Strategies for Reading and Writing

r o f s e i g e t Stra d n a g n i d a e R g n i t i wr T o r t s a C n i l e s o J d n a g n i d Rea g n i t i r W

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Contents Word Wall ....................................................................................... 4 Visualizing ....................................................................................... 8 ............................................................... 11 Rapid Writing ............................................................................... 14 Pass it On! ..................................................................................... 18 Webbing and mapping ........................................................... 22 Interactive Reading .................................................................. 26 Skeleton Notes ............................................................................ 31 Question of the day ................................................................ 33 Think-Pair Share ........................................................................... 35 Conclusions ................................................................................. 39

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In the following edition, there are going to be diverse strategies that teacher can use to help students through the learning process in reading and writing.

There is also going to be attached materials that can be used according to the strategy or technique chosen; for example, worksheets, guides, printable materials, short stories and detailed instructions to follow.

It is also important to note that these strategies have to be analyzed first in order to evaluate if the strategy is adequate for the target group or the target student.

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Word Wall Purpose • Identify unfamiliar vocabulary and create a visible reference in the classroom for words that will appear often in a topic or unit of study.

Payoff Students will: • practise skimming and scanning an assigned reading before dealing with the content in an intensive way. Students will then have some familiarity with the location of information and with various elements of the text.

• develop some sense of the meaning of key words before actually reading the words in context.

• improve comprehension and spelling because key words remain posted in the classroom.

Tips and Resources • Skimming means to read quickly – horizontally – through the text to get a general understanding of the content and its usefulness.

• Scanning means to read quickly – vertically or diagonally – to find single words, facts, dates, names, or details.

• For directions, see Student Resource, Skimming and Scanning to Preview Text.

• Before building the word wall, consider using Analysing the Features of Text to help students become familiar with the text.

• Consider posting certain words for longer periods (for example: words that occur frequently in the unit, words that are difficult to spell, and words that students should learn to recognize on sight).

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• Have students refer to the word wall to support their understanding and spelling of the words.

Further Support • Add a picture to the word cards (preferably a photograph from a magazine) as a support for ESL students and struggling readers.

• Provide each student with a recording sheet so that they can make their own record of the key words for further review.

• If it appears that students will need additional support, review the terminology on the word wall in the two classes following this activity, using Take Five or Think/Pair/ Share, which are described in the Oral Communication section.

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What Teachers Do Before class, preview the text for key vocabulary.

• Prepare strips of card stock (approximately 4” x 10”) for words.

• Divide students into groups of 3.

• Provide stick-on notes, markers, and masking tape or pins for each groups of students.

• Explain to students that together the class will find key vocabulary in the assigned text, and will help each other to understand and spell the key vocabulary by creating a “word wall” in the classroom that they can refer to for the duration of that particular topic.

• Distribute Student Resource, Skimming and Scanning to Preview Text, and read and clarify the techniques with students During • Ask students to create a personal list of 10 unfamiliar words.

• Direct students to small groups and ask the groups to compare personal lists and create a group master list.

• Distribute eight pieces of card stock (approx. 4” x 10”), markers and pieces of masking tape to each group.

After: Lead some discussion of the words and ask students to speculate on their meaning. If appropriate, describe prefixes and suffixes that are unique or common to the subject area.

• Ask each group to look up the meaning of its words and then to explain the meaning to the rest of the class.

What Students do • With their group find an appropriate space where they can talk face-toface and write down the words.

• Find the chapter or get a copy of the assigned text.

• Follow along on the handout as the teacher reviews skimming and scanning.

• Scan the text for words they do not know, marking them with stick-on notes (optional) and then making a personal list of the words.

• Compare personal lists. Choose the words for a group master list.

• In each group, print the key vocabulary words in large letters on card stock and tape or pin them to the blackboard or bulletin board, preferably alphabetically.

Use the glossary in the textbook dictionary(ies) to find the meaning of the words.

• Present their words to the rest of the class.

• Add the meaning to the words on the cards in smaller letters.

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Materials for Word Wall reading the poem “The Moon�

Highway

Clock

Bat

Garden

Asleep

Bird

Harbour

Thief Face

Word Cards with Definitions

Clock: a mechanical or electrical device for measuring time, indicating hours, minutes, and sometimes seconds, typically by hands on a round dial or by displayed figures.

