Literacy in the Content Areas
Dr. Jim Greenlaw
St. Francis Xavier University
What Content Area Reading
Involves
• Reading in content areas, such as science,
history, and social studies, implies that
students can read and understand expository
texts. Not only are these texts characterized
by their factual information, but this
information is often conveyed using
multisyllabic technical words. Another
common feature of expository texts is the way
they are structured. For example, they may
rely on cause/effect, compare-contrast, or
sequencing.
• When students read in the content areas they
interact with the text before, during, and after
reading. Before reading, they draw on their
prior knowledge, set a purpose, and anticipate
questions. During reading, they use word
identification strategies (e.g., structural
analysis, syllabication) to decode unfamiliar
multisyllabic words and context clues to figure
out the meaning of technical terms. They read
between the lines to make inferences. After
reading, students reflect, synthesize ideas
across sources, and make further
interpretations.
• Drawing on their diverse abilities and
needs, readers interact with the text on
three levels. The first level is the literal
level—reading and understanding the
factual information in the text. The
second level is inferential—reading
between the lines to make sense of
ideas through connecting to past
experiences and knowledge. The third
level is evaluation—forming conclusions
and developing viewpoints based on
analysis of the information.
• Who the reader is—in terms of prior
experiences, strengths, abilities, skills, needs,
and difficulties—affects the individual's
meaning-making process. For example, a
student who has visited the Parsboro Museum
and collected fossil specimens on the beach at
Joggins will be able to draw on his or her prior
knowledge when reading a text about the
geology of Nova Scotia. If this student has
read other materials about geology, then some
vocabulary words might already be familiar.
Why Teaching Reading is
Important in the Content Areas
• Although content area teachers might like to
assume that all students can comprehend
texts, identify the words in the texts,
understand the meaning of these words, use
information from texts to construct
knowledge, and demonstrate their
understanding, this is not always the case. If
students cannot read, then they are hindered
in developing content area knowledge. In
today's educational context, every content
area teacher has a responsibility to help
students successfully and productively access,
read, and understand texts.
How to Help Students
Become Strategic Readers
• All content knowledge teachers can help their
students become better content readers by
using reading strategies. Research has shown
that when students are given instruction in
strategies they make significant gains on
measures of reading comprehension over
students trained with conventional instruction.
• Reading strategies draw on the different
approaches that good readers use to read
actual text in their classrooms. These
strategies include making connections,
questioning, inferring, determining
importance, visualizing, synthesizing, and
monitoring for meaning. To help students
become strategic readers, teachers can model
different strategies, coach students, provide
prompts, offer encouragement, and give
feedback at just the right time.
Include questions in reading the content that include all six levels of
Bloom’s taxonomy
Before Reading
Suggestions for teaching comprehension strategy use before reading
include providing opportunities for students:
• to activate their prior knowledge about the content area topic to be
studied. Activities might include having students tell what they know about
the topic or inviting them to discuss what they want to learn about it;
• to participate in activities, such as mapping techniques, that enable
students to see relationships among their ideas about the topic;
• to participate in activities that introduce analogous material to help
students make connections between the topic to be studied and their
background knowledge;
• to participate in activities that develop the prerequisite background
knowledge and vocabulary about content area topics. Activities might
include reading materials, videos, computer databases and Web sites,
and field trips;
• to participate in vocabulary-building activities that teach students the
meaning of technical words they will encounter as they read;
• to preview and make predictions about the text to be read;
• to examine the physical features of the text, such as different kinds of
typefaces or headings and subheadings, to make predictions about
what they will learn from reading;
• to establish goals, or purposes for reading;
• to generate questions they would like answered about the topic of the
text. Students might use physical features of the text to generate
questions. They might, for example turn headings into questions or
question themselves about the definitions of boldface or italicized words
in the text.
During Reading
Suggestions for teaching comprehension strategy use during
reading include providing opportunities for students:
• to construct mental images of the content they are reading;
• to reflect on and monitor their understanding of text as they
read;
• to participate in self-questioning activities that require them to
clarify and monitor their comprehension as they proceed
through text. For example, students might be taught to ask
themselves questions such as, “Do I understand what I just
read?”;
• to participate in activities in which they respond to factual and
inferential questions as they proceed through the text. To
begin, teachers might provide clues about where to find the
answers to these questions;
• to participate in summarization activities that enable
students to identify information pertinent to sections of text.
