kwl charts

Why should I use KWL charts?

  • Activates student prior knowledge at the beginning of a new unit or lesson
  • Involves each student in classroom discussion and reflection
  • Catalogs specific learning goals, providing direction for future work
  • Provides a structured opportunity for reflection – a key component of this strategy – at the end of a lesson or unit. By reflecting on what has been learned, students can identify actual progress and will see that their interests have been validated.

When should I use KWL charts?

  • Before and after a lesson or unit.

How should I use KWL charts?

  1. Provide each student with his or her own KWL chart. If you are teaching older students, you can ask each student to draw a three column chart on his or her paper, and label the columns What I Know, What I am Wondering, and What I Learned.
  2. Introduce students to the new subject matter. “We will spend the next few weeks understanding and experiencing poetry. Before we begin, I would like to determine what you already know about poetry. So, using your KWL, fill in the first column titled ‘What I know’ with things that you already know about poetry. ”
  3. Allow time for all students to make entries. Circulate about the classroom to monitor each student’s progress, stopping to support students who appear to be struggling.
  4. Record their responses on a large KWL chart. After students have completed the first column, ask students to share their entries while recording their responses on the classroom chart. Tell them if another student reminds them of something they know about poetry, they can add that fact to their own “K” column.
  5. Introduce the ‘What I am Wondering’ column. “You already seem to know quite a bit about poetry. I wan to also determine what you want to learn about poetry. Fill in the ‘What I am Wondering’ column with your questions and interests.”
  6. Allow time for all students to make entries. Circulate about the classroom to monitor each student’s progress – stopping to support students who appear to be struggling.
  7. Record their responses on the large KWL chart. After students have completed the first column, begin to select students to share their entries while recording their responses on a classroom chart.
  8. At the end of the lesson, discuss what has been learned that day and fill in the chart. Continue to reflect and fill the chart until the poetry work has been completed.

Example:

What I Know / What I am Wondering / What I Learned
Some poems rhyme.
Poetry is like rapping.
Poems are usually short in length. / What makes poetry different from other types of writing?
What is a haiku? / The pattern and movement of sound separates poetry from other types of writing.
A haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that has 5 syllables in the first and third lines and 7 syllables in the second line.