Face: the front part of a person's head from the forehead to the chin, or the corresponding part in an animal.

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Visualizing Unseen text is the information that resides inside the reader’s head: ideas, opinions, essential background knowledge. The unseen text is unique to each reader. (Cris Tovani, 2002) Visualizing text is a crucial skill for students because if they can get the picture, often they’ve got the concept. When students don’t get those pictures in their heads, the teacher may need to think aloud and

• improve focus and attention to detail.

Tips and Resources • Words on a page can be a very abstract thing for some students. They don’t inspire pictures in the mind or create other types of sensory images. Teaching students to visualize or create sensory images in the mind helps them to transform words into higher-level concepts.

talk them through the ideas in the text, explaining the pictures that come to mind.

Visualization can help

• In order to visualize text, students must understand the concepts of seen text and unseen text.

students to focus, remember, and apply their learning in new and creative situations. It is an invaluable

Seen text involves everything they can see on the page: words, diagrams, pictures, special

skill in subjects such as Math, Science, and Design & Technology, where understanding spatial relationships can be a key to solving complex problems.

typographical features.

Unseen text draws on their background knowledge and experiences, and

Purpose • Promote comprehension of the ideas in written texts by forming pictures in the mind from the words on the page.

Payoff Students will: • reread and reflect on assigned readings.

• develop skills for independent reading.

their word knowledge as they come across unfamiliar vocabulary.

Further Support • Learning to visualize takes practice. Model the strategy of visualizing for your students, using a variety of texts from the subject area.

• Put students in pairs from the beginning of this strategy and allow them to work through the texts together.

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What Teachers do

Before During Engaging in Reading: Visualizing • Read the assigned text to students or show them simple pictures about what is being read. asking them to try and “see” in their minds what the words are saying.

• Share some mind pictures derived from the text.

Visualizing from Text – Sample Text to Read Aloud, which includes a think-aloud script. Invite some students to share the pictures in their heads.

• Engage students in a class discussion about the importance of visualizing text in their minds – to get the idea or concept the words are trying to convey.

• Give students an example of how important the picture/concept idea is by sharing the example of deciduous and coniferous trees – if students can picture a maple,oak or birch for deciduous trees and a spruce or pine tree for coniferous, then they have the concept of trees that lose their leaves, and trees that are ever green Provide additional text samples. See • Ask students to work individually to create mind pictures from the text.

• Ask each student to join with three other students to compare their mind pictures

Engage students in whole-class discussion about the kinds of things that may have triggered their mind pictures or mental images – e.g., understanding of a specific word, personal experience, something read previously, a movie or television show.

• Confirm that individuals may have some very different pictures in their minds, based on differing personal experience.

Some of those pictures will be accurate and some inaccurate, and so students should confirm their picture with other details or elements of the text, as described below.

• Remind students that textbook features (such as diagrams, pictures, or a glossary) may help them create more accurate and detailed mind pictures.

What Students do • Listen carefully to the text, trying to picture the words.

• Read silently and make notes about mind pictures that emerge from the words in the texts.

• Compare and discuss their mental images.

• Ask questions of each other to determine why the mental images may differ.

• Contribute their responses to class discussion.

• Take notes about the features of text that may help them create pictures in their minds from text

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Materials for Sample Text to Read Aloud

Text Lumbering became a way of life for many in the pioneer communities. The season began in the fall. Canoes carried the loggers and their supplies to the camps in the forests. Thousands went to live in the shanties of the lumber camps as the timber trade grew in importance.

The axemen carefully selected the trees they would cut. The best white pine might tower 50 m. high. Considerable skill was needed to bring these trees down safely. A good axeman could drop a tree on a precise spot. His skill and power were essential to the profit of the camp.

Once the logs were felled, they were squared to fit more easily into the timber ships. Rounded edges wasted important space. Squaring was done with an adze and a heavy broad-axe which could weigh as much as 4 kg. Actually, squaring timber was very wasteful.

About a quarter of the log was cut away and left on the ground. In winter the logs were hauled out of the woods with teams of oxen.