Students can be prompted to ask themselves questions
such as, “What is the most important idea about the
paragraph I just read? or “What is the gist of the
paragraph?”;
• to keep literature logs and journals, which offer students
opportunities to reflect on their reading through prediction,
summarization, and interpretation;
• to apply organizational frameworks as a way to
understand and remember content information;
• to complete note sheets and study guides to facilitate
their understanding of text and improve their ability to deal
with information presented in various expository text
structures; and
After Reading
Suggestions for teaching comprehension strategy use after
reading include providing opportunities for students:
• to review, paraphrase, summarize, and interpret text;
• to participate in discussions of the main ideas of the text by
summarizing or by putting information into their own words;
• to answer questions that pertain both to literal and inferential
comprehension of text;
• to participate in small-group discussions using study guides
and postreading questions; and
• to present important information from the text through oral
reports, visual representations, media shows, or book reviews.
Think Alouds
• The Think Aloud is a literacy strategy designed to
help students monitor comprehension and direct their
thinking as they work through the problem solving
process. This literacy strategy can be implemented
effectively in many content areas. It is used, for
instance, to demonstrate the thinking that goes into
solving a math problem. Through teacher modeling,
students are “talked through” the thinking processes.
The teacher should keep in mind that the comments
must exemplify metacognitive awareness so that
each step in the process is modeled for the students.
Questions are to be encouraged after the problem is
solved.
Think Aloud Lesson
• Students turn to the assigned problems for the day.
• Teacher thinks aloud through 2 or 3 examples,
pointing out to the students how the Think Aloud
reveals how to attack and solve the problem.
• Students solve each sample problem after the
teacher does the Think Alouds.
• Next the children try Thinking Aloud with a partner
on several problems. The teacher circulates and
listens to the interaction, offering suggestions and
modeling for those who are having difficulty.
• Finally, students work on the assigned problems
using Think Aloud “silently” as they work.
SQRQCQ
• SURVEY First, the students survey the problem
rather quickly to get a general idea or understanding
of it.
• QUESTION Then they come up with questions —
what they believe the problem is asking for.
• REREAD The third step is to reread the problem to
identify facts, relevant information, and details they
will need to solve it.
• QUESTION Now another question is formulated that
focuses on what mathematical operation(s) to apply.
• COMPUTE The students actually compute the
answer — solving the problem.
• QUESTION The question to be asked at this point
involves the accuracy of the answer. Is it correct?
Does the answer make sense?
SQ3R
• Survey By surveying the chapter titles, introductory
paragraphs, bold face, italicized headings, and summary
paragraphs, the reader gets an overview of the material.
Surveying also gives enough information to generate
individual purposes for reading the text.
• Question Purpose questions are often provided at the
beginning of the chapter. It not, the reader can turn section
headings into questions. The main objective is to have
questions for which answers are expected to be found in the
passage.
• Read The student is to read to answer the purpose
questions formulated in Step 2, Question.
• Recite Student should try to answer questions without
referring to the text or notes. This step helps in transferring
information from short-term to long-term memory.
• Review Students review the material by rereading parts of
the text or notes. Students verify answers given during Step
Concept Maps
• Concept mapping, among many other
things, allows teachers and students to
organize concepts and determine the
relations between concepts. This enables a
teacher or student to work with concepts and
propositions as opposed to the rote
memorization of facts.
• Concept maps are both evocative and
generative. That is they help evoke prior
knowledge and help generate or construct
new knowledge. Concept mapping is
particularly useful in the science classroom.
There are several steps in the construction of
Concept maps.
Steps in Concept Map Construction
1. Select several concepts from the content material (8-12
preferable).
2. Write each concept on a separate post-it or card.
3. Select an organizing concept or main idea concept to be
placed at the top of the map.
4. Arrange the other concepts in a distinct hierarchy under the
organizing concept.
5. Draw lines between related concepts adding linking words
that explain relationships.
6. Review and Reflect. Once satisfied with the arrangement of
the concepts on the map, construct a final map.
Jigsaw
• The Jigsaw strategy is designed for cooperative learning. The idea is
analogous to a jigsaw puzzle in that “pieces” or topics of study are
researched and learned by students within groups and then put together in
the form of peer teaching between groups.
