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Description: Think-alouds are done while reading a passage. While reading students speak aloud their thoughts about the text. They respond to big ideas, make text to text, text to self and text to world connections.
Advantages: This strategy increases comprehensive skills and gets young readers more engaged. It also teaches children how to properly direct and monitors their thoughts during while reading.
Disadvantages: The thoughts the children are having may be completely unrelated to context. If this strategy is not modeled correctly and intensely then it has the ability to get out of hand between noise level and unrelated talking.

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Think-alouds have been described as “eavesdropping on someone’s thinking.” With this strategy, teachers verbalize aloud while reading a selection orally. Their verbalizations include describing things they’re doing as they read to monitor their comprehension. The purpose of the think-aloud strategy…

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Description: Illustrations on cards in which have pieces of the text on the back side are examined by students.
Advantages: Story boards  help students better visualize story's and improve visualization for future reading. Also helps teach sequence when students are told to put story boards in order from the beginning of the story to the end. Story boards also have the ability to enhance learning of cause and effect.
Disadvantages: Students need to better learn to visualize mentally giving them this activity too much could make them reliant on the story boards to visualize. Creating many sorry boards may become costly when laminating, consider doing this only with afew  important story's in which may be difficult for children to visualize on own. For example, a historical book in which they have little background knowledge on.

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Rostering

Compatible with popular learning management systems such as Google Classroom, Clever, Canvas, ClassLink, and Schoology, Storyboard That makes organizing your students, classes, and assignments a breeze. In addition, sharing assignments with students and keeping track of their progress is as easy as clicking a button.

Real Time Collaboration

Knowing how to work together is an important part of a child's education. Students will love working in pairs and in small groups on the same storyboard!

Want your students to add writing to their storyboards? We've got tons of options for speech and text.

The storyboard creator free trial for teachers allows you to try out all of the premium features for two weeks. Thousands of copyable activities, worksheets, and posters are yours to use and keep in your storyboard library. Educators love Storyboard That because it helps students process and understand the information in a deep, meaningful way. When students storyboard, they are actively engaged in the learning process and can make connections between the text and their own lives.

Storyboards also promote higher-level thinking by encouraging students to synthesize information and think critically about what they have read. Finally, storyboards are a great way to assess student understanding because they provide a visual representation of student learning.

Storyboard That is the perfect tool for novel lesson plans and activities because it's so easy to use and extremely versatile. With Storyboard That, you can create a wide variety of storyboards such as the story from the main character's perspective, or any other character's point of view.

By combining the storyboard maker with your lesson plans, you can adhere to the curriculum and required standards, while ensuring that your students will be engaged and excited to learn. Another added bonus is that our premade lesson plans are aligned with the Common Core!

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Free Storyboarding Software - Online Storyboard Creator | StoryboardThat

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Create storyboards with our free storyboard software! ⚡ Try 1 month for $1 ✩ Filmmakers, teachers, students, & businesses all love using ❰Storyboard That❱ for storyboarding & comics online!

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Description: Grid created by instructors to examine characteristics of content area concepts.
Advantages: Helps students better understand meanings of content specific vocabulary as well as create relationships among the words, creating connections.
Disadvantage: This is a worksheet type of activity, which leads to low motivation from students in many cases. Creating the grid can be timely and this strategy has the ability to be ineffective in helping students examine characteristics. It works great with some students but not all.

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A Semantic Feature Analysis improves students' comprehension, vocabulary, and content retention. This strategy helps students to examine related features or concepts and make distinctions among them. By analyzing the completed matrix, students are able to visualize connections, make predictions, and better understand important concepts.

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Description: RAFT is an acronym for; role, audience, format, topic. RAFT is used to enhance comprehension. Focus is based on the previous four dimensions of writing/reading. Students crate projects to present to specific audiences.
Advantages: RAFT projects better comprehension skills as well as teach students how to write and talk to different types of audiences which is a vital skill in the real world.
Disadvantages: Narrowing down the best type of project for thee content at hand may be difficult for some instructors. If students do not know how to properly adjust speaking and formality to different audiences projects have the ability to become inappropriate. Discussion on audience adjustment must not be taken lightly and engaged in students minds.

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Description: Mini lessons can be done with a variety of subject material. They are normally between 15-30 minutes long.
Advantage: Mini lessons are great for teaching material children may not find too much personal schema in, they are short enough so that attention is kept so that they obtain knowledge instead of being off-task.
Disadvantages: The short amount of time given to teach a mini lesson may lead to information over load. Too much info being taught in a short amount of time can have negative effect so that children can not distinguish key details in the lesson being taught. Consider breaking a lesson into many mini lessons over a period of time to prevent rushing instruction.