Think-Aloud Script I can picture early settlements of houses among many trees. The leaves on the trees are orange, red, and yellow because it is fall. I can see the loggers with big bundles of supplies in long, wide canoes on a river

I’m having a hard time imagining how high a 50 m. pine tree would be. I think of my own height and multiply until I reach 50. Or I compare the height to the height of a room or a building. In my mind, the axeman is a big, muscular guy because the text talks about his power.

I can see the loggers working with axes to chop off the round edges of the trees. I don’t know what an “adze” but I imagine it is a special tool with a sharp blade for trimming logs.

I can see all that wasted wood on the ground, but at least it would decompose and be recycled into the soil as a nutrient

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Finding Signal Words Writers use signal words and phrases (also called transition words or connectors) to link ideas and help the reader follow the flow of the information.

Purpose • Preview the text structure.

• Identify signal words and phrases, and their purposes.

• Familiarize students with the organizational pattern of a text.

Payoff Students will: • make connections between reading and writing tasks in related subject-specific texts.

• read and reread subject-specific reading material.

• practise their reading strategies of skimming, scanning and rereading; make predictions about the topic and content as they read and reread; learn signal words; and use the signal words

among ideas (e.g., a timeline, flow chart, or mind map).

Further Support • Before students read an unfamiliar or challenging selection, provide them with the signal words and the related organizational pattern (e.g., first, second, next, then, following, and finally indicate a sequence of first to last).

• Encourage students to scan reading passages to identify signal words and preview the text structure before they read.

• Have students reread an excerpt from a familiar subject-specific resource. (Students may read independently, with a partner, or listen as another person reads aloud.) Small groups identify the signal words that cue a text structure, link ideas or indicate transitions between ideas. Small groups share and compare their findings.

when summarizing.

Tips and Resources • Signal words are words or phrases that cue the reader about an organizational pattern in the text, or show a link or transition between ideas.

• Organizational patterns include sequence, comparison, problem/solution, pro/con, chronological, general to specific, cause/effect, and more. For more information, • A graphic organizer provides a visual way to organize information and show the relationships

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What Teachers do Before: • Show a familiar text passage that has signal words highlighted (e.g., before, after, during, next, during, on top of, next to, in addition).

• Tell students that authors use particular words to link ideas together and organize their writing, and to help readers understand the flow of ideas.

• Have students determine the pattern (sequential, compare and contrast) of these words and suggest possible purposes for them in this reading passage.

• Identify the contextual information that these words give to the meaning of the text (e.g., time, location, sequence, importance, summary, comparison, contrast).

• Model for students how to use these words to provide hints for reading the passage.

During: Ask partners to scan the selected text and identify the words the writer has used to help guide their reading.

• Ask students to identify some of the signal words and note how they relate to the meaning of the passage (e.g., “These signal words indicate a sequence. This will help me track the ideas and information in order. A sequence pattern sometimes means I will be reading a procedure or a set of instructions.”).

• Ask students to use the signal words to help them read to understand the ideas and information in the passage.

After: • Model how to summarize the main ideas using the signal words and phrases to organize the summary.

• Create a class chart of the signal/ transition words and how they might be used to help the reader understand the text.

• Model for students how to create a personal dictionary of signal words and their meanings.

• Ask students to describe how using the signal words helped them to understand and summarize the content. Students might record their responses in a learning log or share orally with a partner.

What Students do Scan the familiar passage to identify highlighted words and phrases.

• Group and sort words.

• Categorize words and identify possible headings for the categories.

• Use the signal words to predict the text structure and organizational pattern.

Identify and record signal words.

• Compare their words with the findings from other partners.

• Use the signal words as clues to find the meaning of the text.

• Read the passage and identify the main idea.

• Orally share main idea with a partner.

• Write a brief summary of the passage, using the signal words to organize the summary.

• Contribute to the class reference chart.

• Add words to personal dictionaries.

• Describe how they used the signal words to help understand what they read.

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Sample Flow chart with Signal words to organize Thinking Lemonade recipe:

Flow Chart

First…

Next…

Then…

Finally…

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Rapid Writing When students engage in rapid writing at the beginning of a writing assignment, they access their prior knowledge, engage with content, review and reflect, and begin to set direction for writing letters, essays, and other subject-based assignments.

