Description+of+Reading+Strategies

﻿Description of Reading Strategies﻿  **Strategies used in this guide are presented in alphabetical orde **

Each of the literacy strategies identified in this guide are described briefly below. The chapter(s) where the strategy is used and the intended purpose follow each strategy. __**Anticipation Guide**__ - the anticipation guide can be used as a pre-reading, mid-reading or post-reading strategy. This strategy is intended to draw on students' prior knowledge of a subject or topic, provide opportunity to make predictions, create scaffolding for mid-reading activities and help to ensure that students access the critical content the teacher wants them to draw from the reading. They are most useful when the text contains controversial issues, problems or opinions that do not have one answer (Zwiers, 2004). The guides can serve as prediction of what is to come, as a means of motivating students or as springboards for modifying opinions about a topic. There are multiple formats for an anticipation guide. **Chapter 4 - Growing Up -** The anticipation guide is used here as a means of having students predict what Greg Mortenson's family background was like; some students may have prior knowledge of Greg Mortenson but may be unfamiliar with this aspect of his life. The goal is to motivate students to find out more about Greg Mortenson and his life story. __**Café Conversation**__ - the Café Conversation is intended to encourage students to talk in-depth with their peers about important content. Students engage in open dialogue about ideas and questions related to the text. Café Conversation focuses on global guiding questions to stimulate the dialogue. The Collaborative for Teaching and Learning suggests the following when using this strategy: NOTE TO TEACHER: it is important that the questions not be dependent on one another or sequential in nature. An excellent summary of this strategy can be found at [|The World Café] website www.worldcafe.org. In addition, food or drink could be provided to add to the "café" feel and contribute to a warm, inviting atmosphere for conversation
 * group students into small groups of no more than 4
 * provide each group with a guiding question, a large piece of newsprint/paper and simple art supplies
 * provide parameters for the discussion - purpose, expectations, time, evaluation, etc.
 * allow 10-15 minutes for the students to engage in dialogue around the guiding question(s), during which time they are responsible for tracking their thinking using the newsprint/paper and art supplies; students may use pictures, diagrams, words, questions, etc
 * students then rotate to the next guiding question and the process continues
 * when all rotations are complete, each group returns to their original guiding question and chart, discusses the completed chart for 5 minutes, reviewing what others have added to their ideas and decide on what they want to report back to the full group
 * each group provides a general summary of their chart; the charts are posted around the classroom

The Café Conversation is used here to address some of the "big" questions regarding Greg's relationship with Haji Ali and the people of Korphe - their customs and values. This strategy encourages all students to participate and share as well as listen to what others have to say,
 * Chapters 12- Beginnings and Chapter 13 -** Haji Ali's Lesson

__**Directed Reading/Directed Thinking (DR/DT**__) - This strategy was designed to develop higher level thinking skills while reading. The key element of DR/DT is prediction (Ruddel, 2008). The teacher sequences this strategy in the following manner: 1. Introduce background knowledge - find out what the students might already know about the topic, including personal experiences and prior reading about it. Discuss the title, student responses may be recorded. 2. Make predictions. Ask questions to invite predictions. 3. Read a section of the text, stopping at predetermined points. Ask students to check and possibly revise their predictions. 4. After the reading is completed, use student predictions as a discussion tool. This step brings this strategy to fruition. This strategy is relatively easy to prepare - the biggest challenge is deciding where to have the stop-points.

Critical to developing comprehension in this strategy are the questioning skills that teachers use to initiate and expand discussion. There are basically two types of questions according to Ruddell (2008): 1. Questions that require speculation, prediction and critical analysis: 'With this title, what do you think this book is about?" "What information do you think you will find in this chapter?"  "What do you think will happen?"  . Questions that require making conclusions and/or providing support: "What makes you say that?" "Why?" "How do you know that?"


 * Chapter 1 - Failure -** The DR/DT strategy is used with this chapter to ask students to predict what the book will be about and to determine any background knowledge that the students have related to the book and to its location. This strategy will be followed by the Double Entry Diary allowing students to make connections to their personal experiences.

__**Double Strategy-Double Entry Diary/Journal (DEJ**__) - This strategy is a type of journal entry and/or can be used as a guide for note taking. In the DEJ, the diary or journal is divided into two columns; the left hand side can be used for notes, key ideas, drawings, observations, ideas, word clusters and maps that precede a reading event. The hand side is used for expanding on these ideas after reading.

Ruddell (2008) states that web-based DEJ exercises offer another possibility - since they are public, all class members and the teacher can use the DEJ for conversation and expanding on each other's ideas through threaded discussions.

The teacher can model this strategy first by sharing an example with students.


 * Chapter 1 - Failure -**The DEJ is used here to help students make connections between events or statements that Greg Mortenson makes and a personal connection that they can make based on their life experience. An example has been provided.

__**Prediction**__ - Prediction helps students to build active thinking about a topic before reading; it helps readers to become aware of their own expectations and how the reading either fulfills them or surprises them. Readers can use text clues and their own background knowledge to make predictions. Reading the text can either confirm or change these ideas based on the evidence or information provided. This can be done independently or in small groups. A variation on this strategy that adds some kinesthetic activity Prediction Basketball (Zwiers, 2004) - Here are the steps: 1. Students read a text and stop at a point designated by the teacher. Each student writes one prediction on a sheet of scratch paper, along with evidence to support his/her prediction. 2. Put a "makeshift" hoop (wastebasket, box, etc.) somewhere in the room. You can move it to help students who are further away from it. 3. Have students compile their predictions and try to make a basket. 4. Open and read the predictions that make it into the basket. 5. Students randomly pick up the rest of the predictions that didn't make it into the basket - one per student - and share it with a partner. Some students will not have one but they can listen to their partner and ask for evidence to support or negate the prediction. The pairs can discuss quality of the predictions and their reasons for making them.

After completing Chapter 1 - Students are asked to predict what they think will happen in each of the chapters based on the title. This could be limited to the next 8-10 chapters; it could be done independently or in small groups.

__**RAFT Writing**__ - This is a versatile writing prompt which provides students an opportunity to focus on perspective writing while sharing what they know. RAFT prompts can be written for specific books or for general topics that students are learning about (Fisher, etal.2007). RAFT stands for R = role (who is the writer, what is the role of the writer?) A = audience (to whom are you writing?) F = format (what format are you writing in?) T = topic (what are writing about?)


 * Chapter 5 - 580 Letters, One Check** The RAFT is used here to help students understand the struggle Greg Mortenson went through to get funding for his school. Students can have fun choosing the person they want to write to requesting funds.