Sonya Elliott

Instructional Strategies

RE 5730

  1. Strategy: RAFT

(Role/Audience/Format/Topic)

Source:Buehl, D. (2009). Classroom strategies for interactive learning:third edition. Newark: International Reading Association.

Description:The RAFT strategy is used to address students writing skills. A RAFT activity combines different elements of writing which include imagination, creativity, and self motivation. The teacher must analyze the most important information that they want the students to learn from a particular lesson and then brainstorm possible roles students could assume in their writing from that lesson. The teacher then decides who the audience will be, what format to use, and the topic to be addressed. The RAFT strategy can be used cross curricular for any subject.

Classroom Application: I use the RAFT strategy in my classroom for a number of different subjects. I have used it for reading after we have finished a novel. I incorporate the numerous different characters for the part of the (R)oles and then generate different (A)udiences, (F)ormats, and (T)opics for the students to write about. I have also used this strategy in social studies when we learn about the Patriots, Neutralists, Loyalists, and Pacifists. The students had to take the role of a member of one of the parties and use any format they wished to try to convince the opposing party members to join them. In science I use a RAFT as I teach the rock cycle. The three main rock types make up the roles and the topics include what concepts about each type of rock I want to make sure the students comprehend. An example is (R)ole: Igneous rock, (A)udience: geologists, (F)ormat: interview (T)opic: characteristics and formation.

  1. Strategy: Predicting

Source: Duke, N.K. & Pearson, D. (2002). “Effective Practices for Developing Reading Comprehension.” What Research Has To Say About Reading Instruction(3rd ed., pp. 205–242). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Description: Predicting is a previewing strategy for text. Good readers hypothesize

what a text may be about. These predictions are based on textual clues or their own experiences. This previewing strategy helps readers set a goal for reading and focus their thinking. The students can use the illustrations, graphic sources, or captions while creating their predictions about the text. Predicting may be done once while previewing the text before reading or can be done continually throughout the reading in order for the students to have a chance to change or rethink their prediction based on what they have read so far.

Classroom Application: I would use predicting as a previewing strategy for stories in the basal reader. The stories that are found in the basal reader often contain enough illustrations and photographs that the students could do a “picture” walk through the text and base their predictions about the story on them. I would stop throughout the story to see if the students want revise their prediction or if they would like to leave it the same based on what we have read. At the end of the story the students could go back to their original prediction and evaluate why it was a faulty or valid prediction.

  1. Strategy: Character Quotes

Source:Buehl, D. (2009). Classroom strategies for interactive learning:third edition. Newark: International Reading Association.

Description: Character quotes is used to examine the fictional characters that students come across while they are reading literature, biographies, or any type of text that has a character that represents themselves through words. The teacher would read through the text and find several quotes that adequately represent the character’s personality. The teacher would then write the quotes on index cards and distribute these to students. Working in collaborative grouping the students would then come up with as many words as possible that describe their impression of this character based on the quotes given. This could then be used to make generalizations about the character as well as give character traits to the character.

Classroom Application: This is a strategy that I would use while reading a novel. My class is currently reading Bridge to Terabithia, and I could use the main characters from the book to complete this strategy. I would pick quotes from Jesse Aaron, May Belle, Leslie, and Janice Avery and write quotes from each of them on index cards. I would then have my students divided into groups. They would then analyze the cards for any character traits they could generate from the quotes. The students would then present their results to the class.

  1. Strategy: Reader’s Theater

Source: Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborne(2001). Put reading first:the research building blocks for teaching children to read.

Description: Reader’s Theater involves children in oral reading through reading parts in scripts. The emphasis is mainly on oral expression of the part. Reader’s Theater involves children in understanding their world, creating their own scripts, reading aloud, performing with a purpose, and bringing enjoyment to both themselves and their audiences. Reader’s Theater gives children a purpose for writing, for reading, and for sharing their learning. Reader’s Theater gives the same push to the imaginations in the audience that the act of silent reading gives to the imagination of the silent reader. It is a simple, effective and risk-free way to get children to enjoy reading. As children write, read, perform and interpret their roles they acquire a better understanding of the literature.