Purpose • Help students to start writing and ultimately to produce more writing.

• Encourage fluency in generating ideas for writing on any topic, in any subject area.

• Help students begin organizing ideas.

Payoff Students will: • rapidly generate fresh ideas about topics in any subject area.

• write down ideas without self-editing.

• generate raw material for more polished work.

• complete writing activities on time, overcome writer’s block, and improve test-taking skills.

Tips and Resources • This strategy may be used in a number of ways, including: prewriting; brainstorming for a specific question; or writing for reflection, learning logs, mathematics journals, work journals, etc.

• This strategy may also be used as a pre-reading strategy, similar to a KWL. • Use this strategy to review what students remember about classroom work.

• Use rapid writing regularly in the classroom, and have students select the day’s topic. Possible topics might include analyzing a science hypothesis, discussing proof for a mathematics word problem, or developing an opinion on a history or geography topic.

• Students can apply this strategy when writing tests or examinations, by “scribbling down”

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information they are afraid of forgetting just before they begin responding to the questions.

• Use the rapid writing drafts to give students practice in proofreading and reviewing their writing for flow of ideas. When students use this strategy at the computer with the monitor turned off, they will be amused by how many errors in proofreading they have made. Be prepared for some laughter in the classroom when using this approach.

Further Support • Write the topic on the board, and do not repeat it orally if a student comes in late. Instead, point at the board. This also reinforces the topic for visual learners and for students who have poor aural memory.

• Encourage students to use the rapid writing strategy to overcome anxiety for tests or assignments.

• Use timed writing for parts of a task - e.g., as many words as possible in three minutes, then as many more as possible in the next three min, etc.

• Vary criteria: some students may need to work in point form, or stop and break after three minutes.

• Save completed rapid writing samples to use later to teach writing conventions or organization of ideas.

• Vary the amount of time you give to students.

• Post the topic-related vocabulary in the classroom as an aid for struggling students.

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What teachers do What students do Before: Plan a topic for rapid writing • (Optional) Suggest topics for rapid or invite the writing that students to suggest topics. are related to the subject of study • Explain that the purpose of rapid writing is to allow students to record what they know about the topic, subject, or activity, without worrying about repetition, spelling, grammar, or any other errors.

• Give directions for rapid writing.

See Student/Teacher Resource During: Give directions.

At the starting signal, write or type as • Give the signal to begin. quickly • Time the students. as possible without stopping or making • Give the signal for students to stop any writing. corrections.

(You may want to give them a oneminute warning.)

After: Debrief.

Count and record the number of • Ask students to count the number words. of words • Discuss the topic by reading aloud they have written. parts of • Ask who has at least ___ words, what they have written. until only • In pairs, explain the thinking behind one or two hands remain up. the • Discuss the topic, based on what categories used. the students have written.

• One student from each group reads Encourage students who the don’t usually participate. paragraph to the class.

• Focus the students’ attention on how their rapid writing can be the starting point for more polished pieces.

• Alternatively, as a follow-up direct students to begin classifying and organizing their ideas.

• Alternatively, organize students into small groups to share their rapid writing and to compose a

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Sample for Rapid Writing:

Write as fast as you can.

• No corrections or erasing allowed.

• Write until your teacher says “STOP” – do not stop before!

• Don’t lift your pen/pencil from the paper or remove your hands from the computer.

• If you get stuck, jumpstart your brain by writing the topic title and extending it to a sentence.

• When your teacher says “STOP,” count and record the number of words you have written.

• Be prepared to discuss your topic: use the writing you have done to start you off.

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Pass it on!

Pass it On! This strategy provides feedback to students before they start their first draft.

Students exchange their

Tips and Resources

brainstorming and notes for any project-paragraphs, research, process, lab reports or summaries, and

• This strategy may be used before and during writing, especially if students are sharing research.

develop questions designed to help them draw out more details for their first draft.

• Provide stick-on notes if students find it too confusing to have other students writing on their work.

Purpose • Identify ideas and information that may have been omitted.

• Reconsider and revise initial thinking (such as brainstorming) before writing the first draft.

