Beginning of Instruction Strategies

Anticipation Guide

This strategy will help students understand how a text presents information and determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development as well as summarize the key supporting details and ideas. This strategy also aids in activating prior academic learning and prerequisite skills. An anticipation guide would have a number of questions pertaining to the topic in varying levels of difficulty. For social studies, there could be questions relating to the women’s suffrage movement (or other major ideas of unit) prior to reading text on the topic. The important aspect of the strategy is to revisit the guide after reading to view what students are learning. The goal of the anticipation guide is to activate and assess background knowledge, introduce and set purpose of the unit, and build interest of topic.

The following web link provides helpful information for implementing the anticipation guide as well as great examples in multiple contents:

http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/anticipation_guide/

Example:

Before reading statement– After reading statement/?

yes/no, agree/disagree

true/false, yes, yes but, no

The anticipation guide should be used in the beginning of instruction to activate prior knowledge, introduce a new topic, and set the purpose for a new unit of study. This strategy can work well with most students. This is an introductory content strategy and requires students to rely on background knowledge. This strategy would not work well for students who have no previous knowledge on the topic.

KWL Chart

This strategy can help students determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions. Students can also use the KWL charts to analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them. When introducing a new unit or chapter of study, a KWL chart can be implemented into instruction in a number of ways. The instructor can use it on poster paper, drawn on the white or smart board and ask students what they already know about the topic writing it down in the first column. Students can create a KWL chart individually to track their own thinking and learning. Students will write what they want to know more about and are interested in learning in the second column. After reading and learning new information about the topic, students will document what they have learned in the last column. This strategy is great for beginning a new unit or topic of study. This method can be used with any sort of topic or text.

This strategy can work well with most students. This method is versatile and can be implemented individually, with small groups, or in a whole class setting but it tracks individual student learning.

Sum of its Parts

This inference strategy will help students understand how a visual and/or a text presents information and determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development as well as summarize the key supporting details and ideas. This strategy also aids in activating prior academic learning and prerequisite skills. This learning task appeals to a variety of learners as it can be utilized as a visual, auditory, and written method and is very engaging for students.

Divide the visual into four quadrants. Students can work individually, in small groups or as a whole class. Students evaluate and interpret each quadrant individually to discover what they see in each section of the visual. The instructor will give students a specific amount of time to view each section of the picture and ask what historical importance they believe the visual has. The students will then record their thoughts before viewing the next section of the visual. After each section has been analyzed, have the students piece together the information to make sense of the whole picture. This can be utilized with most any historical source.

In Pencil, In Ink, In Stone

This strategy will help students understands how a text presents information and determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development as well as summarize the key supporting details and ideas. This strategy aids in the development of academic language functions as students are analyzing and interpreting key concepts. In a social studies class this strategy is great for determining how much a student knows about a topic prior to a lesson or learning activity. Then students will check to see what they have learned and if it was different than what they wrote on the chart for comparison purposes. In this way, students have more ownership of their learning. For a unit on the civil war, students will write what they think they know in pencil on the left hand column of the chart. (Example: the civil war was not fought over just the issue of slavery). In the second column of the chart, students will record what they think they know in pen (in ink). (Example: the Civil War resulted in many casualties on both sides of the conflict). In the last column, students will write facts and information they are certain and very confident about. (Example: the civil war was fought between the north and south). Tis will be followed by an activity or lesson to compare information to see growth or differences. Then a whole class discussion will ensue to enrich the learning process and add new information to the class chart on the board as well as address any questions. This strategy is great to use when introducing new material or starting a new unit of study. This strategy activates prior knowledge and helps to assess accuracy of background knowledge. This strategy works well for most students as students will be reading, writing, and discussing content and their ideas. This method provides a variety of learners to participate in the learning task which helps engage student in learning.