Integrating Reading Strategies for Secondary Social Studies

The purpose of this chart is to list some of the many reading strategies that exist to enhance our instruction of reading skills in the area of Social Studies. This is by no means a complete list; rather, it focuses on the strategies that are most applicable to the goals of your school. These strategies were gathered from numerous sources, including the section, “College Preparatory Strategies,” found in the appendix of the grade 9 American Government curriculum guide, the resource book Teaching Reading in Social Studies: A Supplement to Teaching Reading in the Content Areas Teacher's Manual (2nd Edition), by Jane K. Doty, Gregory N. Cameron, and Mary Lee Barton, and the Greece Central School Distract English/Language Arts website, available at http://web000.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/Index.htm

Skill / Strategy / When? / Description
Organizational Patters / Collaborative Annotation / Pre
During
After
/ Students respond to text in the margins of the reading, and then exchange papers with a partner. The partner then adds to and/or responds to the first students’ annotations.
Cornell Notes / Pre
During
After
/ With Cornell Notes, students take detailed notes from a text in a wide right-hand margin and develop clarifying ideas or questions regarding these notes in a narrow left-hand margin. They then summarize at the bottom of the page.
Graphic Organizers / Pre
During
After
/ Students record information from a text in a manner that visually categorizes it to enhance understanding. Common graphic organizers include flowcharts, Venn Diagrams, charts, and webs.
Learning Logs / Pre
During
After
/ A journal in which students make regular entries of their thoughts and reflections on what they are learning in class. In their logs, students may address questions such as What did I learn? What questions do I have about what I learned? What connections did I make to previous ideas or lessons?
Pair Share / Pre
During
After
/ After completing an assigned reading, students should share their responses to open-ended questions with a partner. A whole-class discussion should follow.
Think Aloud / Pre
During
After
/ Teacher models a thinking process by verbalizing thoughts while reading, processing information, or performing some learning task. Students see how to construct meaning, approach unfamiliar vocabulary, or select strategies for comprehension.
Skill / Strategy / When? / Description
Author’s Purpose / Anticipation Guide / Pre
During
After
/ A set of carefully selected questions that serve as a pre/post inventory for a reading. Extended anticipation guides also require students to paraphrase the text to justify or disprove predictions.
Collaborative Annotation / Pre
During
After
/ Students respond to text in the margins of the reading, and then exchange papers with a partner. The partner then adds to and/or responds to the first students’ annotations.
Cornell Notes / Pre
During
After
/ With Cornell Notes, students take detailed notes from a text in a wide right-hand margin and develop clarifying ideas or questions regarding these notes in a narrow left-hand margin. They then summarize at the bottom of the page.
Dialectical Journal / Pre
During
After
/ Students record their thoughts in preparation for a discussion with a partner, small group, or the entire class. Students should divide their paper in half, take notes on the right side, and respond to these notes on the left side.
KWL / Pre
During
After
/ Students record what they know (prior knowledge), what they want to know (gaps in knowledge) and what they learned (new knowledge) about a text.
Pair Share / Pre
During
After
/ After completing an assigned reading, students should share their responses to open-ended questions with a partner. A whole-class discussion should follow.
Parking Lot / Pre
During
After
/ Students write questions or statements on sticky notes, then place their notes on a large chart divided into three sections and labeled with headings such as I Don’t Understand, I Am Starting to Understand, and I Completely Understand.
Quickspeak/ Quickwrite / Pre
During
After
/ Students write or speak continuously for a brief set period of time on a given topic. The topics can be based on prior reading assignments or used to assess prior knowledge.
RAFT / Pre
During
After
/ Students write to enhance understanding of a text. They identify the Role of the writer (reporter, eyewitness, customer, etc.), the Audience of the writing (historical figure, students, teacher, etc.), the Form of the writing (letter, article, report, poem, etc.), and the Topic of the writing (new information).
Skill / Strategy / When? / Description
Main Idea/ Universal Themes / Anticipation Guide / Pre
During
After
/ A set of carefully selected questions that serve as a pre/post inventory for a reading. Extended anticipation guides also require students to paraphrase the text to justify or disprove predictions.
Carousel Brainstorming / Pre
During
After
/ Topics are written as headings on chart paper posted around the room. Students move clockwise from chart to chart to brainstorm ideas for each topic. They then do a gallery walk to see the ideas that were added after they wrote.
Collaborative Annotation / Pre
During
After
/ Students respond to text in the margins of the reading, and then exchange papers with a partner. The partner then adds to and/or responds to the first students’ annotations.
Consultants / Pre
During
After
/ Students divide into groups according to particular topics and serve as consultants to each other. They can be instructed to report out briefly at the end of the activity to share what was discussed and to solicit additional feedback from the entire class.
Cornell Notes / Pre
During
After
