, think they know,
  and want to know.
• Ask questions to raise curiosity and to challenge
  students.
• Read resource material.
• Come together like scholars to share.
• Have a large group discussion.

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Sensory Imagery

• What is it?
• Imagining what something looks like, smells like,
  feels like, even tastes like to help students
  connect new information to prior knowledge.
• Why use it?
• Comprehension, recall, and retention can be
  enhanced through sensory imaging while reading.
• How does it work?
• Select a passage of text.
• Read the passage aloud as the students follow
  along.
• Stop and ask students to imagine the scene.
• Select another passage and have students share
  their images.
• Reinforce the use of this strategy during
  independent reading.

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Element Ads (original)

• What is it?
• Student created advertisement to sell their
  element.
• Why use it?
• Students will be more interested in learning
  about the different elements if they have a
  reason to learn the characteristics.
• How does it work?
• Students (with a partner) each draw an element
  out of the hat.
• Read and research their element.
• Create a new product to sell to the class.
• Perform their advertisement in front of the
  class.

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Singing Raps (original)

• What is it?
• Using student created rap songs to remember
  various laws and principles in science.
• Why use it?
• Students remember topics better the more they
  work with them. By writing the lyrics to a song
  they spend a lot of time working with the idea.
  They also like to create their own beat and
  rhythm.
• How does it work?
• Give the students a law or principle to describe.
• Have them create the lyrics to a song.
• Add background beats and rhythms.

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Write to a Friend

• What is it?
• Writing activity that students to explain what
  they read by writing a letter to a friend.
• Why use it?
• Students are more comfortable talking to a friend
  and by using this type of writing activity, they
  will put their learning into their own words.
• How does it work?
• Students read a section of their book.
• Write a letter to a friend in the class
  explaining what they learned from the section and
  asking their friends any questions that they
  might have.
• Share their letters.
• Write a second letter answering any questions
  they had for each other.

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Role playing

• What is it?
• Students act out various aspects to a particular
  subject.
• Why use it?
• When students put themselves in another persons
  position, it makes them more aware of how someone
  else is feeling. It also demonstrates how to
  make difficult decisions and allows them to
  practice.
• How does it work?
• A particular topic is brought up in class.
• Instead of telling students both sides to the
  issue, assign different students the various
  scenarios that could be related to that topic.
• Allow the students to act them out in front of
  the class.
• Classroom discussion of the issue.

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Toss the Ball

• What is it?
• Activity to discuss everything that was talked
  about during the class hour.
• Why use it?
• The students who would not usually speak up are
  given a chance to contribute to the class. Ideas
  and topics are discussed that may not have been
  thought about.
• How does it work?
• Teacher tosses the ball to anyone in the class.
• That student needs to tell something they
  remember about class that day. It could be
  something they liked or didnt like, or it might
  be a question they still have.
• That student then passes the ball to someone else
  in the class.
• They respond. Continue until everyone gets a
  chance to speak.