Making Connections
Section 1:
Building and Activating
Background Knowledge
Developed by …
Why is Background Knowledge Important?
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill
together.
~ William Shakespeare, All’s
Well That Ends Well
How do we Gain Background Knowledge?
“Our prior experience and background
knowledge fuel the connections we make.
The books we read, the authors we choose,
the discussions we have, our past experiences,
the newspaper, the evening news, the weekly
magazines, the Internet, and nightly dinner
table conversations all forge connections that
lead to new insight. We teach kids to think
about their connections and read in ways that
let them discover these threads” (Harvey and Goudvis,
2000).
Stuff In Annie’s Head
Birds are flying in my head.
And there is an alarm clock that wakes me up
with a sound like a pencil tapping a table.
There is a really thin tree, tall as a skyscraper.
There is a book about yellow and orange butterflies —
really, really beautiful butterflies.
A bird with a body made out of the United States
and blue wings flies behind my eyes.
In my head there is a beach with grass instead of sand
and water that is made of ice.
There is a missing tooth and a gap.
Two plus two equals four is in my head
and so is the moon.
I believe in water and snow.
Annie, kindergarten
(Writers in the Schools)
Handout
#1
What’s
in Your
Head?
Goals
• Understand the importance of making
connections to background knowledge
• Discuss ways to build new background
knowledge
• Discuss ways to activate existing background
knowledge
Introducing Background Knowledge
“When you use schema, it’s like adding things
together. Say you see leaves falling. You think
in your head, ‘Oh, it’s fall now!’ It’s kind of
like your old schema comes out of your head
and grabs the new schema and pulls it back
inside your head.”
-Christopher, a student, in Miller (2002, p. 69)
Comprehensio
Good Readers
An Example
Struggling Readers
(Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Comp
Some Background on Background
Knowledge …
• Our knowledge is organized in a series of
networks (Marzano, 2004)
Forest
More Background
“A rich network of associations makes memory strong:
new material is more likely to be remembered if it is
related to what is already in memory.” (Willingham, 2006)
For new information to become part of
memory students need:
Mon.
Tue.
Wed.
Thu.
Fri.
•3-4 exposures
•No more than 2 days apart
(Nuthall, 1999)
Think
Turn
Talk
Background Knowledge can be …
• Academic: relates to “traditional school subjects
such as mathematics, science, history,” etc.
• Non-academic: based on contexts and
experiences (examples: knowledge about
soccer, public transportation, local area)
(Marzano, 2004, p. 3)
Remember
“…all students have background knowledge even
though not all of them have the academic
background knowledge necessary to do well in
school. The background knowledge that is not
germane to academic success may still be highly
valuable in other contexts and, as such, should
be honored along with the bearers of that
knowledge.” (Marzano, 2004, p. 28-29)
Build? Or Activate?
Building Background
Knowledge
• Students know little or
nothing about a topic
Activating Background
Knowledge
• Students have some
knowledge of a topic
• May take place 1-2
weeks before reading
• Takes place directly
prior to reading
• Takes 3-4 exposures, no
more than 2 days apart
• Takes 2-10 minutes
(Nuthall, 1999)
Building Background Knowledge
Planning
• When beginning a new unit or topic of study,
assess what students do/do not know (Wilhelm, 2004)
• Pre-read selections to determine knowledge
that is essential for understanding unit texts
• Plan “virtual experiences” to build students’
knowledge (Marzano, 2004)
Virtual Experiences
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Reading and read-alouds
Discussions
Educational television or videos
Classroom demonstrations
Visual aids/photographs
Maps
Timelines and flow charts
(Archer, 2008 ; Marzano, 2004; Wilhelm, 2004;)
Building Background Knowledge
• Open Court and Foro
abierto para la
lectura, 2nd Grade
• Scott Foresman
Reading and Lectura,
3rd Grade
Insert Cover
Page of Core
Program Text
With Which
You Plan to
Model
Handout
#2
Building Background Knowledge
Week prior to reading:
Monday: read aloud article from social studies text
about Native American reservations.
If Available:
Insert
Excerpt
Tuesday: Point out Shoshone
reservation
on map.
Discuss Wyoming climate.
fromWednesday:
CorePowerPoint
Program
slide show on Wyoming
wildlife, including
mountain lions and
coyotes.
Teacher’s
Edition
Section
Thursday: Brainstorm words to describe mountain
on Background
Knowledge
lions and coyotes.
Friday: Review what we have learned about
Wyoming/ Shoshone Reservation.
