ACTIVATE: 
Brainstorm:  Connecting to Prior Knowledge

Determine which questions should be answered by the instructor when planning to build prior knowledge for reading and which questions should be answered by students as part of the gradual release of responsibility for the Planning for Reading phase of the critical reading process.

Have a clear learning objective for the overall lesson and specific academic thinking skills that will be drawn upon in the reading of the text.

Identify previous content material and/or texts that have been read so that a connection to these texts can be determined.

Identify where students are in the gradual release of responsibility for Planning for Reading as well as whether this instructional practice will be modeled with the entire class, in small groups, or with students reflecting on planning individually.

TEACHER READS & RESPONDS TO QUESTOINS:  Respond to the selected prior-knowledge brainstorming questions above and think about how the chosen texts fit within the broader context of the instructional unit.

SELECT STRATEGIES:  Select the pre-reading strategies that will work best to connect the new texts to prior texts and other prior knowledge.

IDENTIFY VOCABULARY:  Determine key content-specific or general academic vocabulary that is critical to know prior to reading or that will be developed while reading the texts. (See Building Vocabulary for  some ideas for how to develop vocabulary.)

USE GRR TO HELP STUDENT BRAINSTORM:  Using the gradual release of responsibility model, take students through the predetermined brainstorming questions using “I do,” “We do,” “We do together,” and “You do.”

Educators can add brainstorming questions as they see fit.

Students can generate some of their own questions that will help them consider how new texts connect to prior knowledge or fit into the broader scope of the learning experience.