• Teach students how to question others and themselves.

Payoff Students will: • ask who, what, where, when, why and how (5W+H), and predict questions while writing.

• add and support ideas, with the help of others and then on their own.

• This activity is a good followup to Rapid Writing and What Do My Readers Want to Know?

Further Support • Teachers should model the process of asking questions about a piece of writing.

Alternatively, teachers may post a piece of personal writing and invite students to ask questions about various parts of the piece.

• Students may use brainstorming or first drafts of any assignment they are working on (e.g., research/planning, paragraphs, summaries, lab reports, essays, answers to questions).

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What the teacher does What students do Before: Assign a topic based on class content.

• Individually brainstorm or • Distribute Student Resource, Instructions make notes for the for Adding Content (Pass It On!). • Review topic. who, what, where, when, why and • Read the instructions with the how (5W + H questions), using the teacher. handout.

• Suggest other possible questions, depending on the type of assignment (narrative or informative).

• Remind students about the purpose of this activity – to ask questions (based on what’s already there) that they would like the writer to answer.

• Create groups of 4 to 6 students.

During: Time the students – have them pass • Within their group, pass work their left and quickly work to the person to their left and add skim the work handed to questions to the work that is handed to them. them. In 3 to 5 minutes, depending on • As they read, ask questions length of the work, call “time” and have the based on the students pass their work to the left again.

5Ws and how.

• Have students continue until the work has • Work silently. been returned to the original author.

• Use stick-on notes and write • (Optional) Ask students to begin answering comments and the questions or making suggestions questions in margins. regarding the questions they see on the • (Optional) Start answering papers in front them, once work has been some of the passed to at least two others in the group. questions others have written on the work, once they have questioned the work of at least two of the people in the group – even if it is not theirs.

After: • Use the edited work and the answers Try to answer as many of the to the questions as questions as the basis for a written possible when they get their assignment. own work back.

• Use the questions and answers as the basis for responding to the written assignment.

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Sample Sheet for Pass it On! Topic: Food that we should eat Fruits What kind of food?

Vegetables

What do fruits and vegetables do to us?

*Clean our system

What is health?

*Gives us health *Gives us energy *Gives us water

Why should we healthy food?

-

-

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Sample Sheet for Pass it On! Topic: __________________ What about the topic?

What?

What is that concept?

List your reasons

Write your reasons

Why?

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Webbing and mapping Effective writers use different strategies to sort the ideas and information they have gathered in order to make connections, identify relationships, and determine possible directions and forms for their writing. This strategy gives students the opportunity to reorganize, regroup, sort, categorize, classify and cluster their notes.

Purpose • Identify relationships and make connections among ideas and information.

• Select ideas and information for possible topics and subtopics.

Payoff Students will: • model critical and creative thinking strategies.

• learn a variety of strategies that can be used throughout the writing process.

• reread notes, gathered information and writing that are related to a specific writing task.

• organize ideas and information to focus the writing task.

Tips and Resources • Strategies for webbing and mapping include: -Clustering – looking for similarities among ideas, information or things, and grouping them according to characteristics.

-Comparing – identifying similarities among ideas, information, or things.

-Contrasting – identifying differences among ideas, information, or things.

-Generalizing – describing the overall picture based on the ideas and information presented.

-Outlining – organizing main ideas, information, and supporting details based on their relationship to each other.

-Relating – showing how events, situations, ideas and information are connected.

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-Sorting – arranging or separating into types, kinds, sizes, etc.

-Trend-spotting – identifying things that generally look or behave the same.

Further Support • Provide students with sample graphic organizers that guide them in sorting and organizing their information and notes- e.g., cluster (webs), sequence (flow charts), compare (Venn diagram).

• Have students create a variety of graphic organizers that they have successfully used for different writing tasks. Create a class collection for students to refer to and use.

• Provide students with access to markers, highlighters, scissors, and glue, for marking and manipulating their gathered ideas and information.

