This document discusses strategies for activating background knowledge or schema when learning new information. It explains that schema refers to a person's prior knowledge and experiences related to a topic. The document recommends using techniques like freewriting, KWL charts, and pre-reading strategies to explore one's existing schema before reading or learning about a new topic. It provides examples of how to freewrite without self-editing to allow unconscious thoughts and memories related to a topic to surface. Activating schema helps people better understand and retain new information by connecting it to what they already know.

1. Based on your background knowledge,
what do you do in English class?
• Listening
• Writing
• Speaking
• Reading
• demonstrating

2. Based on your background knowledge,
how do you feel in English class?
• Bored (not paying attention)
• Excited
• Disconnected
• Dis identified
• Active
• Understanding
• Surprised
• Lost

3. Get out your syllabus
Use the space in the Know column on the back
page to explore:
• How do you feel about English class?
• What do you know about this class?
• Why is it required?

4. This is your schema for English class
• The “K” in KWL+
• What you already know about English class.
• The expectations you bring to English class.
• The standards you hold up to your instructors
on ratemyprofessors.com

5. What are Schema?
-A Schema is your background knowledge on a
topic.

6. When you learn a piece of
information, where does the
information go?

7. -Think of your brain as a filing cabinet that
contains many different files on many different
subjects within each drawer.
-When you are learning or discussing a certain
topic, your brain automatically goes to that file
in order to access what you know about that
topic so that you can understand and remember
the new information better.

8. Essentially, schema is background
knowledge or prior knowledge
For instance, the “K” of KWL+ allows you to
begin with your schema, or background
knowledge, so that you can remember and
understand what you are reading better.

9. There Are Several Strategies We Can
Use to Activate Schema...
Freewriting
KWL+
PPPC

10. There Are Several Strategies We Can
Use to Activate Schema...
Freewriting
KWL+
• What do I know?
• What do I want to know?
• What did I learn?
• New questions/ What should I write about it/ what next?
PPPC
• Preview
• Predict
• Pre-read
• Code

11. Explore Your Schema Through
Freewriting
• When you freewrite, you let your thoughts
flow
• Write down whatever comes into your mind.
• You don't judge the quality of what you write
• You don't worry about style or any surface-
level issues, like spelling, grammar, or
punctuation.

12. How do you explore your schema?
Through free association
• If you can't think of what to say, you write that
down—really.
• You free up your internal critic
• You allow yourself to write things you might
not write if you were being too self-conscious.

13. • When you freewrite you can set a time limit
("I'll write for 15 minutes!") and even use a
kitchen timer or alarm clock
• Or you can set a space limit ("I'll write until I
fill four full notebook pages, no matter what
tries to interrupt me!")
• just write until you reach that goal.

14. How to free your unconscious
• Stop paying attention to what you are writing
• You can even try it with your eyes shut or the
monitor off, which encourages speed and
freedom of thought.

15. • The crucial point is that you keep on writing
even if you believe you are saying
nothing. Word must follow word, no matter
the relevance.

16. Your freewriting might even look like
this:
"This paper is supposed to be on the politics of tobacco
production but even though I went to all the lectures and
read the book I can't think of what to say and I've felt this
way for four minutes now and I have 11 minutes left and I
wonder if I'll keep thinking nothing during every minute
but I'm not sure if it matters that I am babbling and I
don't know what else to say about this topic and it is rainy
today and I never noticed the number of cracks in that
wall before and those cracks remind me of the walls in
my grandfather's study and he smoked and he farmed
and I wonder why he didn't farm tobacco..."

17. Then, focus your freewrite
When you're done with your set number of
minutes or have reached your page goal, read
back over the text.
Yes, there will be a lot of filler and unusable
thoughts but there also will be little gems,
discoveries, and insights. When you find these
gems, highlight them or cut and paste them into
your draft or onto an "ideas" sheet so you can
use them in your paper.

18. Then there’s your schema
• Even if you don't find any diamonds in there,
you will have either quieted some of the noisy
chaos or greased the writing gears so that you
can now face the assigned paper topic.

19. What is the most vivid memory you
have of English class?
• Write for five minutes without stopping.

20. Interview another student
• Hi, what’s your name?
• What did you write about in your freewrite?
• What did you do in past English classes?
• How did past English classes make you feel?
Write down notes from your interview to present to the
rest of the class and turn in to me.