Classroom Application: Reader’s Theater can be used in variety of ways within my classroom. I like to use it not only for reading literature but for understanding the events that take place in social studies as well. One of the particular Reader’s Theater scripts that I use is about the Boston Tea Party. The students not only read about the events that went on leading up to this event but they also get to portray the characters that lived them. Using Reader’s Theater for this has helped the students “get into the role” in which they are reading about. Reader’s Theater takes what would normally seem boring and irrelevant information and turns it into a fun interactive lesson in which the students enjoy.

  1. Strategy: Science Connection Overview

Source:Buehl, D. (2009). Classroom strategies for interactive learning:third edition. Newark: International Reading Association.

Description: Science Connection Overview is a strategy that helps students make connections to their everyday lives as they study topics in science. The students would complete this strategy before they read any new science text. There are five parts of the Science Connection Overview: What’s Familiar, What topics are covered, what are you wondering, whatthe author will tell you, and Read/Translate. The students would be grouped and begin skimming the text to answer these five questions, in order. This allows the students to make meaningful connections with science texts before they are asked to comprehend unfamiliar information. Science Connection Overview also allows students to see how the information fits together.

Classroom Application: Since I teach fifth grade and we now have a science EOG, I think that this is one of the best strategies that I found. I could use this when introducing erosion and weathering. I would have the student to pair up and use the Science Connection Overview sheet before reading the section on weathering and erosion. This will help the students make a connection between the weathering and erosion that they actually see in their life, to the explanation of the terms in the text. They will see how the effects of erosion and weathering fit with what they are reading.

  1. Strategy: SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review)

Source: Robinson, Francis Pleasant. (1970) Effective study (4th ed.). New York: Harper & Row

Description: SQ3R is a step-by-step method to increase reading comprehension of textbooks. Within this method there are five steps that the students take in order to understand what they are reading. SURVEY: Prior to reading a section of the textbook, reader examines charts, tables, or pictures, looks over chapter headings and subheadings, and reads individual words or

blocks of text highlighted by the publisher. QUESTION: Prior to reading, reader generates and writes down a series of questions about the content based on the material that he or she has surveyed. READ: As the reader reads, he or she seeks answers to the questions posed.

RECITE: After finishing the selection, the reader attempts to recite from memory the

answers to the questions posed. If stuck on a question, the reader scans the text to find the

answer. REVIEW: At the end of a study session, the reader reviews the list of key questions and again recites the answers. If reader unable to recall an answer, he or she refers back to text.

Classroom Application: In the classroom I would have students to use SQ3R when reading informational text. These texts could include magazine articles, newspaper articles, or autobiographies/biographies. The students would complete this strategy by themselves with a self selected text or with a partner for classroom readings. SQ3R could also be used within a variety of subjects and could be modified to meet the various needs of diverse learners. SQ3R has the students focus on other parts of texts that they would normally over look. These include charts, tables, chapter headings, and sub headings.

  1. Strategy: Double Entry Diaries

Source:Buehl, D. (2009). Classroom strategies for interactive learning:third edition. Newark: International Reading Association.

Description:Students can use a double-entry journal to help them study concepts or vocabulary, express opinions, justify an opinion using text, and understand or respond to the text they are reading. The double-entry journal is a two-column journal. In the left column, students write a piece of information from the text, such as a quotation or a concept, which students want to expand upon, understand better, or question. In the right column, students relate to or analyze the information that is written in the left column. For example, the student could title the left column "Quotes" and the right column "Reflections." In this instance, the student would copy quotes from the text in the left column and reflect upon what they mean in the right column.