We Do …
Insert
Text
from
Core
Program
Your Turn …
• Select a story from your core program.
• Preview the story and determine what
background knowledge you will need to build,
if any.
• On your Planning Handout:
write 3-4 virtual
experiences you can use to build
background knowledge.
Handout
#3
Activating Background Knowledge
Activating Background Knowledge
• Activating background knowledge should take
just a few moments (Moats, 2005)
• We should activate background knowledge that
is crucial to understanding the story
• The background knowledge we activate should
be linked to our purpose for reading
Preview Text
Present students with introductory material
before reading
– Definitions
– Translations of foreign words or phrases
– Explanations of difficult concepts
– Plot synopsis
– Lists and descriptions of characters
(Strangman & Hall, 2004)
Activating Background Knowledge
• Open Court and Foro
abierto para la
lectura, 2nd Grade
• Scott Foresman
Reading and Lectura,
3rd Grade
Insert Cover
Page of Core
Program Text
With Which
You Plan to
Model
Activating Background Knowledge
CPQ: How does Spider feel about the spelling
bee throughout the first part of the story?
If Available: Insert Excerpt
Background Knowledge:
fromActivate
Core
Program
Brainstorm feeling words and write on
sentence strips.
Place words onSection
a continuum
Teacher’s
Edition
from happy to sad.
on Background Knowledge
We Do …
CPQ: What is life like
for children on the
Mayflower?
Insert
Text
from
Core
Program
Your Turn …
• Write a CPQ for your core program story.
• Determine what background knowledge you
will need to activate.
• On your Planning Handout,
describe how you
will activate the necessary
background knowledge.
Handout
#3
Next Steps: Decisions to Make
1. Modeling: When will I come and model building and
activating background knowledge in a lesson?
2. Planning: When will we meet to plan lessons?
3. Side-by-Side Teaching: When will we plan to teach a
lesson together?
4. Coaching: When will I observe your teaching and
provide feedback?
5. Next Comprehension Meeting: When will we meet
next? Bring reflections and lesson plans to the next
session.
References
Archer, A. (2008). Reading comprehension: The big ideas. Advanced
Coaching Institute III: Creating Deeper Buckets of Knowledge. Houston,
TX.
Au, K. (2002). Multicultural factors and the effective instruction of
students of diverse backgrounds. In A. Farstrup, & S. Samuels (Eds.),
What research has to say about reading instruction (pp. 392-413).
Newark: International Reading Association.
Harvey, S. & Goudvis, A. (2000). Strategies that work: Teaching
comprehension to enhance understanding. York, ME: Stenhouse
Publishers.
Marzano, R. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic
achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Miller, D. (2002). Reading with meaning: Teaching comprehension in the
primary grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
References
Moats, L. (2005). Language essentials for teachers of reading and spelling
module 6: Digging for meaning: Teaching text comprehension. Boston:
Sopris West.
Nuthall, G. (1999). The way students learn: Acquiring knowledge from an
integrated science and social studies unit. The Elementary School
Journal , 99 (44), 303-341.
Pressley, M. (2000). What should comprehension instruction be the
instruction of? In M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.),
Handbook of reading research: Volume III (pp. 545-561). Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Recht, D., & Leslie, L. (1988, March). Effect of prior knowledge on good
and poor readers' memory of text. Journal of Educational Psychology,
80(1), 16-20. Retrieved June 23, 2008, doi:10.1037/0022-0663.80.1.16
References
Risko, V., & Walker-Dalhouse, D. (2007). Tapping students' cultural funds
of knowledge to address the achievement gap. The Reading Teacher ,
61 (1), 98-100.
Strangman, N., & Hall, T. (2004). Background knowledge. Wakefield, MA:
National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved June
23, 2008 from
http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_backknowledge.html
Stuff in Annie's Head. (n.d.). Retrieved from Writers in the Schools:
www.writersintheschools.org
Robinson, J. (2008). How to get more out of your core reading program.
Advanced coaching institute III: Creating deeper buckets of knowledge.
Houston, TX.
References
Wilhelm, J. (2004). Reading is seeing: Learning to visualize scenes,
characters, ideas, and text worlds to improve comprehension and
reflective reading. New York: Scholastic, Inc.
Willingham, D. (2006). How knowledge helps: It speeds and strengthens
reading comprehension, learning - and thinking. Retrieved June 20,
2008, from http://www.aft.org/pubsreports/american_educator/issues/spring06/willingham.htm