Critical Assignment #1 for RED4348

1. BDA STRATEGIES:
HOLES BY LOUIS SACHAR
Kimberley Greenway
Critical Assignment #1
RED4348

2. BEFORE READING
STRATEGIES:
Also known as “Pre-Reading” strategies, these
methods help activate student prior knowledge
and prepare their brains for new information
KWL Charts
Picture Walks
Think, Pair, Share
Semantic Maps
Vocabulary Instruction

3. KWL Charts
K-W-L (Ogle, 1986) is an instructional
reading strategy that is used to guide
students through a text.
This graph allows students to:
• brainstorm information they may
already know about the subject in
the “K” column
• write down questions they have
about the subject in the “W”
column
• document their learning by writing
information they learned in the “L”
column.
Source: http://www.nea.org/tools/k-w-l-know-want-to-know-learned.html

4. PICTURE WALKS
Previewing the pictures in a storybook to
familiarize the child with the story prior to
introducing the text.
This strategy has many benefits:
• Students learn to correlate pictures with
main idea.
• Predictions or inferences are created.
• Gain student attention through
interesting pictures.
• Information such as setting, characters,
and plot can be shared through the
pictures and guide comprehension.
Source: http://www.handsandvoices.org/articles/education/ed/V11-2_picturewalk.htm

5. THINK, PAIR, SHARE
A collaborative learning strategy
where students work together to
solve a problem or answer a
question about an assigned
reading.
This strategy has the student
brainstorm independently and
share their thoughts with a peer;
they then together share their
thoughts with the rest of the class.
Source: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/think-pair-share

6. SEMANTIC MAPS
Also known as “graphic organizers”
helps students to identify,
understand, and recall the meaning
of words or concepts they read in
the text.
These types of maps help to
classify and organization to help
students recognize and consolidate
information.
Examples include:
• Venn Diagram
• Bubble Maps
• Timelines
• Webs
Source: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/connecting-word-meanings-through-semantic-mapping

7. VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION
Vocabulary instruction that includes the
new words being introduced in the text
the students are reading is extremely
helpful to their comprehension when the
word appears later in the text.
Important tips to remember:
• Include visuals – this can help with
student recall and retention abilities.
• Make sure these words are placed in a
place visible to all students, like a
word wall.
• Use these words in conversation
whenever possible.
Source: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/teaching-vocabulary

8. DURING READING
STRATEGIES:
These strategies can be integrated while the story
is being read. The purpose of these strategies is to
assist in comprehension and ensure students
understand the story as it is developing.
Think Alouds
Self-Questioning
Timelines
Visuals
Paired Reading

9. THINK ALOUDS
In this strategy, teachers verbalize
aloud while reading a selection orally to
help model comprehension strategies
and constructing meanings from text
for their students.
Benefits of this strategy include:
• Students have the opportunity to focus on
comprehension than reading.
• Students are able to make sense of what they
read.
• Teachers can model the proper ways for
students to make the most of their text.
• Teachers can guide and monitor student
comprehension.
…………
Source: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/think_alouds

10. SELF-QUESTIONING
Asking questions is a great way maintain
student participation and attention while
reading a book. This also encourages students
to pay closer attention during the reading
because they are anticipating comprehension
questions.
These questions can include:
• Vocabulary – “What does ______ mean in
this sentence?”
• Prediction – “What do you think will
happen?”
• Review – “What has happened so far?”
• Character Analysis – “How is ______ like
you?”

11. TIMELINES
• The use of timelines can help students keep track of important events that occur
during stories.
• The integration of timelines also help students to make connections and recognize
patterns in a series or process.
• Timelines can be independently created by each student to where they can
understand and interpret the timeline to understand their text. Timelines can
include visuals, captions, and small summaries of important events.
Source: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/using-timelines-enhance-comprehension

12. VISUALS
Using visuals while reading will
help students with their
comprehension by giving them
a visual reference while
reading. Teachers need to
make sure to put emphasis on
information and details that
will help students envision the
story and becoming engrossed
in the story.
Visuals can include event
sequencing and timelines.
Source: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/visual_imagery

13. PAIRED READING
In this strategy, students read the same
text together. They take turns reading
portions of the story and discussing the
material that was discussed.
This strategy helps the students to share
perspectives with someone of the same
level or differing levels. Many times,
teacher pair lower ability student with
higher ability students to incorporate peer
tutoring into the reading.
It is important for teachers to remember
to monitor students and prepare a
purpose for paired reading (for example,
what happened in paragraph 5?).
Source: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/paired_reading

14. AFTER READING
STRATEGIES:
Also known as “Pre-Reading” strategies, these
methods help activate student prior knowledge
and prepare their brains for new information
Summarize
Exit Slips
Question Answer Relationships
KWL
Group Discussions

15. SUMMARIZING
At the end of the story,
summarizing can be used to
teach students how to identify
important details and ignore
irrelevant information.
This skill prevents students
from absorbing unimportant
information and focus on the
truly important details to help
them understand the important
factors of the story, like main
idea, author’s purpose, and
story morals.
Source: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/summarizing

16. EXIT SLIPS
Exit slips are designed to have
students provide
documentation of their learning
that day. This can include a
fact, a new formula, and
interesting fact, or an answer to
a question the student had
before reading.
These quick, informal
assessments also enable
teachers to quickly assess
students' understanding of the
material presented.
Source: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/exit_slips

17. QUESTION-ANSWER-RELATIONSHIPS
This strategy exposes students to the
different types of questions that can
derived from text.
These questions include:
• In The Book
• Right There
• Think & Search
• In My Head
• Author & Me
• On My Own
This strategy teaches students how to
formulate relevant questions and further
comprehension of the text.
Source: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/question_answer_relationship

18. KWL (COMPLETING)
By this point, students have
completed the “K” and “W” portion of
the chart. Now the students are to
complete the “L” portion of the chart
with information they learned through
their reading.
This activates the students’ recall
ability and requires them to identify
important information and disregard
what isn’t important.

19. GROUP DISCUSSIONS
 This strategy involves the class as a
whole. The teacher opens up the floor
with questions and allows for multiple
students to respond to each question
to reflect on the story they have read.
 Some points/questions that can be
used:
 Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How?
 How did __________ make you feel?
 What would have happened if
_____________?
 Do you agree with ______________? Why or
why not?
 How would you have reacted if you
____________?

20. REFERENCES
 Bursuck, W. D., & Damer, M. (2015). Teaching Reading to Students Who Are At Risk
or Have Disabilities. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
 Reading Rockets | Launching Young Readers. (2017, October 30). Retrieved
November 02, 2017, from http://www.readingrockets.org/