• Students work in groups of three to six to become experts on a particular
topic which is based on an overall theme or unit of study. The group
members are charged with learning everything they can about their
assigned topics. Each group member participates in the research efforts
and becomes an “expert” on his or her particular topic. The students then
leave their groups to join “expert groups” to teach about their assigned
pieces of the puzzle. Then, the original group comes back together to teach
each other what they have learned. Each student listens and takes notes,
and at the end of the unit, is accountable for the information shared
throughout the class. Instructional technology can easily be incorporated
into the jigsaw strategy. Research can be accomplished via the internet online encyclopedias. Presentations can be developed with various software
packages and enhanced with video camera pictures, student voices,
music, and moving illustrations from other sources in to the presentations.
How to set it up
1. Divide class into 4-6 member groups; each member
becomes an expert on a different topic/concept assigned by
teacher.
2. Members of the teams with the same topic meet together in
an expert group with a variety of resource materials and texts
available to explore their topic. Also, a single reading from the
textbook or another source could be used to complete the
assignment.
3. The students prepare how they will teach the information to
others.
4. Everyone returns to their jigsaw teams to teach what they
learned to the other members.
5. Team members listen and take notes as their classmate
teaches them.
6. All students are given a quiz or exam on the overall topic
Cubing
• This strategy was originally intended to be a
writing strategy to explore topics or subjects
from a variety of dimensions. A concrete
visual of a cube is used to consider these
multiple dimensions.
• It is best to introduce the activity with a
familiar topic, going through each of the steps
to model their application to that particular
topic. Then, students can work individually or
in groups to go through each side of the
cube.
The Six Sides of the Cube
1. Describe it (including color, shape, size (if applicable)—
How would you describe the issue/topic?
2. Compare it (what it is similar to or different from)—“It’s sort
of like”
3. Associate it (what it makes you think of)—How does the
topic connect to other issues/subjects?
4. Analyze it (tell how it is made or what it is composed of)—
How would you break the problem/issue into smaller parts?
5. Apply it (tell how it can be used)—How does it help you
understand other topics/issues?
6. Argue for/against it (take a stand and support it)—I am for
this because/This works because/I agree because
KWL
• We know that successful learners link prior
knowledge to new information, then reorganize it to
create their own meaning and learning. KWL helps
students do this—it provides a framework that
students can use to construct meaning from new
material. It is a literacy strategy that teachers can
easily modify to meet students’ learning needs at
any level and in any content area. The letters stand
for the knowledge construction process that takes
place:
• K — What I KNOW begins with students’ prior
knowledge—brainstorm and record
• W — What I WANT to learn/know students
articulate their own questions
• L — What I LEARNED students record what they
Journals
• Allowing students to write in journals gives them the
opportunity to express their own thoughts and
opinions in a non-threatening arena. While the
activity allows them to organize their ideas with some
freedom, guidelines for how the journal is to be set up
and utilized is basic to successful use of journals.
Presenting a general format to follow will help to
eliminate writer’s anxiety and give structure to
journaling assignments.
• Students are often motivated to go beyond the basic
requirements of an assignment and explore other
perspectives and possibilities for solutions to
problems. Journal entries can be inspired by teacher
prompts or student-selected topics. The information
recorded in the journal can serve as a study guide or
resource for other projects.
Observation Journal (Field Journal)
• The students and the teacher should negotiate about
what observations are to made, and what guidelines
are to be established for recording in the journals.
The format for entries, information to be included,
when to record, etc., are topics that should be
included in the preliminary planning for the
observation journals. The students then visit the
experiment and record their observations into the
journal (or field notebook).
• It is important to remember that journal entries do not
always have to be charts or narrative writings. The
use of illustrations in the journal is an effective way
for students to clarify what they are reporting and is
an excellent way to address different learning styles
represented by students in every classroom.
Dialogue Journal
• Dialogue journals offer an opportunity
for two-way communication between
teacher and student: on-going learning
can take place through use of this
process.
Assessment Journal
• Students respond to teacher prompts,
experiences, or self-selected topics.
Illustrations may also be included. Students
exchange journals between each other and
critique them in a positive manner. This helps
the students further understand the concepts
being presented as they have an opportunity
to see other student’s work, ask questions of
classmates, and offer positive suggestions to
each other. Peer assessment of journal
writing also helps foster communication
between students.
