Summary: In this interactive, students will see how using all the strategies together helps readers to understand and enjoy text. Students read a short story, then drag strategy icons over the text to see how each strategy could deepen the reader's understanding of the story.
This is a short activity which is meant to demonstrate visually how plain text on the page comes alive once readers start applying strategies to develop their own meaning. Reading is more than just pronouncing the words; it involves interacting with text to develop personal insight and interpretations.
Tips for using the student site in your classroom or lab: Download Tips
Download the screen-by-screen preview: Download Preview
Before you start:
- Remind students to read and listen carefully to the instructions starting on the first screen of the activity. (This really helps!)
- Tell students that some part of the story will be highlighted for each strategy. Ask them to stop and read the highlighted phrase to see how the strategy helped the model reader understand.
- Tell students what you would like them to do when they finish the activity.
- Watch the video.
- Listen to the Strategies Together song.
- Raise your hand and check in with me.
- Go back and do a favorite activity again if you have extra time.
- Use your strategies as you read online. You can give students a list of online texts to choose from.
After you finish:
- Talk about how the strategies were used to help understand Which Was the King?
- Mention that this was a demonstration of how one reader used strategies to make meaning from the text:
- Would all readers use the same strategies to understand the same parts of the story? Explain your thinking.
- When you were reading the story, did you use strategies in different places?
- Discuss the synthesis of the story:
- What different pieces did this reader use to create this synthesis? (knowledge about kings, connections between king and president, inferences about personality, visualizing self in the story, etc.)
- How has this readers' thinking changed (about himself, about the story, about the world...)
- Watch and discuss the video clip at the end of the activity. How does using the strategies help the students discuss their book?
- Use the activity and the video clip to start a conversation about using strategies independently while reading. The ultimate goal of strategy
instruction is for students to begin to use the strategies on their own, as needed, whenever they read.
- Students can use the strategy bookmarks they print out after each activity to remind themselves to use their strategies during independent reading.
- You may also print out strategy posters and icons from the Downloads area of the teacher Web site to use for reminders or other activities.
