As most teachers know, the easiest way to activate your students schema and make connections is to ask your students what they already know about a subject. But many times we stop there, or we may do a KWL chart, but not follow up on what we have learned after we have read a book or finished the unit. One thing I have noticed is that when you ask students what they KNOW about a subject, they will not tell you anything unless they are absolutely 100% positive about the information. This means as the teacher, you really don't truly know the extent of your students' knowledge. In Karen Feathers' book Infotext, she suggests doing a brainstorming chart instead. To do a brainstorming chart, you ask the students to write down on paper everything they know about the topic; and then come together and brainstorm a collective list of what the class knows.
On my chart, any disagreements are marked with a question mark to show that the class did not feel completely comfortable with that information. This then helps the students set their purpose for reading. I am going to read to find out this information because I don't know if frogs swim fast or what they eat. This makes the students more independent because they are setting their purposes for reading according to the information they need to learn, not what a textbook states their purpose for reading should be. After they read, then it is extremely important to come back as a class and clear up misconceptions or any false information on the chart. If I was doing this in class, I would probably leave the brainstorm and then cross out or modify the information, so they can see how they made connections and how they created new knowledge. Remember these charts are not for beatification but to anchor learning.
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