GIST
• GIST is helpful for teachers to use when students fail to read
problems carefully before attempting to solve them
(Cunningham, 1982). The task is to write a summary of the
problem in 12 words or less. The student identifies the 12
most important words needed to solve the problem. The words
capture the “gist” of the problem. A chart may be prepared with
the word problem at the top and 12 blanks below to be
completed by the students.
• This strategy helps students to recognize information that is
not essential to solving the problem. The teacher can model
the strategy, then ask students to line out information that is
not necessary to solve the problem. Through the use of this
strategy, the students learn to distill the essence of the
problem.
Vocabulary Study
• Vocabulary knowledge is in constant change as
students encounter different uses of terminology in
different contexts. In order for students to solve word
problems they need to understand the vocabulary
used in the problem. Some words are best learned
through direct and visual experience and by making
connections. An understanding of the words
contained in word problems is essential to finding a
solution. This literacy strategy can easily be
incorporated into mathematics teaching whenever
word problems are being studied.
• The teacher selects words in the problem to review
with the students. Words are decoded, and their use
within the context of the problem is recognized. The
teacher guides the students through the problem,
asking questions that require the students to think
about what the problem is asking. This strategy
promotes the higher level thinking necessary to
Knowledge Rating
• The Knowledge Rating literacy strategy can easily be
incorporated into instruction in any content area (Blachowicz,
1986). It is a pre/during/and post-reading activity. Students
begin with a list of vocabulary words and corresponding
columns (see sample Knowledge Rating charts). Before
reading, students analyze each word and note whether the
term is familiar. If the student knows the meaning of the word,
a short definition is written in the appropriate column. This
pre-reading activity sets the stage for further clarification of
the words through discussion or reading.
• Next, students skim the text to locate the words in context.
The location of the word is noted for later reference (with
highlighters, removable sticky strips, underlining, etc.). It is
permissible to have the students highlight a form of the word,
if the exact word is not found first.
• After reading the text completely, the words are revisited in
context, and definitions are noted for each word. Such active
participation in processing vocabulary is necessary to
Writer’s Workshop
• Writer’s Workshop involves use of an instructional strategy by
which students are engaged, encouraged, and developed as
writers and readers. Within the context of Writer’s Workshop,
a variety of organizational patterns for instruction are used. A
whole class session, a small group mini-lesson, or a studentteacher conference are examples of the various intraclass
organizational structures. The Writer’s Workshop is devoted
to supporting student learning in writing. What students need
to learn during a Writer’s Workshop is based upon their
present writing competencies and the English language arts
standards and benchmarks for each grade level. For the
majority of the time in Writer’s Workshop, students will be
engaged in actual writing. This strategy may be employed
over a period of several days, and has several “sub parts.”
Mini-lesson
A mini-lesson (Calkins, 1986) provides direct instruction by the teacher
which will help students independently engage in their own writing. It is a
short, focused lesson about a specific writing technique which is often
thought of as an opportunity for the teacher to explain and demonstrate a
specific technique for improving a piece of writing. It is an invitation for
students to try a particular technique in their own writing. Selection of the
topic for the mini-lesson is based on students’ writing needs.
A variety of topics may be selected based on the identified need in student
writing as the teacher helps the writer to further refine a piece of writing. The
minilesson may involve revising a piece of writing based on a need for
organization and clarity, while another mini-lesson might focus on helping
students generate topic ideas for one’s writing.
Teachers may use the writing from one of the students in the class as the
text used to discuss the mini-lesson topic. Using your student’s own writing
to help other students develop their writing skills helps to build a community
of writers. It is important to remember to value student ownership and seek
permission to use the student’s writing prior to using it in a minilesson.
Goal Setting and Peer Conferences
• Goal Setting Conference: A goal setting conference is
designed to support student literacy achievement during
Writer’s Workshop by helping students take responsibility for
determining what they will address in their writing and for
improving that aspect of their writing. It may also serve as a
management technique. It is a useful strategy or technique
that is helpful in developing student accountability and
responsibility.
• Peer Conferences: Conferences between students are a
powerful means of building community in the Writer’s
Workshop setting. They serve to foster independence and
student responsibility. Peer conferences may address
prewriting, the content of the writing selection, necessary
revision, editing needs, or just about any aspect of writing.
Structuring time for peer conferences is an important part of
Writer’s Workshop.
