From Teaching through Text Ch. 7 – Making Reading Purposeful
Student Predictions and Hypotheses:
Calculated to increase students’ level of mental engagement
Form predictions about what a reading selection will contain before reading
Once reading, focus is to test their predictions and learn why they were right or wrong
Possible Sentences (method for evoking predictions):
Blends technical vocabulary introduction with purpose setting
Stresses clusters of related terms and the relationships among terms
Improves vocabulary knowledge and comprehension of material containing targeted words
Possible Sentences Strategy (basic procedure):
Choose six to eight unfamiliar words from the new unit or reading selection.
Choose an additional four to six works likely to be familiar.
Put these ten to twelve words on the board.
Provide short definitions, drawing on student knowledge wherever possible.
Ask students to think of sentences that use at least two of the words and that express ideas they think they may discover when they read.
Write these sentences on the board as the students dictate them.
Include both right and wrong guesses.
Make sure every word is used in at least one sentence.
When students are finished providing sentences (predictions), ask them to read the material.
Afterward, discuss the sentences on the board, noting whether each could be true, based on the reading.
If a sentence is true, leave it alone. If it is not, discuss how to modify it to make it true.
Variations in Procedure:
Make some or all of the steps a group process.
Don’t provide definitions of key terms before the reading.
At the end, generate additional sentences that reflect key terms and concepts that did not make it onto the board.
Research that Supports Possible Sentences Strategy:
Moore, D.W., & Moore, S.A (1986). "Possible sentences." In Reading in the content
areas: Improving classroom instruction. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Stahl, S.A. & Kapinus, B.A. (1991). Possible sentences: Predicting word meaning to teach content area vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 45, 36-45.