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| Literacy Training: Pre-reading Activities |
Context: |
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Comprehension begins before students actually read the pages of a book. Pre-reading activities helps tutors tap into students' background knowledge about the topic or prior knowledge about key skills, strategies, and vocabulary. Strong pre-reading activities motivate students to read. |
Goals: |
Tutors will be able to help students:
- Build background knowledge about concepts or topics in the book
- Set a purpose for reading
- Engage actively in the reading process
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Materials/Preparation: |
| Example texts |
Activity: |
Talk with tutors about the importance of engaging students before they actually read the book and discuss/model the following pre-reading activities:
- Anticipation Guides. Readence, Bean, and Baldwin (1981) define anticipation guides as a series of statements with which students are asked to agree or disagree. Identify the major theme or concepts in the story and create statements based on them. For example, if students are about to read Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco, the questions should be about teachers, hard work, or learning differences, not about the specific characters or settings. Write three to five statements and ask students to think about each one and decide if they agree or disagree. Students can write their answers and/or discuss them with tutors both before and after reading.
- Questionnaires. Help students tap into what they already know or feel about a topic. Identify the main concepts or topic from the selection and write related questions. For example, before reading Thank You, Mr. Falker, ask, Have you ever had a favorite teacher? What made the teacher special?
- KWL Charts. A KWL chart can be used before and after reading. Make a chart with three columns: What I know, What I want to know, and What I learned. Focus students on the key concept of the reading selection and prompt them to brainstorm what they already know. Next, discuss what they would like to know about the topic. After reading, complete the chart with what they learned.
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Key Questions and Points to Remember: |
Reflect on the importance of these activities by asking tutors:
- How do pre-reading activities enhance students' comprehension?
- Why is it important to model the strategies?
- How can you use the pre-reading activities as a form of reflection after students read?
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Developed by LEARNS, a partnership of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (1-800-361-7890) and Bank Street College of Education (1-800-930-5664). For additional activities or assistance, please call. |
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