Reading+Strategies

===These are the Reading Strategies I would like to incorporate into my classroom especially with those students who are struggling with literacy. These strategies are my favorite and seem to really work:===

Frayer Model:
The Frayer Model is a word categorization activity that helps learners to develop their understanding of concepts.

How to Use it: 1. Assign a concept that might be confusing and place that concept in the middle circle. 2. Explain to the students how to use the diagram. 3. Model to the students how to fill out the diagram by using a different concept example. 4. Provide students time to practice filling out the diagram before they have to do it for a difficult concept. 5. Then have students use a difficult concept and through their reading look up the definition of the concept, characteristics of that concept, examples and non-examples.

This model really helps students explain their understanding and see relational qualities.



Probable Passage:
Probable passage is a brief summary of a text from which key words have been omitted. As students work through this process, they use what they know, think about the vocabulary, look for casual relationships and predict what will happen. Probable passage encourages students to think about key components of the story before they read it.

How to use it: 1. Choose 8 to 14 words from the passage. 2. Model the strategy a few times. 3. Let the students reflect on their To Discover questions after reading the passage to see if they can answer any of them. 4. Let students try it out after you've modeled the strategy to them a few times.

As the teacher: In step one... Choose 8 to 14 words after reading the passage. Try to choose some words that are obvious as to the category and some that are less obvious.

In step two... Tell the students that you are going to place key words in certain categories based on your knowledge of the category titles. Think aloud the reasoning for putting certain words into certain categories. Model creating the gist statement. Students should use all of the words in the gist statement except for their unknown words.

In step three... After the students read they will try to define any of their unknown terms and should reflect on how they think the author would have arranged the words.

In step four... Ask the students where they placed their words and record their answers as a class. Don't define unknown words until After the students have read their passage. After all of this then the students will read the passage. This is a before reading strategy.

Probable Passage: To Discover:
 * Characters || Setting || Problem || Outcomes || Unknown Words ||

1. _________________________________________

2. _________________________________________

3. _________________________________________

Gist Statement: __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________

Think-Alouds:
The Think-Aloud strategy helps readers think about how they make meaning. As students read, they will pause occasionally to think about the connections they are making to the text, images they are creating and notice the problems they have with understanding. This process is oral and aloud and not only helps the students but helps the teacher understand why a student is having difficulty with the text. This will help students develop independent reading skills.

To use this strategy you simply read a text aloud and pause occasionally to discuss what you are thinking as you are reading and what visual images are in your head. Model this many times with students before the students do it on their own. This strategy helps with visualization and inference as well.

Journal Entries:
After students read a text I will have them respond to that text in a journal entry. Students can write about anything they like as long as they are reflecting and responding to the text they have read. I will encourage them to ask questions and relate the text to personal experience. This activity helps with writing skills and allows me to see if the students really read and understood the text without having to ask multiple choice questions. This helps to prevent "Readicide" but encourages students to read the text and respond in their own way.

Read-Write-Pair-Share
Students begin this strategy by reading a passage, then write a response to a prompt given by the teacher. After a few minutes, they are invited to discuss their writing with a partner. Then the class discusses the reading and they respond as a large group. This strategy allows students to check their answers with their peers and in turn makes them more confident to answer in front of the class. This also allows students to reflect off of each others' ideas and broaden their responses to one question. The students are able to see all of the students' responses and in turn see the different ways to reflect on a text. This also can start a discussion and help the teacher see what students are understanding from the text.