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Description: Letters and or groups of letter are given to students on cards or blocks. Students are told to move letters and letter groups around to create as many words as possible.
Advantages: This activity improves spelling abilities and helps children in forming relationships between words enhancing morphemic analysis.
Disadvantage: Students could be creating words that are not real and begin using them in writing, close monitoring will help reduce this problematic situation. Students may also have problems in the area of pronunciation of word although they mat be spelling them correctly.

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Description: K-W-L charts are used to evaluate students. The K stands for, Know which is where students write the information they know. The W stands for Want to know and lastly, the L stands for learned. The K and W are filled out before the lesson and the L is filled out following the lesson and knowledge is obtained.
Advantage: This type of assessment is amazing in order to test for background knowledge, learning what your students are interested in learning and testing to understanding following a lesson.
Disadvantage: If done with a reading assignment the W in K-W-L reduces the amount of questioning done during reading since students are thinking primarily about the questions they asked before reading. K-W-L charts are normally done in the formation of a worksheet which is not often students first choice when given an assignment. Worksheets often do to not motivate young learners.

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Description: In this strategy students are assigned to small groups to make books of their own. Each student will be assigned to create a few pages and once bound together, they create a mater piece together.
Advantages: This strategy is beneficial in allowing students to use their creative writing and illustrating abilities. It also teaches great collaboration skills creating strong professional/friendly bounds between peers.
Disadvantage: Some students may not work well with others and in some cases particular students are left doing much more work than the rest which is unfair. Work must be distributed evenly. Creating stability among partner work is vital before assigning the creation of collaborative books.

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Intro to Story Lessons Do You Want to Be My Friend?

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Description: This strategy is when a passage from a significant piece of literature is taken and edited. In editing, words are taken out and replaced with blanks for the students to fill in with what they feel best fits.
Advantages: Cloze procedure builds comprehension skills and helps students use context clues to make conclusions on which words should fill in the blanks
Disadvantages: If the student struggles with looking for context clues this procedure could be pretty complicated and the words choices may make little to no sense. Some students may also not take the assignment seriously and instead make a joke of the matter choosing silly words to make the assignment inappropriate.

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What Is a Cloze Procedure?

The cloze procedure is a reading comprehension activity in which words are omitted from a passage and students are required to fill in the blanks. This procedure is incredibly useful in reading instruction because it can be easily done by any teacher and provides valuable reading comprehension information.

Creating a Cloze Passage

There are several different methods used to create cloze passages. All of these methods entail finding a passage that is at the target student's reading level and deleting words in a pattern. The range for deleting words depends on reading ability and what kind of skills you wish to assess. You can delete every five words up to every 10-20 words or more. If you wish to assess a more specific skill, such as specific vocabulary words, you can select a passage and delete only those vocabulary words.

Let's look at an example of a cloze passage by converting the information we just discussed into text. Notice how just about every fifth word has been deleted.

There are several different (blank) used to create cloze (blank). All of these (blank) entail finding a passage (blank) is at the target (blank) reading level and deleting (blank) in a pattern. The (blank) for deleting words (blank) on reading ability and what (blank) of skills you wish to (blank). You can delete every (blank) words up to every (blank) words or more. If (blank) wish to assess a more (blank) skill, such as (blank) vocabulary words, you can (blank) a passage and delete (blank) those vocabulary words.

Assessment Using Cloze

The cloze procedure is commonly used in reading assessment because it requires students to use different reading comprehension skills to fill in the blank. For example, if a cloze procedure was used to assess vocabulary, students would need to use their knowledge of the vocabulary words as well as context clues in the passage to determine which word should be used to fill in the blank.

Assessment using the cloze procedure is less concerned with fluent student reading and more with targeting specific reading comprehension skills. Reading a cloze passage requires students to look to either side of a blank to figure out which word needs to be used to fill in the blank. This flexibility means that the cloze procedure can be used to assess a variety of skills.

The following passage is a cloze procedure that could be used to assess student understanding of articles:

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technique and definition - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Cloze: Procedure, Technique and Definition - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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The cloze procedure is a reading comprehension activity in which words are omitted from a passage and students are required to fill in the blanks. This procedure is incredibly useful in reading instruction because it can be easily done by any teacher and provides valuable reading comprehension information.

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Description: Book talks are teasers used to get children interested in new literature. It can compare to a simple summary of a story that doesn't give away the ending.
Advantages: Giving students a proper book talk before starting new literature is necessary to increase interest as well as build significant amounts of background knowledge.
Disadvantages: Giving away too much information about a book could reduce interest therefore it is important to give the right amount of book talk never giving away key events in which make the story exciting to young minds. Living just the right amount of mystery is key.