Classroom Application: Students in my classroom have used numerous types of DED’s. I use them for comparing/contrasting, figurative language, quotes, fact and opinion and character traits. One particular DED that I have used was with the genre of tall tales. We read the tall tale Paul Bunyan together as a class. I then gave the students a DED that focused on the figurative language within the tall tale. The left hand column was labeled “Figurative Language” within the text, and the right hand column was labeled “What is the author trying to tell you or get you to see?” The students then had to go back into the text and find example of figurative language, write them in the left hand column, and then tell me what they thought the author was trying to convey to them using that particular style of figurative language.

  1. Strategy:DRTA (Directed Reading- Thinking Activity

Source: Jennings, C. & Shepherd, J. (1998). Literacy and the key learning areas: successful classroom strategies. Eleanor Curtain Publishing.

Description:The Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA) is based on open-ended questions about the reading experience. This activity is designed to make students aware of their own interpretive actions during reading. The DRTA process helps students recognize predictions, judgments, and evidence verification. There are three steps to forming a DRTA. First, ask students to skim a reading selection prior to reading it. Have them note titles, subheadings, illustrations, captions, sidebars. From this preliminary overview, ask students to predict the content or perspective of the text passage. Then ask them to identify why they reached these conclusions. Next, pick a reasonable "break point" in the reading selection and have students read up to this point. Challenge students to evaluate their predictions and refine them if necessary. Press students who change their predictions to explain "why" and offer specific evidence/reasons for the change. The last step is to repeat the process in steps 1 and 2 throughout all the logical "break points" in the text until the selection is completed.

Classroom Application: The DRTA strategy could be used in my classroom with students who may be struggling with text comprehension. I like that the text is broken down into smaller chunks for the readers to preview and predict. This strategy helps those students who may become so overwhelmed with the amount of text that they lose the comprehension. Taking the text and finding “break points” that occur during turning points allows the students to self evaluate the prediction they made. This also allows the student to explain if they want to change their prediction or leave it the same and why they made this decision.

  1. Strategy: Highlighting Important Text

Source: Jones, R. (2006). Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Selective Underlining. Description: This strategy is used to help students organize what they have read by selecting what they consider as important. This strategy teaches students to underline/highlight only key words, phrases, vocabulary and ideas that are essential to understanding the reading. To introduce this activity the teacher needs to explain the purpose of the strategy. It is important for the teacher to model the procedure so students have a better understanding of the concept and do not highlight unnecessary information.

Classroom Application: This strategy can be used in the classroom in a variety of ways. I would first select a text that I want the students to read. I would have the student to first read the text once before they began to highlight any information. Then I would have the students to take out their highlighters and reread the selection. During this rereading the students could highlight any main ideas and supporting details they may see. Unfamiliar vocabulary and key terms may also be highlighted during this time. At the end of the reread the students should be able to take the highlighted parts of their text and be able to summarize what they have read.

  1. Strategy:Exit Slips

Source: Fisher, D., and Frey, N. (2004). Improving Literacy: Strategies at Work. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Description: Exit slips will help the teacher measure how well the students understood a topic or lesson. At the end of a lesson or five minutes before the end of class, students are asked to respond to a prompt the teacher developed based on the lesson. The prompt can be stated orally to students or it can be projected on an overhead or blackboard. The use of index cards or notebook paper is used by students to record their answers. Exit slips should be turned in while students exit the room. The teacher reviews the slips to see how and in what areas the lesson needs to be modified.

Classroom Application: I would use this strategy with my science class. We only have a total of forty five minutes for science everyday within our grade level. Each teacher teaches a particular strand of the science curriculum (mine is landforms/erosion) and the students rotate to each a new science teacher each nine weeks. With that organization, I sometimes feel that I am pushing the information at the students so fast they may not comprehend everything I am trying to throw at them at one time. So, I would use exit tickets for the students so that they can individually let me know what they have learned and what they may need help on. Exit tickets could also be used for informal assessment data as well.