FOR-PD’s Reading Strategy of the Month
Rationale:
The key to reading comprehension is to access a student’s background
knowledge on the topic being studied. Wouldn’t it be helpful to know
what information the student brings to the classroom when a teacher prepares
for a lesson? What does the student already know about the Civil War?
South America? Or poetry? The idea behind this reading strategy is very
simple, but it's an effective way to activate prior knowledge.
Steps:
Try to think of a word or phrase associated with the topic, matched to
each letter of the alphabet. What has the student heard others say about
it? Has he/she read other things that talk about the same topic? Has he/she
seen television programs or movies about the ideas that the reading covers
(or heard radio broadcasts)? Remember that in brainstorming, anything
goes! For instance, the letter "A" for the topic of “topics
taught in school” could be atlas, advertising, arithmetic story problem,
almanac, alphabet book, art critique, article, alphabetized list, album
cover, Accelerated Reader book, Accelerated Reader quiz, annual report,
application form, audio cassette insert, award winning book, author's
biography, alliterative passage, archival document, apple pie recipe,
asparagus seed package, adolescent novel, action book, adventure story,
architectural magazine, astronaut's story, awfully funny pun, etc.
How to
Use the Strategy:
This strategy can be used as a pre-reading activity (as described above).
It could be used during a reading strategy that teachers and students
build together as they learn more of the related content. And, it could
be used as a post-reading strategy after the students complete a unit
of study. They can revisit the original ABC list and expand upon it. The
choice is up to the instructor on when he/she best feels it would be appropriate.
Ideas
for Assessment:
Once you have finished brainstorming, go through the results and begin
evaluating the responses. Some initial qualities to look for when examining
the responses include:
(Click
on the graphic above to go to a pdf file of the ABC Brainstorm Stategy worksheet
or go to the html file.)
(Click on the graphic above to go to a pdf file of an elementary example of the
ABC Brainstorm Strategy.)
(Click
on the graphic above to go to a pdf file of a secondary example of the ABC Brainstrom
Strategy.)
For more informative links on the ABC Reading Strategy: http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/readquest/strat/abc.html
 |
Go to Adobe PDF instruction page. |
Last Updated January 07, 2004
forpd@mail.ucf.edu | (866)
227-7261 (FL only)
FOR-PD is a project of the ITRC @ UCF College
of Education and administered
under a grant from the Florida
Department of Education and Just
Read, Florida!