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Description: The hot seat learning strategy is a role-playing activity. Children pretend to be characters from literature they are reading as they sit in the hot seat. Then, classmates ask the "character" questions, the student in the hotseat  must reply to the questions as if they really are the character from the book/story.
Advantages: This strategy helps children put themselves in the characters shoes and understand thier thoughts as well as actions. This strategy also helps the children asking the questions because they must evaluate the text to ask proper puzzling questions.
Disadvanges: This activity can be taken out of context easily, keeping teh students on task is important. Goofiness and fun and games can only be taken to a certian extent for learning to be obtained.

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Are you looking for interactive learning structures that will help your students gain a deeper understanding of content while also developing and practicing higher level thinking skills? The Hot Seat is a strategy I've used successfully across disciplines with 3rd and 4th grade students. I borrowed it from Jeffrey Wilhelm, a well-known secondary level literacy educator, and modified it for use with elementary students.

The basic idea is that a student plays the role of a character (from a book, from history, or any topic they know well) and takes questions from an audience of classmates. For instance, during a unit in which each student chose an animal to research and study, they took turns on the hot seat "being" their animal and answering questions about their adaptations, survival strategies, and so on. The hot seat technique is great for exploring characters' motivations. For example, when we read Skeleton Man, we put the character "Molly" on the hot seat and asked her "Why did you keep coming back to your so-called-uncle's house when your gut told you he wasn't your uncle?"

I found this structure to be a great way to get students to dig deeper and think about what they were learning. It provided opportunities for students to hone their skill at questioning, making inferences, and supporting opinions with evidence from the text. Plus, it was fun and engaging for the child on the hot seat and for the audience.

However, to use this strategy successfully, you'll need to lay some groundwork first. Here are some things to consider:

1. Students have to know how to ask and answer questions, and they should know the difference between questions that have a single, factual answer and questions that require deeper levels of thinking or analysis. I explicitly taught these skills and others such as turn-taking, listening, and referring to a text for evidence to my students. We practiced them in Morning Meeting and at other times as well. If you'd like a guide to teaching fundamental thinking, listening, and speaking skills, I highly recommend the new Responsive Classroom book, The Language of Learning!

2. Adapt the technique to fit your class and your students. With some classes it makes sense to use the classic "one person in the hot seat, everyone else in the audience" format, but you may want to build up to that by doing it first in small groups. One year I had a class where what worked best were partnerships, with each partner assuming the role of a character and the partners asking each other questions. You may have students who will be more at ease in the hot seat if they are part of a panel instead of being alone in the hot seat. (This format is also great for comparing different points of view on the same question: for instance one year my class interviewed a panel of "founding fathers" when they were researching historical figures such as George Washington, Abigail Adams, and Ben Franklin.)

3. Before you put students in the hot seat, use Interactive Modeling to show them exactly how it works and what you expect them to do. Just as it does with other procedures, Interactive Modeling give students an opportunity to observe the teacher doing what they will be doing, to notice in detail what is expected of them, and to practice. (If you haven't thought about using Interactive Modeling to teach academic procedures, here's an article to check out: "Interactive Modeling for Academic Success.")

I'd love to hear about interactive learning structures you use in your classroom and what makes them work!

Tags: Engaging Academics, Language Arts, Public Speaking

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Are you looking for interactive learning structures that will help your students gain a deeper understanding of content while also developing and practicing higher level thinking skills? The Hot Seat is a strategy I've used successfully across disciplines with 3rd and 4th grade students.

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Description: A word wall is a display of vocabulary words in the classroom. The words on the wall have most likely been words that the children have learned and been tested on throughout the school year.
Advantages : Word walls help children when writing to become more independent and not ask the instructor how to spell particular words. It is also a constant reminder to students of the words they have learned to spell and should remember how to spell by the end of the school year.
Disadvantages: Students could become dependent on the word wall for spelling and avoid sounding out or chunking words. Phonics skills could be hurt with the use of a word wall.

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Description: Children are given cut out words, and sort them by categories. This can be done in a variety of different ways. Some examples of sorting categories are by noun, verbs, adjectives or by long and short vowel sounds. This strategy can be done individually or in groups.
Advantages: Sort sorts teach the following skills; vocabulary, spelling and phonics. Sorting words helps children look deeper into their meaning and less of just letters put together,
Disadvantages: Thoughts on categories could be confused with definition. The way words are sorted may vary from child to child and it is difficult to assess understanding without concrete material to look over.

