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Before Reading and Writing

Before they begin to read, effective readers quickly perform certain interrelated tasks. As a result of previewing or surveying the selection, they set a purpose for reading, they activate their background or personal knowledge of the topic, and they anticipate or predict the information to be read in the selection. Teachers need to employ techniques to foster the independent development of these behaviors by their students.

 

 
 

A.   The teacher used cues, higher order questions, and higher order advance organizers to focus the students on what is important and establish a mental set for new learning.

B.   During the prereading discussion, the teacher asked the students to preview the text, e.g., by reading the title of the selection, reading headings, looking at the illustrations, noting important text structures, and discussing the possible contents of the text.

C.   Students were prompted to activate their background knowledge through the use of the K-W-L charts, anticipation guides, webs, and graphic organizers.

D.   By generating a discussion about the topic, the teacher stimulated the students’ curiosity about and created interest.

E.   Teacher scaffolded understanding of new vocabulary words that were central to the understanding of the text without pre-teaching vocabulary.

F.   The students were prompted to state or write and to clearly explain predictions or hypotheses related to the topic of the reading selection.

G.   Before reading/writing occurred, the teacher helped the student identify the type of text that was to be read/written to determine what his/her purpose is for reading/writing it.

H.   The instructional objective for the lesson was clearly identified for the student along with how that objective related to previous lessons.

I.   The teacher modeled appropriate step(s) in the writing process.

J.   The teacher continually assessed students’ prereading/prewriting discussion and made appropriate adjustments.