Reading and Writing Strategies Toolbox
5 strategies:
2 videos:
2 lessons:
This lesson is form the NY Times. I would have students annotate for the questions and fill out the graphic organizer. If I were to use this in my classroom, I might have them stop after they report back and implement my own activity or closure to end the lesson.
Resources I would use from their suggestions:
https://static01.nyt.com/images/blogs/learning/pdf/activities/BranchingOut_NYTLN.pdf
https://bensguide.gpo.gov/j-check-balance
http://www.kminot.com/art/charts/branches.jpg
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/search?conditions%5Bagencies%5D=executive-office-of-the-president&page=1&per_page=10
- Purposeful Annotations – Purposeful annotations consists of close, annotated reading with a purpose. The annotations must align with why the students are reading the text and what they will do with it afterwards. Students should be annotating with the end in mind. For example, if the purpose of reading the text is to learn, then annotations should look like summaries and definitions. If the purpose of reading the text is to address a specific assignment/prompt, then annotations should help the student complete the task after reading.
- Questioning the Text – Questioning the text helps readers stay invested in their reading and think critically about what they are reading while they are reading it. Making predictions and making connections with what you know helps the reader stay focused and better understand what they are reading. -Tovani, 2000. I Read It But I Don’t Get It.
- Concept Map - A concept map is a good way for students to organize information of different aspects of one main idea/figure/event. If there are multiple important pieces to a main topic, it can be confusing trying to learn what pieces of information are important or not. This way, With the main topic in the middle, students can clarify what is important and essential to know. Some examples might be key events during a war, important aspects of a politician's plan, or main ideas of an important document.
- Jigsaw Reading – Jigsaw reading splits up a reading into parts to be taken on by members of a group. Each reads their part and extracts the main ideas. After all group members are finished, they share their findings with the group. This allows students to get the main points of an entire reading without actually reading the entire text. This also helps students practice collaboration and communication.
- Comic Strip – Creating a comic strip allows students to synthesize new information in a creative yet organized way. Methods may vary but I have seen comic strips executed by drawing a picture of an event, including some kind of text in the picture like a speech bubble, and adding one to two sentences of context underneath. Comic strips help organize events in chronological order and summarize the main events in a sequence in a creative way. This helps the information stick in students’ minds.
2 videos:
- Video about reading and vocabulary comprehension strategies.
- A video about the value of quick writes and discussion.
2 lessons:
- Specifically, part II: Studying Youth-led Movements in History
This lesson is form the NY Times. I would have students annotate for the questions and fill out the graphic organizer. If I were to use this in my classroom, I might have them stop after they report back and implement my own activity or closure to end the lesson.
- This lesson utilizes reading and note taking/annotating to understand and answer questions which are provided. I would not include part II of this lesson.
Resources I would use from their suggestions:
https://static01.nyt.com/images/blogs/learning/pdf/activities/BranchingOut_NYTLN.pdf
https://bensguide.gpo.gov/j-check-balance
http://www.kminot.com/art/charts/branches.jpg
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/search?conditions%5Bagencies%5D=executive-office-of-the-president&page=1&per_page=10