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Description: With word ladders, students take one word and adjust it one letter at a time to make new words. Students try to create as many words as possible and relate the first word and the last word created in some way or another.
Advantages: Word ladders build vocabulary as well as enhance phonics skills in young children. This strategy also helps students catch on to spelling patterns. This strategy also teaches relations between words since the first and last word in the ladder must relate or be opposites.
Disadvantages: Children may begin practicing the spelling of words that do not exist, making up their own words in order to complete the puzzle.

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Description: Revising groups are used when students finishing writing rough drafts. They are told to meet in small groups and edit each other's work. They reflect on the ideas at hand and make suggestions to make one another stronger writers.
Advantages: Children help each other create stronger more influencing writing works while focusing on writing aspects such as; word choice, sentence structure, grammar, and voice.
Disadvantages: Some students may not know how to give proper constructive criticism and instead break down the writing confidence of classmates. Another disadvantage is students being mislead, being told by classmates to make changes in which actually make their writing weaker.

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Finding the Black Ninja Fish: Revision and Writing Groups in the First Grade - National Writing Project

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It wasn't until I took part in the Puget Sound Writing Project Summer Institute (Washington) in 2001 that I began to see how I might support first-graders in revising their work. Specifically, part of the institute includes work done in a writing group: participants meet with peers for the purpose of gathering advice for how to improve their writing.

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Description: Reading logs are journals in which children write about the literature they have been reading and then later share their entires with other students and or instructors.
Advantages: reading logs help teachers assess the comprehension skills being meet by students. This strategy also enhances writing skills, the more students write the better they will get at it. Lastly, children are encouraged to express the questions they have about text within reading logs, this helps instructors understand what material is not being understood and must be discussed as a class or within small groups.
Disadvantages: Giving the children the freedom to write about the ideas they believe are important may lead to them focusing on details within literature which is not key to the main idea. Writing within journals, may also become off topic. Creating prompts for each entry may help fix these disadvantages

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Integrating Reading: Keeping Reading Journals - Writing & Communication Center - UW Bothell

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Description: Students create/ draw portraits of characters from stories they've read. The portrait displays the physical descriptions of the character. Other pages are attached that expand of the characters thoughts, personality traits, and story events the character is involved in.
Advantages: With open-minded portraits children not only focus on the physical traits of characters but get to understand them on a different level, entering their minds through details described within stories. This learning strategy also lets students use their creativity.
Disadvantages: Some children may focus too much on the illustrations product and not enough on the context of truly getting to understand characters.

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Description: Students discuss and explore the big ideas within stories they've read.They talk about things, such as what they don't understand, and what they find interesting. Hand raising is not normally necessary, the students take turns speaking aloud in a conversational manner.
Advantages: Grand conversations build a community within a classroom, make children feel more open to expressing themselves and sharing individualized opinions. This strategy is also a wonderful way to address the idea of theme within literature.
Disadvantages: Students may put down others ideas, and disgaurd valid opinions, it is necessary to teach respect before engaging students in grand conversations. Another disadvantage is that conversations have the ability to get off task and unrelated to topic at hand.

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Sangita uses grand conversations as a method to develop a recursive relationship between community building and understanding literature. For example, the themes of literature discussed during grand conversations are purposeful in that they facilitate literature knowledge and skills acquisition, while reinforcing the beliefs of community in the classroom.

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Description: Teacher models reading segments of text, paragraphs or sentences, children repeat/echo same text back to instructor.
Advantages: Echo reading promotes confidence in reading various types/genres of text. It as helps in teaching sight words necessary to become a fluent reader.
Disadvantages: Echo reading has little to no effect on reading comprehension. Memorization plays a big role in this strategy. Therefore, not the best technique to develop concrete literacy skills.

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Description: Choral reading is when students participate in reading material out loud in unity as an entire class or within small groups.
Advantages: One advantage of choral reading is its positive effect on reading fluency. Another advantage of this strategy is the motivation and confidence it gives children, making them want to participate with the guidance of their classmates.
Disadvantages: A disadvantage of this strategy is the inability to assess individuals progress.

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Language Arts

This planning checklist for a choral reading lesson uses the poem "One Sister for Sale" by Shel Silverstein. See example ›

This PDF includes dozens of poems for shared, choral, paired, and echo reading. See example ›

The website below offers teachers several poetry options conducive to the Choral Reading strategy along with some interesting tips on reading and language development. See example ›

The example of choral reading found on this site uses the children's book James and the Giant Peach. See example ›

Science

This lesson plan includes examples of choral reading activities that correspond to introductory science concepts. See example ›

Social Studies

This website includes a script for the choral reading of the children's book Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. See example ›

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Choral reading is reading aloud in unison with a whole class or group of students. Choral reading helps build students' fluency, self-confidence, and motivation. Because students are reading aloud together, students who may ordinarily feel self-conscious or nervous about reading aloud have built-in support.