• Select a familiar topic (perhaps a topic for review). Have students form discussion groups. Ask students to recall what they already know about the topic, and questions that they still have about the topic. Taking turns, students record one idea or question on a stick-on note and place it in the middle of the table. Encourage students to build on the ideas of others. After students have contributed everything they can recall about the topic, groups sort and organize their stick-on notes into meaningful clusters on chart paper. Ask students to discuss connections and relationships, and identify possible category labels. Provide groups with markers or highlighters to make links among the stickon notes. Display the groups’ thinking.

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What teachers do Before: Select a current subject-specific writing task. · Prepare an overhead transparency sample or chart-paper sample of possible ideas and information gathered on the topic (e.g., point-form notes for a report on the uses of lasers in the medical field). · Using a marker, model for students how to make connections among the ideas and information (e.g., number, circle, colourcode, draw arrows). · Using a strategy such as webbing or map ping makes it easier to see connections and relationships. Writers often create a graphic organizer to manipulate and group their information into meaningful clusters. · Use a web to demonstrate the process of rereading notes and arranging key points During: · Ask students to contribute to the web by identifying important ideas and key information and by suggesting how to place the points to create a web. · Ask students questions to clarify the decisions. For example: - What does this mean?

- Is this important? Why? - Is there another way to sort my notes? · Model for students how to use the web to create a possible outline or template for writing a first draft. Consider the generalizations and/or categories that emerge from the connections and relationships, to help identify subtopics, headings and structure.

After: · Have students refer to their notes for the writing task. · Ask students to create a web by sorting and organizing their ideas and information. · If appropriate, consider having students who are writing on a similar topic work in pairs to create a web for their combined notes. Some students may prefer to use scissors to cut-and-paste their web. · Ask students to reread their webs and use them to create an outline for writing.

What students do · Recall what they already know about the topic and writing task. · Make connections to own notes. · Note the links and connections that the teacher makes among ideas and information. Consider the similarities and differences of their own thinking. · Recall past use of a webbing strategy to record or organize thinking.

· Contribute to the discussion. · Note the similarities and differences in responses.

Reread notes and identify important information and ideas. · Use the question prompts to re-phrase notes, identify key points, and group the ideas and information to create a web. · Share and compare webs. · Make the connection between the web and possible ways of organizing the information and ideas into a template for writing.

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Webbing ideas

Paint

Videogames

My Hobbies

Sports

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Interactive Reading Interactive lectures are classes in which the instructor incorporates engagement triggers and breaks the lecture at least once per class to have students participate in an activity that lets them work directly with the material.

Accordingly, interactive lectures include segments of lecture combined with segments where students interact. One of the things that makes the lecture interactive is the ability of the instructor to choose the content of the lecture segments based on the students' needs. If students have difficulty answering a question, or an activity goes astray in many or most student groups, it's time to find a new and better way to deal with the material.

Purpose: • To engage students by finding ways for them to interact with the content, the instructor, and their classmates.

Payoff: Students will: • Experiment the story on different ways to get the gist of the text. • Interpret and be part of the reading process.

There are different types of interactive reading and theyr are planned according to the difficulty.

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Basic

Intermediate

Think-pair-share activities pose a question to students that they must consider alone and then discuss with a neighbor before settling on a final answer. This is a great way to motivate students and promote higher-level thinking. A think-pair-share can take as little as three minutes (quick-response) or can be longer (extended response), depending on the question or task.

One-minute write activities ask students to stop what they are doing a produce a written response in only one minute. This technique can be used to collect feedback on understanding by asking them to identify what they thought the most confusing point was or to voice a question. It can also allow students an opportunity for immediate application.

Question of the day exercises are short activities for the beginning of class that engage students with the lecture material in a short project that requires students to think actively about the content. The instructors poses a question that is generally not multiple-choice but rather requires short explanations, annotations, calculations, or drawings that develop communication skills as well as higher-level thinking.

Demonstrations may involve all students or a subset demonstrating to the entire class a concept or principle that has just been taught or will be taught. Demonstrations can engage direct and indirect participants and can be applied to a wide variety of topics. Effective demonstrations ask students to predict outcomes, experience the demonstrations, and reflect by comparing the prediction and actual outcomes.

ConcepTest questions are conceptual multiple choice questions that are used to assess student understanding.

