As an 8th grade social studies teacher I have my students do quite a bit of content reading in class. Unfortunately, as we all know, much of that reading can be quite dry, or dare I say…boring. Therefore, I am always on the look out for reading strategies that are easy to implement in the classroom.

One reading strategy that I have always had great success with are Anticipation/Reaction Guides. These guides can be easily created and can be used for any type of reading.

All the teacher needs to do is create 5-10 statements based on the text the students are about to read and ask students to agree or disagree with each statement. Next, have students work in pairs or in groups to discuss their responses. All of this is done prior to reading. It is not until after students have discussed in their small groups that they can begin reading.

After students have completed the reading, the students then revisit the 5-10 statements and determine once again whether or not they agree or disagree. And, of course, students then share their response in their small groups followed by a class discussion.

I usually set up my Anticipation/Reaction Guides with three simple columns. The first column is a “before reading” column to agree or disagree with the statements, the middle column is where the statements are actually written, and a final column is for “after reading” for the students to, once again, agree or disagree.

This activity can address lower-level thinking skills or higher level thinking skills by simply changing the statements the teacher creates. For lower-level thinking the statement can simply be a true or false statement. This works well when the teacher just needs a quick activity to spark student interest and yes, this really does spark student interest as the students are eager to read just to determine if they were right. However, if the teacher would like to address higher-order thinking skills then the teacher simply needs to create statements that provoke discussion and initiate critical thinking. In other words, statements that do not necessarily have a right or wrong answer.

Either way, what’s great about these Anticipation/Reaction Guides is that it makes my students actually want to read, and as any teacher knows, that is more than half the battle.

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Teaching vocabulary is something that every teacher needs to be doing regardless of the content being taught. The Word Sort Reading Comprehension Strategy is a simple reading strategy that effectively teaches and reinforces vocabulary. Words Sorts have students find meaning in vocabulary words by having them group the words based on some common characteristics.

The Word Sort reading strategy really only has three simple steps to follow:

1. The teacher makes a list of words from a particular lesson, unit, or reading passage.

2. The students then work in pairs to discuss the terms and organize the terms into different categories. The categories can be set up before hand by the teacher, but it is better to have the students create their own categories. For example, a unit on the Civil War could have the students creating categories such as Causes, Major Battles, and Effects.

3. Have students discuss their reasons for categorizing the way they did.

Word Sorts can be used before reading in order to pre-teach vocabulary and tap into students’ prior knowledge about the subject, or after reading as a closure activity or reinforcement activity. Words Sorts can even be given as homework assignments. Regardless of how you decide to do your Word Sort, it is a great strategy to use when it comes to teaching vocabulary.

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As a history teacher my students must deal with lots of opinions. As I tell my students, “There are not always right and wrong answers in social studies…what is important is how you back up, or support, your answer.”

By having students make an argument and support their argument, they are not only addressing higher order thinking skills, but it is also a great way to spark student interest in a topic. As teachers know, sparking student interest in a topic is extremely important, but can also be a great challenge.

Fortunately, it is sometimes the simplest teaching strategies that can provide students with the most success. A great, and simple, teaching strategy to help students support their opinions with facts is known as the Two Column Opinion-Proof Chart. This simple teaching strategy will address higher order-thinking skills as well as spark student interest in a topic. Not only that, by the Two Column Opinion-Proof chart can be a great tool to improve reading comprehension as well.

A two column chart can be easily set up by having students fold a piece a paper in half vertically (hot-dog style). Have students label the left column “Opinion” and the right column “Proof”. The teacher can then assign an opinion or have the students choose an opinion for themselves and write it down in left column. Students must then support their opinion in right column using whatever resource or resources the teacher chooses such as textbook reading, internet, video, or newspaper.

Not only does this teaching strategy help improve comprehension and spark student interest, but students can then use their Opinion-Proof charts to write persuasive essays, newspaper editorials, letters, or even set up classroom debates.

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Are you looking for more teaching tips?

For effective teaching tips that you can start applying to your very next class make sure read 52 Teaching Tips @ www.52TeachingTips.com

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Happy New Year!

To help get your New Year off to a GREAT start here are two FREE ebooks that you are going to love…

Both ebooks (written by master teacher Rob Plevin) will help reduce classroom management problems, increase class participation AND improve student comprehension.

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The first is called Games and Activities for Language Arts Teachers, but the truth is most of these activities can be used for any subject area as most are vocabulary based.

If you’ve read any of my work then you know I am a big fan of using fun and games to teach my students and there are over 50 easy-to-use games in this one book.

The second book, Fun Starters and Fill-in Activities for the Classroom, has another 70 activities that will motivate your students to learn as well as fill in any “down” time at the end of class. If you know anything about teaching then you know how important this can be for both improving comprehension and reducing classroom management problems.

You can get both of these books for FREE right here: http://teaching.crowdpullersnee.click2sell.eu

**Important Note: On the download page there is a “crazy offer”…make sure you click on the link that says “Check Out Our Crazy Offer”

Trust me…you don’t want to miss out on this!

To a great new year!

Best Wishes,
Adam Waxler
Teaching Tips Machine. LLC

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