Before Strategies

Purposes: (1) activate prior knowledge about a major topic; 

(2) allow students to build background knowledge about a topic through discussion with other students

 Procedure: 

1. Present the topic of the brainstorm to the students. 

2. Students list all the letters of the alphabet down on a sheet of paper, leaving room beside each letter to write out the rest of a word or phrase. 

3. Students work individually thinking of as many words as they can that are associated with the topic and write the words beside the appropriate letters.

 4. After a few minutes, let the students pair up or work in small groups to fill in blank letters they have not yet completed. 

5. Allow students to share with the entire class possible terms for the different letters of the alphabet. 

Purposes: 

(1) set purposes for reading texts; 

(2) activate prior knowledge; 

(3) help make connections with the text 

Procedure: 

1. Analyze the material to be read. Select major ideas with which students will interact. 

2. Write the ideas in short, clear declarative statements with some of the statements being true and some of the statements being false. 

3. Put statements in a format that will elicit anticipation and prediction.

 4. Discuss students’ anticipations and predictions before they read the text. 5. Students read the text to confirm or disconfirm their original responses. 

After reading, students revisit their predictions and modify them, if necessary.  

 Source: Readence, J., Bean, T., & Baldwin, R. (2000). Content area reading: An integrated approach. Dubuque,IA: Kendall/Hunt 

Purposes:

 (1) encourage reflection before, during, or after reading;

 (2) provide a structure to make connections, 

(3) scaffold learning to provide students with a sentence stem and think aloud about the process you use for completing the sentence stem. Use the text and/or personal experiences to explain your thinking.  

Examples: 

Clarifying stems - My position on this topic is…;

paraphrasing stems - What I heard was…; 

agreeing/disagreeing stem s- I agree/disagree with the author because…; 

building on - The author’s claim was interesting because…;

 activating prior knowledge - I think the term ____ means…;

 summarizing -what the article says is…

Purposes: (1) engage with the text; (2) integrate new information with prior knowledge;  (3) respond to text through discussion or writing 

Procedure:

 1.  Teacher creates cubes using the following six sides:   Describe it  (including color, shape, and size (if applicable)—How would you describe the issue/topic?  

Compare it  (what it is similar to or different from)—“It’s sort of like”   

Associate it  (what it makes you think of)—How does the topic connect to other issues/subjects?    

Analyze it  (tell how it is made or what it is composed of)—How would you break the problem/issue into smaller parts?    

Apply it  (tell how it can be used)—How does it help you understand other topics/issues?    

Argue for/against it (take a stand and support it)—I am for this  because/This works because/I agree because 

2. Teacher assigns student groups of 6. 

3. Each student takes a turn in rolling the cube to determine their discussion or writing point. 

4. Students are given approximately 3-4 minutes to think about their point. 

5. Students are then given 1 minute to discuss their point with their group.    ** Times may be increased if needed. 

Purposes: (1) encourage students to make predictions about the text; (2) activate prior knowledge; (3) set purposes for reading; (4) introduce new vocabulary 

Procedure: 

1. Select five key vocabulary words from the text that students are about to read. 

2. List the words in order on the chalkboard.

3. Clarify the meaning of any unfamiliar words.

 4. Ask students to write a paragraph predicting the theme of the lesson using all of the words in the paragraph. 

5. Allow volunteers to share their predictions.

 6. After completing the lesson, ask the students to use the same words to write a summary paragraph. 

Purposes: (1) build background knowledge; (2) summarize 

Procedure: Using an index card or sticky note, or paper, ask students to interview 3 or 4 classmates (not in their immediate group) about a topic or prompting question. After everyone is finished interviewing all time for each student to write a summary of the interviews.

Purposes: (1) link prior knowledge to new information; (2) generate questions to guide meaningful learning;  (3) create own meaning and learning from new text

 Procedure:  

1. On the chalkboard, on an overhead, on a handout, or on students’ individual clean sheets, three columns should be drawn.  

2. Label Column 1 K, Column 2 W, Column 3 L.  

3. Before reading (or viewing or listening), students fill in the Know column with words, terms, or phrases from their background or prior knowledge. If you are having them draw on a topic previously learned, then the K column may be topic-related. But if the topic is something brand-new, and they don’t know anything (or much) about it, you should use the K column to have them bring to mind a similar, analogous, or broader idea. 

 4. Then have students generate questions about what they might learn or want to learn about the topic, which might follow a quick glance at the topic headings, pictures, and charts that are found in the reading. This helps set their purpose for reading and focuses their attention on key ideas.  

5. After reading, students should fill in their new knowledge gained from reading the content. They can also clear up misconceptions about the topic which might have shown up in the Know column before they actually read anything. This is the stage of metacognition: did they get it or not?