Students work on the questions individually. These questions can be used to promote higher-level thinking such as analysis, critical thinking, and synthesis. As these questions take little time, you can ask several in a class period. They provide a quick objective assessment of students' prior knowledge or of how much of the class understood your lecture. (On whichever concept quiz page we go with include link to clicker page) Role playing activities put the student in the position of a relevant decision maker forcing them to apply the content to determine a policy or solve a problem. This often calls upon higher order thinking skills and the synthesis of ideas and when students do this it groups, negotiation skills become important as well.

Skeleton Notes offers examples of skeleton or partial note handouts or power points slides that maintain intellectual engagement throughout the class period by forcing students to complete partials notes as the lecture progresses. These

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Advanced

require an initial investment in terms of preparation, but are then easily available for subsequent semesters.

Simulations are often a form of extended demonstration that also can require more preparation and class time, but they allow students to analyze more complex situations and produce a broader range of responses.

Experiments are a form of active learning that can take more time for instructors to develop and require more class time, but they too allow students to tackle more complex problems.

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Roleplay masks to read ‘The Hare and the Turtle’ fable

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Skeleton Notes Skeleton Notes are partial lecture note handouts and are a tool used by many instructors to try to maintain student engagement throughout a class period. Skeleton notes are an interactive tool in the sense that while even though they are not like a cooperative student group activity, they maintain the focus of the students and keep them active in an intellectual dialog with the instructor as students complete the notes as the lecture progresses. Some instructors make a partial version of their power point presentation available before class. Other instructors use course packets and handouts. Typically, only pieces of the lecture content are included in the skeleton notes. This technique is especially useful in large enrollment courses, although many instructors use this technique in smaller courses as well.

Instructions: 1. Start with your full set of lecture notes for a given class period.

2. Create a pared down version of your notes that show partial information, but not everything. The remainder of the information will be distributed in some fashion during class.

For the partial notes you give students, some instructors chose to leave parts that might be difficult for students to write as notes during class or pieces of information for which the instructor wishes to insure accuracy such as formulas, equations, numeric data, or lengthy definitions or theories. This will increase accuracy and free student time and energy for taking notes on explanations and discussion points. These notes might also be a place to include information and questions student might need for structured problem solving to be completed in the context of other interactive activities the instructor might employ during the class period.

3. Chose a medium for distributing the partial notes. The instructor may put skeleton power point slides, PDF files, or Word files on a course website prior to class. Students might have already purchased a course packet where the notes are included or depending on copying budgets, the instructor might provide handouts during class.

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Example of a Skeleton Note handout

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Question of the day Question of the day

The Question of the Day is an in-class project that Bill Prothero developed to use at the beginning of class and takes 5-15 minutes. It requires the students to start class as active participants and involves them in the material.

Purpose: • The students are encouraged to discuss the questions and then write down their own answers to be turned in.

• Often the Question of the Day can be used to initiate a class discussion.

• The Question of the Day should be about the most important points of the class, which will help students’ study for exams

Students can be asked to do one of several things:

• Answer a series of short essay questions about the lecture material • Label or annotate a diagram, timeline, or map • Graph data • Analyze an abstract or brief passage • Make predictions based on a description

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Printable Questions of the day as warm up for farm animals

Do you have pets?

How many?

Are you scared of an animal?

Have you visited a farm?

Did you like it?

Have you ever ride a horse?

What was his name?

What color is the cow?

How does the pig sound?

Describe me the most beautiful bird you have seen

Where does the cheese come from?

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Think-Pair Share

Think-Pair-Share activities pose a question to students that they must consider alone and then discuss with a neighbor before settling on a final answer.

Purpose: This is a great way to motivate students and promote higher-level thinking. Even though the activity is called think-"PAIR"-share, this is the term many instructors use for pairs and small groups (three or four students) alike. Groups may be formed formally or informally. Often this group discussion "sharing" is followed up with a larger classroom discussion. Some think-pair-share activities are short, "quick-response think-pair-share" and sometimes the activities may be longer and more involved, "extended thinkpair-share." The instructor can use the student responses as a basis for discussion, to motivate a lecture segment, and to obtain feedback about what students know or are thinking and it is easy to incorporate more than one think-pair-share activity in a given class period.