Symbols
• The idea of using symbols as a literacy strategy has it roots in dual coding
theory. The dual coding theory attempts to give equal weight to verbal and
nonverbal processing. Human cognition is unique in that it has become
specialized for dealing simultaneously with language and with nonverbal
objects and events. Moreover, the language system is peculiar in that it
deals directly with linguistic input and output (in the form of speech or
writing) while at the same time serving a symbolic function with respect to
nonverbal objects, events, and behaviors. Any representational theory
must accommodate this dual functionality.
• Symbols support a quick recognition system that allows for fast translation
of presented information. Symbols further allow for economy in the
amount of information presented.
• Imagine a weather map where all the important information about fronts
and precipitation is represented. If that information were written out, the
map itself would be obliterated by textual material. The important
information would be obscured. Symbols have always been part of human
culture and constitute a common visual language.
Subject
Use of Symbols
Language Arts
punctuation, mythology
Mathematics
signs
operational and relational
Science
symbols
periodic chart, weather
Social Studies
Health and Safety
map symbols
warning symbols
World Wide Vocabulary
• An online dictionary can be used to discover and learn new vocabulary in
many different content area classrooms. To help students feel more
comfortable with the technology, it is important for the teacher to
demonstrate how to locate sites that will enhance the lesson as well as
how to navigate around the sites. It is also important that students
recognize the author of the web sites that will be visited or the source of
the information found.
• Information software is another way to incorporate vocabulary activities.
Packages that focus on particular subject areas, encyclopedias, and
software programs that accompany textbooks give students an
opportunity to search for word meanings in a different and exciting way.
Online word games, word searches, and puzzles can reinforce the
learning of new words and their definitions. Students often enjoy
constructing their own word puzzles and games using the computer.
• A guide sheet can be helpful for students to use with an online vocabulary
activity or with a computer software program. Each student can be
assigned particular vocabulary words to find. The words can be known
words, unknown words, or a combination of words students may or may
not be familiar with in the context of the lesson. Students could also work
in pairs or small groups of three depending upon the availability of
computers, a student’s knowledge of technology, etc. Assignments can
Directed Reading – Thinking Activity (DR-TA)
• The Directed Reading-Thinking Activity engages students in a step-bystep process that guides them through informational text. It is designed to
move students through the process of reading text. Questions are asked
and answered, and predictions are made and tested throughout the
reading. Additionally, new questions and predictions are formulated as
the student progresses through the text. While the teacher guides the
process, the student determines the purpose for reading. To introduce
the strategy, the teacher gives examples of how to make predictions. A
preview of the section to be read is given by having the students read the
title and make predictions.
• Independent thinking is encouraged as knowledge from previous lessons
is incorporated into the predictions. All student predictions should be
recorded by the teacher, even those that will later prove to be inaccurate.
Misconceptions are clarified by the reader through interaction with the
text and in post-reading discussions.
• After reading small selections, the teacher prompts the students with
questions about specific information. It is important for the teacher not to
interrupt too often. The amount of reading is adjusted depending on the
purpose and the difficulty of the text.
Directed Reading – Thinking Activity (DR-TA)
• The reading is broken into small sections, giving the students
time to think about and process information. The teacher
makes sure students can identify and understand important
vocabulary. Words are explained in context.
• This literacy strategy allows students to ask questions or
make predictions using their own words in a non-threatening
environment. Everyone is on the “same page” and has the
information right in front of them. New concepts and ideas
are connected to those learned in previous lessons.
• As the reading continues, questions are answered and
predictions are confirmed, revised, or rejected. The
predicting-reading-proving cycle continues throughout the
lesson. The format can be varied with different activities and
by integrating technology.
• Predictions made at the beginning of the lesson should be
revisited at the end of the lesson as a closing activity. This
review offers a comprehension check. Questions such as,
“Were you correct?” and, “What do you think now?” help
The Pre-Reading Plan (PReP)
• The PreReading Plan, or PReP (Langer, 1981), is a before-reading
strategy that helps teachers assess student’s prior knowledge. How
students’ prior knowledge is organized can be determined as well as the
quality and quantity of language that students use to express their
knowledge about a particular topic. There are three phases in the PReP
procedure:
• Phase One: The Initial Associations with the concept Students
brainstorm what they know about the topic or a key vocabulary term and
hear their classmates’ associations. This activity helps students think
about what they already know and sets the stage for more critical
analysis of content.
• Phase Two: Reflections on the Initial Associations Students are
asked to reflect on their Initial Associations with questions such as, “What
made you think of…?” or “Why did this response come to mind?”
