Impact: Chapter 3: Advanced Lesson

Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension: Maximizing Your Impact

Chapter 3: Activating and Building Background Knowledge: Advanced Lesson

	Fifth-grade teacher Massiel Garcia and teacher-librarian Marilyn Teicher field tested this lesson. They serve at P.S. 86, a pre-K-6 school in Bronx, New York. In May 2007, Massiel and Marilyn taught these lessons in the library. Students worked in voice groups to determine what background information they would need to comprehend the poem found in Sing Down the Rain. The students elected to perform the choral reading at the end of the school year. Marilyn reported that these ELL students improved their reading fluency as they performed this work.
Students worked in small groups to complete a category matrix about traditional Tohono O'odham culture. The sample at the right was completed by fifth-grade student Karen Marte. (Supplement 3H)

Internet Pathfinder: Tohono O'odham Nation	This pathfinder can also support an even deeper investigation into Tohono O'dham culture than is required for comprehending the choral reading of Sing Down the Rain.

AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner:

Use prior and background knowledge as context for new learning. (1.1.2)
Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning. (1.1.6)
Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding. (1.1.9)
Organize knowledge so it is useful. (2.1.2)
Connect ideas to own interests and previous knowledge and experience. (4.1.5)

Launched: March 2007
Updated: 1 June 2013