/ With Cornell Notes, students take detailed notes from a text in a wide right-hand margin and develop clarifying ideas or questions regarding these notes in a narrow left-hand margin. They then summarize at the bottom of the page.
Dialectical Journal / Pre
During
After
/ Students record their thoughts in preparation for a discussion with a partner, small group, or the entire class. Students should divide their paper in half, take notes on the right side, and respond to these notes on the left side.
Fishbowl / Pre
During
After
/ A small group of students gathers in the middle of the room while the remainder of the class sits around them. The group in the middle discusses a topic while the outside observers write comments to share during the debriefing session. Students then write about their feelings or insights on the topic.
Four Corner Discussion / Pre
During
After
/ Students must read a text and respond to a specific statement related to the topic by walking to one of four corners of the room labeled as strongly agree, somewhat agree, strongly disagree, and somewhat disagree. After a discussion, the groups will decide on a position statement and develop reasoning to be presented to the whole class. Students may change corners if they are influenced by the logic presented, then write a reflection about the ideas that influenced their position.
Graphic Organizers / Pre
During
After
/ Students record information from a text in a manner that visually categorizes it to enhance understanding. Common graphic organizers include flowcharts, Venn Diagrams, charts, and webs.
Skill / Strategy / When? / Description
Main Idea/ Universal Themes / Jigsaw / Pre
During
After
/ Students should divide into groups of four home groups. Each member of the home group is assigned to a different expert group. Each expert group reads and discusses a text before returning to their home groups and sharing.
KWL / Pre
During
After
/ Students record what they know (prior knowledge), what they want to know (gaps in knowledge) and what they learned (new knowledge) about a text.
Learning Log / Pre
During
After
/ A journal in which students make regular entries of their thoughts and reflections on what they are learning in class. In their logs, students may address questions such as What did I learn? What questions do I have about what I learned? What connections did I make to previous ideas or lessons?
Meeting of the Minds / Pre
During
After
/ Students are assigned a perspective related to the topic of study and write three questions that they would ask people with other perspectives on the same topic. Discussing a topic from different perspectives develops critical thinking skills and allows each student to compare his/her ideas and opinions with that of classmates.
Pair Share / Pre
During
After
/ After completing an assigned reading, students should share their responses to open-ended questions with a partner. A whole-class discussion should follow.
Parking Lot / Pre
During
After
/ Students write questions or statements on sticky notes, then place their notes on a large chart divided into three sections and labeled with headings such as I Don’t Understand, I Am Starting to Understand, and I Completely Understand.
Picture Analysis / Pre
During
After
/ Students analyze a photo, painting, political cartoon, or other image to gain new information. Various strategies can be used to do this, such as OPTIC or TACOS, but the common theme with all strategies is looking at all elements of the image.
Quickspeak/ Quickwrite / Pre
During
After
/ Students write or speak continuously for a brief set period of time on a given topic. The topics can be based on prior reading assignments or used to assess prior knowledge.
RAFT / Pre
During
After
/ Students write to enhance understanding of a text. They identify the Role of the writer (reporter, eyewitness, customer, etc.), the Audience of the writing (historical figure, students, teacher, etc.), the Form of the writing (letter, article, report, poem, etc.), and the Topic of the writing (new information).
Skill / Strategy / When? / Description
Main Idea/ Universal Themes / Round Robin / Pre
During
After
/ Students each share one thing that they’ve learned and one concern or problem they have on a given topic.
SQ3R / Pre
During
After
/ Students Survey the entire reading selection, turn the headings into Questions, Read to answer the questions, Recite while reading the text, and Review the entire chapter after completing the reading.
Think Aloud / Pre
During
After
/ Teacher models a thinking process by verbalizing thoughts while reading, processing information, or performing some learning task. Students see how to construct meaning, approach unfamiliar vocabulary, or select strategies for comprehension.
Underlining / Pre
During
After
/ Students are given a specific type of information to locate and underline as they read a text. This information may be used to complete other tasks.
Vocabulary Development / Pre
During
After
/ Students employ various strategies to gain or enhance understanding of key terms. Some strategies include:
Ø  Concept mapping – students record the word, definition, words that describe “what it’s like,” and words that describe examples on a web
Ø  Frayer Model – students record the word, its definition, characteristics, examples, and non-examples on a four square organizer
Ø  Semantic Mapping – students brainstorm terms that relate to the word, categorize the terms, and create a web
Ø  VOC Strategy – students respond to a series of questions that help them to analyze the word in context
Ø  Verbal and Visual Word Association – students record the word, its definition, a picture, and a personal association or characteristic on a four square organizer
Ø  Word Sort – Students group words into categories and determine a label for each category

Bohn 12/09 - Reading Strategies 2 of 5