The KWL chart is an instructional strategy that involves 3 columns: Know, Want to Know, and Learned. It is used before, during, and after a lesson to activate prior knowledge, guide learning goals, and assess understanding. KWL charts can be adapted for any subject area. They help students organize information and involve them in the learning process through critical thinking and self-assessment. However, KWL charts rely on prior knowledge and may not support students with low literacy or vocabulary skills without additional scaffolding techniques from the teacher.

1. K
W
L
Instructional Literacy Strategy

2. The K-W-L Methodology
Things We
Know
Things We
Want to Know
Things we
Learned

3. What are they?
• KWL charts are instructional tools designed to
be initialized at the start of a unit and utilized
throughout. They consist of 3 components:
o KNOW- Students use prior knowledge about a new topic and share
information that they already know for the first column.
o WANT to learn- Students brainstorm information that they would like to
learn in the new unit.
o LEARNED- At the conclusion of the unit, the KWL is revisited and
students check off items that they learned and add items to the final
column

4. The Instructional Strengths of
KWL
• Used as graphic organizers to help students assemble
information before, during, and after a lesson.
• Visual and interactive representation that brings in prior
knowledge
• Creates strong buy-in and ownership of learning by making
learning interactive
• Involves self-awareness, self-assessment, and self-regulation.
• Enforces critical thinking skills.
• Great tool to assess prior knowledge
• Many opportunities for individualized instruction and
scaffolding.

5. The Limitations of KWL
• KWL charts utilize prior knowledge. If the student lacks
prior knowledge, the KWL will fall short.
• Students with low reading and comprehension skills can
be encouraged to copy from the text or pass over
information that they do not understand.
• Student prior knowledge can be helpful but may
potentially be inaccurate, leading to confusion and
struggle.
• Academic vocabulary can be an issue with a reading
assignment if steps are not taken to scaffold.

6. Adaptations
• KWLs are versatile teaching instruments that can be
adapted to fit any content area.
• As long as the 3 components are present, any topic can
be broken down into a KWL.
• Works well with academic vocabulary in social studies,
might stumble with ELA vocabulary.
• 2 examples follow:
o Social Studies
o ELA

7. KWL Social Studies
What we Know about
the Civil War
What we Want to Know What we Learned
• America was involved
• Many deaths
• Involved slavery
• Lincoln was President
• Fought between
American states
• Occurred after
Revolutionary War
• End of the war ended
slavery
• What were the many
causes?
• Who were the
important leaders?
• How many states
were involved?
• Why did states pick
their sides in the war?
• When did the war
occur? When did it
end?
• How many battles
occurred?
• Lasted until 1865
• Emancipation
Proclamation was
released during the
Civil War
• Slaves were freed as a
wartime necessity.
• Only 1 President
during the Civil War
• The Confederates had
their own President
and government
• The South won most
battles at the
beginning due to
leadership
• The draft was
unpopular

8. KWL Literature
What we Know about
Animal Farm and 1984
What we want to know What we learned
• They are books!
• Written by George
Orwell in the 1940s
• Animal Farm is shorter
• They are very famous
• Animal Farm is about
farm animals that speak
English
• Why do the animals
speak English?
• How do they pick their
leaders?
• Why do they rebel?
• What is life like on the
farm?
• What do these books
have in common?
• Why are they so famous?
• What are these books
telling us about
government?
• What themes exist in
both books?
• Animal Farm is a book
about governments and
communism
• Communism is a type of
government that tries to
treat everyone equally
• Leaders in communist
governments treat their
people unfairly
• Citizens in communist
governments are often
abused and discarded
• History is often changed
in communist
governments

9. Vocabulary
• Depending on your source, KWL charts can enhance or
limit vocabulary growth.
o In subjects like social studies and science, students need to grow their
academic vocabulary during the unit in order to comprehend the lesson
objectives.
o Vocabulary is often a vital part of unit plans in these subjects.
o In ELA, many sources claim that students who are missing essential
vocabulary will skip over unknown words, resulting in lower
comprehension, or require additional scaffolding.
• To combat this, teachers must intentionally plan to
incorporate essential vocabulary into the beginning of
units to avoid these issues and limit difficulties.

10. Instructional Framework:
Before
• Before a lesson, KWL charts work with the
Instructional Framework
o The KNOW column accesses and addresses prior knowledge before
the lesson begins.
o Students take a self-guided approach to the lesson in the WANT
column, allowing the to dictate items of interest and control their
outcomes.
o The WANT column stimulates interest in the material since students are
actively involved in the regulation process of learning.

11. Instructional Framework:
During and After
• During the lesson, KWL charts are useful tools:
o Teachers and students continue to refer back to the KWL in order to
organize, focus, and direct learning
o Students are focused on specific objectives during the lesson.
• At the conclusion of the lesson, KWL charts are
brought out and reviewed.
o Classrooms revisit prior knowledge, make changes, and determine what
they have learned.
o Teachers can use adjacent concepts to further learning and lead into
future topics, demonstrating connectivity with the learning process,
solidifying past objectives and building into new learning.
o KWL charts can easily be used again for review if saved.

12. Bibliography
• Ogle, D. (1986). K-W-L: A Teaching Model That Develops Active
Reading of Expository Text. The Reading Teacher, 39(6), 564-
570. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20199156
• Building the Foundations of Literacy: The Importance of
Vocabulary and Spelling
Development http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmsv/expert/research.ht
ml
• Jared, J. Elizabeth, Jared, H. Alva (1997). Launching into
Improved comprehension. The Technology Teacher, 56(6),
24–31.
• Glazer, M. Susan. (1998). Using kwl folders. Teaching Diverse
Learners, 29(4), 106-107