| Dear Arizona Promising Practices
Subscriber,
Welcome to another online addition of the Arizona
Promising Practices forum. For those new to this service, each issue, which
will now be sent to you on a regular basis, will focus on: (1) Recommended
National Educational Websites; (2) A Local or Arizona Website/Practice of
Importance; and (3) One promising practice article in condensed form. We
welcome your recommendations for improvement to this forum or suggestions on
future topics (these will be wide ranging to if nothing in this update interests you, hold on for future editions!) The Arizona Promising Practices
Forum and website, www.azpromisingpractices.com
is a FREE resource of the Arizona Department of Education. Mary
Urich, ACPE Director murich@mail1.ade.state.az.us In this
issue we present to you research based on tips for engaging classrooms in
Active Reading. Educational success depends on students ability to read
and comprehend well and these tips can help move student's towards that goal.
Brought to you by glencoe.com, it is a
practical guide designed for everyday usage on a Monday - Friday schedule. National Website of Importance
- Check out all the online
resources offered by the Arizona State Improvement Grant (www.azsig.com)
This one stop cluster of websites will help educators and parents learn more
about initiatives within the Grand Canyon State and ongoing efforts to
improve the educational achievement of children.
Engaging
Classrooms in Active Reading Active Reading in the Classroom The ability to effectively read is critical to the success of a student in any subject area. Yet many students experience difficulty in mastering this skill. Engaging students in active reading practices can help them become more involved in their reading, thus aiding comprehension and retention. This week, we focus on specific active reading strategies you can use with your students today.
Structured Approaches to Active Reading (Monday) Experiment with the K-W-L (What I Know, What I Want to Know, What I've Learned) method in your classroom. Before reading, have students brainstorm everything they know about a topic. Then have them list questions they have about the topic (what they want to know). After reading, check what students have learned-see if they can answer the questions they generated, and have them identify new areas for exploration. This method could work as an entire class, small group, or individual exercise. Response Activities Encourage Active Reading (Tuesday) Compile a list of open-ended, controversial questions or
statements for students to explore both before and after they read. The
statements should focus on opinions or misconceptions about the topic. If
students answered the questions individually, consider engaging in at least a
brief class discussion to examine how the reading affected students' responses. Visually Organize Concepts for Active Reading (Wednesday) Implement the use of graphic organizers into student
reading. These tools can help students to visually organize what
they are reading and extract the main ideas. Graphic organizers are especially
useful after a reading, as a reviewing tool. Active Reading Incorporates Preview Strategies (Thursday) Have students preview reading selections to improve
comprehension and retention. Before students begin reading, they should
read any introductions or previews and write down all headings and subheadings
in the reading, organizing them in an outline form and leaving spaces for
additional notes. They should also examine all graphics, noticing the titles and
captions; look at all boldface words in the reading; and survey the questions
and exercises at the end of the reading. Prediction Helps Develop Active Reading (Friday) Teach students reading prediction strategies. As students are reading, have them predict the outcomes or consequences of the actions described. Ask them to make educated guesses. This will help them to develop thinking skills and become active rather than passive readers.
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