Literacy Strategies
Across the Curriculum
Our students need to be taught how to read, write, and think like scientists, historians, mathematicians, engineers, scholars, writers, etc. The focus is not just "completing work."
We should identify the essential ways of speaking, writing, and thinking in each area and then use targeted literacy strategies to teach students how to engage with, consume, and create the specific texts we use to meet these goals.
General Categories
- Vocabulary Building: Incorporate strategies to develop subject-specific vocabulary and build collections to improve students' reading comprehension and scaffold learning.
- Anticipatory Activities: Capture attention, create connection and set the purpose for learning.
- Summarization: Requires learners to distill main ideas and essential details. It is an essential element in comprehension and building schema for learning.
- Reading Strategies - Should generally help students improve comprehension. They should teach them how good readers think and use knowledge and experience to aid comprehension, and we should implement subject specific reading strategies that teach students how to approach the kids of texts found in a particular subject area.
- Graphic Organizers: Are excellent tools to complement Elements of the Active Reading (learning). However, just putting some squares and circles on a document doesn't make it a graphic organizer. Process Use graphic organizers like mind maps, concept maps, and Venn diagrams to help students visually organize information, identify relationships between ideas, and enhance understanding.
- Questioning Techniques: Promote active engagement and critical thinking. Questioning stimulates a purpose for reading and learning, helps students make connections and allows them to practice speaking and thinking like an expert.
- Discussion Strategies: Promote active engagement and critical thinking. Stimulates a purpose for reading and learning, helps students make connections and allows them to practice speaking and thinking like an expert.
Vocabulary Building
- Vocabulary Knowledge Rating
- Alphaboxes
- Frayer Model
- Frayer model in math
- Vocabulary Cluster
- Vocab-o-gram (for narrative texts)
- Cartoon vocabulary strategy
- Linear array
- Illustrated vocabulary w/ prefix, suffix, root words
- Photo scavenger hunt
- Students find a photo on their phones that they can connect to the assigned vocabulary word.
We should be creating vocabulary collections - Word walls and posters as well as materials owned by students.
Anticapatory Activities
Capture attention, create connection and set the purpose for learning
- Short video
- Puzzle/riddle/Challenge
- WWDB - which one doesn't belong
- Two truths and a lie (content based)
- Think, notice, wonder
- Mystery pictures (make some for your own content)
Reading Strategies
Teach active reading strategies explicitly. Use graphic organizers, anchor charts and other tools to re-enforce the metacognitive strategies.
- Elements of active reading
- 49 examples of reading anchor charts
- A search for graphic organizer examples.
- 25 Strategies that work in all content areas.
Content Specific Strategies
- CUBES for reading (and solving) word problems.
- 8 Close Reading Strategies for to Develop Literacy Skills in Social Studies
- Some ideas for tailoring active reading strategies to science.
- AP PARTS strategy for reading primary sources.
**Text annotation is another great way to implement the strategies for active reading.
Help students visually organize information, identify relationships between ideas, and enhance understanding.
Graphic organizers should be used to develop the particular skills of thinking needed in the subject area - comparison and contrast, sequencing, causation, classification, evaluation, or they may strategies for reading, problem solving, or writing.
Science Ideas
Graphic Organizers for Science
Math Ideas
Social Studies
5 GO for the Social Studies Classroom
Just putting some squares and circles on a document doesn't make it a graphic organizer.
Graphic Organizers
Making Infographics
Making infographics can serve a number of useful purposes including summarization.
Summarizing Strategies
It is an essential element in comprehension and building schema for learning.
Summarize & Extend
Discussion Strategies
Promote active engagement and critical thinking. Stimulates a purpose for reading and learning, helps students make connections and allows them to practice speaking and thinking like an expert.
The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies
Including:
Gallery Walk
Philisophical Chairs
Socratic Seminar
Pinwheel Discussion
Affinity Mapping
Concentric Circles
Conver-Stations
Fishbowl
Hot Seat
Questioning Techniques
Promote active engagement and critical thinking. Stimulates a purpose for reading and learning, helps students make connections and allows them to practice speaking and thinking like an expert.
Stop Asking Questions to the Whole Room:
Ask one person.
Ask a direct question.
Ask FOR questions instead of asking IF there are any questions.
- Ms. Hasty is available to work with you on developing strategies tailored to your subject and situation.
- Every teacher has access to a premium Canva account using their .K12 credentials.
- Canva has a gazillion templates that would help you (and your students) make materials to complement our literacy goals!
Remember: