STRATEGIES FOR INCREASING COMPREHENSION OF.
K-W-L (What I Know, What I Want to Know, and What I Learned) is a teaching strategy developed by Donna Ogle (1986) used to encourage reading by first activating students" prior knowledge, then developing questions of interest to focus attention during reading, and finally reflecting on what was learned.
B. Why use it?.
This method is used by educators to activate high order thinking skill which will help students construct meaning from what they read and help them monitor their progress toward their goals.
C. How to teach it?.
The following procedure can be used to teach K-W-L to your students.
1. Explain to students that when people read, they do not always understand what they have read.
2. Introduce K-W-L as a learning strategy as a way to help understanding.
Here are the steps:.
a. List what you know about the topic.
b. List what you want to know about the topic.
c. Read the article or chapter.
d. List what you have learned.
3. Modeling.
a. Teacher list on the board what he/she knows about the text of chapter.
b. Teacher lists in another column what he/she wants to find out about the text or chapter.
c. Teacher reads outloud 2 pages of the text to the class.
d. Teacher list in a 3rd column what he/she has learned for the 2 pages.
D. When to use it? Before/During or After reading.
K-W-L should be used before and after reading expository text. It is designed to grab the readers" interest before the text is read and check for understanding after the reading is complete.
E. Evaluation of the strategy? How would you determine if students understood the use of the strategy?.
The best way to check for understanding would be open discussion with your students. K-W-L is an effective reading tool. It taps into interests and checks for understanding. After reading the text and "learning" the material, go back to the "K" column and see if any of the prior knowledge was inaccurate. Check any of them that are inaccurate, according to the text, and rewrite any of your statements that were inaccurate so they are correct.