• Phase Three: Reformulation of Knowledge After the discussion and
before reading, ask for new ideas. Students have the opportunity to
verbalize associations that have been elaborated or changed. This
discussion helps students understand how others are constructing
meaning.
Listen-Read-Discuss
• The literacy strategy Listen-Read-Discuss helps students comprehend
text. Before reading, students listen to a short lecture delivered by the
teacher. A guide or graphic organizer can be used to help students follow
the information.
• The students then read a text selection about the topic. This explanation
is compared with the information from the lecture. The passage from the
textbook should cover the same information introduced in the lecture.
Long reading assignments that bring in other topics are not appropriate.
The teacher should let the students know that the purpose for reading is
to experience another explanation of the topic and to compare it to the
information they have just heard.
• After reading, there is a large group discussion or students engage in
small group discussions about the topic. Questions should be
encouraged. Students may be asked to complete an information sheet or
a writing activity to further develop understanding.
Anticipation Guide
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Anticipation Guides consist of the following steps:
Planning:
Select major concepts and supporting details in a text selection, lecture, or other
information source.
Identify students’ experiences and beliefs that will be challenged and, in some
cases, supported by the material.
Create statements that reflect students’ prereading beliefs and that may challenge
and modify those beliefs. Three to five statements are usually adequate.
Arrange the statements on paper, transparency, or board.
Prereading:
Have students respond to each statement individually. You may ask them to justify
their responses for a reference point during a later discussion.
Engage the students in a prereading discussion asking them to justify their
responses to the statements.
Notes:
You may include an “I’m not sure” response, for students who do not feel
comfortable with a definite answer. This will help determine the students’ prior
knowledge. Let the students know the statements are designed to make them think
about topics and to make them think about what they will be learning.
Reaction Guide
• The Reaction Guide is a post-reading
strategy that serves as a review of the
learning. Post-reading reactions to the
same statements from the Anticipation
Guide allow students an opportunity to
reassess their original responses.
Discussion Groups
• Teachers need to model the process of how a small group
should function. To introduce the roles within the group, a
small group should be formed for the entire class to observe.
The teacher and students can assume assigned roles within
the group and demonstrate the process, with the teacher’s
direct guidance. Examples of how a discussion can be used
to solve a problem, answer questions, or accomplish a task
can be modeled.
• Groups should be made up of five, four, or three students. It
is important that group members have specific
responsibilities in order to complete the assignment and to
know exactly what is expected of them. For instance, roles
can include: facilitator, recorder, clerk, and manager.
Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (VSS)
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The purpose of the Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy is to help students
generate a list of words to be explored and learned and to use their own prior
knowledge and interests to enhance their vocabulary. This strategy can be used to
stimulate growth in word knowledge. Because the list is self-generated, an internal
motivation is utilized. This strategy can help students become fascinated with
language and thus, increase their enjoyment of the subject.
Students are put into cooperative groups and asked to go through the assigned
reading (for example a chapter in their book) to identify words that they think
ought to be studied further. Students are to find words that are important to
understanding the content of a particular text selection. The meaning and
importance of the words can be discussed in cooperative groups prior to sharing
them with the whole class.
Next, a class list of words is developed. Each team submits one word from their
list to the class, giving its meaning and why they consider it important. The word is
recorded for display. Each other group then submits a different word. This action
is repeated until all selected words are on display. The teacher can also submit a
word to the list. The teacher then leads a discussion for clarification and
expansion of the meanings of the terms. A dictionary or the index of the text can
be checked for word meanings when necessary. Students’ prior knowledge is
applied in the discussion.
Three-Level Study Guides
• The three-level study guide is one form of a study guide that
helps students develop multiple levels of understanding
when reading a text. This literacy strategy is extremely
useful in helping students become critical thinkers as they
develop independence in reading comprehension. The
following steps facilitate developing and using a three-level
study guide:
• Step 1: Analyze content and identify major concepts &
important details
• Step 2: Develop questions at multiple levels of
understanding
EXPLICIT LEVEL - Right on the Page
IMPLICIT LEVEL - Think and Search
EXPERIENCE-BASED - On Your Own
• Step 3: Assign the study guide and engage students in small
group discussions
Plan for the Afternoon Session
• 1:00 – 2:30 Break into discipline area teams
to plan a lesson using one of the strategies
• 2:45 – 3:30 Sharing lessons, making plans,
and question period