Instructions: 1. Ask a question about a short story given. Be aware that open-ended questions are more likely to generate more discussion and higher order thinking. A think-pair-share can take as little as three minutes or can be longer, depending on the question or task and the class size.

2. Give students a minute to two (longer for more complicated questions) to discuss the question and work out an answer.

3. Ask students to get together in pairs or at most, groups with three or four students. If need be, have some of the students move. If the instructor definitely wants to stick with pairs of students, but have an odd number of students, then allow one group of three. It's important to have small groups so that each student can talk.

4. Ask for responses from some or all of the pairs or small groups. Include time to discuss as a class as well as time for student pairs to address the question.

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Story with questions to work as Think-pair share

Brave Cowardly Chief When young Nerino was made chief of the tribe, everyone expected that – as was the custom on the island – he would direct his attention to fighting the great fiery-eyed beast; a horrible creature that had terrorised the tribespeople for centuries. Nerino had promised to slay the beast and, though he was a good fighter, he seemed no better than the others who had previously perished in the attempt. The tribe reckoned that, as chief, he wouldn't last much more than a year. This was about the amount of time needed to train and prepare a band of warriors, prior to ascending to the volcano’s summit, where their horrendous enemy lived. And once they got there, no matter how strong or brave they were, all the warriors would be annihilated within a couple of hours.

However, nothing was done. Nerino didn’t train any fighters, nothing out of the ordinary was done, no new assault tactics were devised. When summer came - the time the monster attacked most frequently, engulfing all in flames from his fiery eye - all the tribe did was move their village.

Everyone looked worringly and insistently at Nerino. They demanded that he fight, that he do something, that he should be brave and fulfil the destiny of a chief. But Nerino simply said:

-“I shall defeat the beast, but now is not the time.”

And so the years passed by, and Nerino became an old man.

And though they respected him as their chief, and his strategy of moving their village around the island had saved many lives, all the people believed he was a coward.

Yet, just when no-one expected it, Nerino finally assembled a squad of fighters. He announced this suddenly, without warning,

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on a cold winter night. Snow was rare on the island, but now it blanketed the ground, and the band of warriors had to march out barefoot, with frozen feet. They hurriedly ascended the volcano and, at the summit, they approached the monster's cave. Nerino confidently entered, while his companions performed the usual death preparation rituals, ready to leave this life…

When they were all inside they cave they saw old Nerino standing over the beast. The monster was lying, curled up, on the ground, trembling and groaning, close to death. Nerino and his warriors easily took the creature prisoner.

On arriving back at the village, everyone wanted to hear about Nerino’s fight with the monster. Not even the tiniest baby was absent when Nerino began telling his story:

-“I never intended to fight against something so terrifying, and nor did I do so today," he said, filling all with surprise and expectation. He continued.

-“Did none of you notice that the beast would never attack during the worst days of winter? Or that, after an especially cold spell, his fire was never very strong, nor his attacks very damaging? For many years I was waiting for a snow as heavy as this one. All along, we didn't need fighters; we needed the cold.

When we got to the volcano, the monster was so weak he couldn't fight. Finally we have put an end to fighting and death.

Now we have the beast, and his fiery eye, at our service.”

Everyone congratulated the chief for his wisdom, particularly those who had most criticised him for supposed cowardice.

And so it was that even the most impatient among the tribe learned that, sometimes, patience can be much more useful than action, even if it means you require the bravery to accept people treating you like a coward.

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Questions:

1. Do you think before you act? Explain why 2. Is violence the way out to fix our problems?

3. If you were Nerino, would you use the same technique to defeat the monster? Which other option did you think about?

4. What do you think about the people of the village? Do you think that they could defeat the monster with their thinking?

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Conclusions • The use of visual aids enhances the reading comprehension: visual representations and images gives a clear idea and help students overcome doubts.

•

It is important to observe the students and the groups to adapt and use the methodologies presented.

• Activities that combine writing and reading may be better to apply: using these activities stimulates both skills and could make the process less tedious.

• Fun activities can bust the myths of writing and reading being boring.

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/thinkliteracy/files/Reading.pdf http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/thinkliteracy/files/writing.pdf https://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/interactive/tpshare.html

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