Purposes: (1) activate prior knowledge about a topic; (2) develop clearer understandings of concepts  

Procedure: 

1. Write a cue word on the board. 

2. Have students brainstorm words or concepts related to the topic. Write down all ideas. 

3. Lead a discussion about whether any words should be eliminated, and if so, why? 

4. Divide the class into groups of three or four. Have groups cluster the words and give each cluster a descriptive term.

 5. Have groups share their clusters and give reasons for their choices.

6. Have students read the text. Afterward, have students revisit their clusters and modify them, if necessary.

 Source: Maring, G., Furman, G., & Blum-Anderson, J. (1985). Five cooperative learning strategies for mainstreamed youngsters in content area classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 39, 310313. 

Purposes: (1) engage with text;  (2) integrate new information with prior knowledge;  (3) make connections to text;  (4) self-monitor comprehension; (5) examine questions that guide reading; (6) note vocabulary for discussion  

Procedure: 

1.  Provide students with strips of paper like bookmarks if the text cannot be written on directly.

 2.  Have students place a paper strip in the margin of the book. 

3.  Use the strip to bullet important terms, facts, and information from the text WHILE reading.

4. Model the procedure by writing notes and comments as you read. 

5. Have students use strips while independently reading chunks of text. 

Purposes: activate prior knowledge; build prior knowledge; establish a purpose; draw conclusions, make predictions; analysis of meaning 

Procedures: When looking at a photograph, we use certain steps to analyze the meaning the photographer or artist is trying to convey. 

STEP 1: DESCRIBE IT: Look deeply– position on objects, facial expressions, colors, close-ups, an activity that is happening, people, etc… 

STEP 2: IDENTIFY IT: Write down what you see without making an interpretation– what is in the picture? Ask yourself Who? What? Where? questions 

STEP 3: INTERPRET IT: Discuss with a partner what you see and include the Why? When? How do I know? Questions 

STEP 4: EVALUATE IT: Given the historical context, what do you think the photographer/artist was trying to say? What meaning is he/she trying to convey? 

STEP 5: REFLECT UPON IT: Discuss your evaluation/interpretation with a partner and include specific details from the photo and historical time frame to justify your evaluation/interpretation 

Purposes: (1) activate prior knowledge about a topic; (2) introduce new vocabulary;(3) make connections 

Procedure: 

1. Provide students with a cue word or idea to stimulate thinking about a topic.

2. Have students brainstorm words or concepts related to the topic. Write all ideas on the board or a chart. 

3. After all the words and ideas are listed, go back to each word and ask the contributor why he or she suggested the word. Clarify ideas or elaborate on concepts. 

4. Have students read the text. 

5. After reading, revisit the original list of words and revise as necessary.  

Source: Langer, J. (1981). From theory to practice: A pre-reading plan. Journal of Reading, 25, 152 – 156. 

Purposes: (1) activate prior knowledge; (2) generate questions; (3) make predictions; (4) establish a purpose for reading  

Procedure: 

1. Preview the text in a short period of time (3-5 minutes) by viewing and discussing various aspects of the text such as: Title, author, pictures, opening sentence, sub-headings, captions, charts, graphs, tables, typographic features, margin notes, vocabulary, outcomes 

2. Encourage students to predict what the text may be about. Teachers may want to record student predictions on board. 

3. Students should be able to justify how text aspects support their predictions. 

4. Students then read a portion of the text, stopping at critical points to discuss whether their predictions were or were not confirmed by the text. 

Purposes: (1) Activate prior knowledge; (2) make connections

 Procedure:  Facilitator/Teacher provides terms/concepts/ideas from reading material.  Closed sort- categories are provided – Open sort- no categories provided  Participants/students work with a partner to place terms/concepts/ideas into specific categories.  Groups discuss the categories used and why certain terms were placed in specific categories/  This strategy can be completed in pairs, groups, or independently.

Purposes: (1) activate prior knowledge; (2) build background knowledge; (3) encourage active listening; (4) set a purpose for reading/lesson 

Procedure: 

1. Write a thought-provoking statement or question related to the subject of the upcoming lesson on the chalkboard. 

2. Each student has two minutes to read the topic, reflect, and write a response. 

3. Each student has three minutes to share his/her response with a partner, reflect, and write a response to his/her partner’s statement. 

4. Pairs combine to form small groups of 4-6 students. Responses are shared within the group and one response is chosen to share with the whole class. 

Purpose: (1) solidify thinking; (2) add new ideas 

Each student may have a partner assigned or the teacher may change up partners by using phrases like “turn to the partner beside you” or “turn to the partner across from you”, etc. Teachers should begin with instructions or prompts for discussion. Students share with their partners when directed.  Following the sharing, a few students may share with the class.

Purposes: (1) engage with the text; (2) self-monitor comprehension 

Procedure: 

1. Teacher puts the key on the board:           

X = Key point        

 ! = I get it! I can explain this!          

? = I don’t get this 

2. Teacher models the procedure for students using the first chunk of text. 

3. Students practice using this procedure independently—using sticky notes in textbooks or actually marking on the text if it’s a copied piece of text.