Glossary of Literacy Instructional Strategies

Anticipation guide A prediction strategy used for before reading. The teacher provides a series of statements, some true, some false, from what will be read. Students discuss these prior to reading.

Attribute or retrieval chart A table in which there is a list of items on the left side and various characteristics across the top. Items are matched with characteristics in a grid.

Author's chair A designated place where student authors come to read their work to others.

Author's craft Students analyze what an author does to make his/her writing effective (e.g., figurative language, dialogue, sentence variety, text forms, and features, etc.)

Carousel A questioning strategy used to generate ideas in response to different questions. Working in cooperative groups, each group is given a question. The group then generates responses in their groups. Students rotate from group to group, adding new responses after reading the existing ones from other groups. All ideas are shared at the end of the rotation.

Character profile and analysis Students use explicit and inferred information from the text to list distinctive attributes of a particular character.

Choral reading Reading that is practiced and read together in a group.

Chunking (A) This is a strategy where the reader combines items into meaningful units such as letters into words or words into phrases. (B) A strategy taught to students in which they separate words into smaller parts so that it is more easily read. (e.g., accordion, insignia)

Cloze procedure A procedure where some words are left out of sentences (usually every 5th or 7th word) and the student fills in the missing word. It can be oral or written

Concept attainment/development One-by-one the teacher presents examples and non-examples of a concept and then asks students to name the concept and define it based on the identified essential characteristics.

Cooperative learning Cooperative learning occurs when a group of students work together with positive interdependence, individual accountability, processing, and interpersonal skills (Johnson and Johnson)

Cubing A writing strategy that prompts students to free write about a given subject or object from six different perspectives. Students are seated in small groups, and each group has a cube with a different verb written on each face: describe, compare, associate, analyze, apply, and argue for or against. The teacher presents a specific idea or object as the focus and directs the groups to position the cube so that DESCRIBE is on top. All students then free write for a few minutes to describe the object. When the time is up, students read what they have written to each other. The same steps are followed for each perspective.

Dancing definitions Teacher writes out 10 - 12 vocabulary definitions in a rhythmic pattern. Students recite the definitions repeatedly over a period of several days.

Defining format This is a three-column format with a word (left column), its general definition (second column) and its specific characteristics (right column).

DRTA Directed Reading-Thinking Activity - A strategy especially effective for nonfiction. The students identify problems or questions and predict answers. They adjust rate to appropriate level, read passage, and then check information against their predictions or hypotheses.

Echo reading A strategy to increase fluency, teach sight words, or improve phrasing and expression in which a skilled reader reads a text, a sentence, a paragraph, one line at a time as the learner tracks the words. The learner then echoes or imitates the skilled reader.

Eye (witness) Reports Students choose a place that they want to know more about or have been assigned to cover for a particular assignment. They observe there, take notes, and write up the visits according to a purpose that they may discuss with partners before the visit and refer to in workshop sessions afterwards. (James Moffet, Betty Jane Wagner, 1992, Heinemann)

Free write A writing exercise used for brainstorming and to develop writing fluency. Students write non-stop for five to ten minutes, letting their ideas go without concern for revision or editing or controlling the words.

Guided reading An instructional strategy in which the teacher and a group of children, or sometimes an individual child, talk and think and question their way through a book of which they each have a copy. The teacher shows the children what questions to ask of themselves as readers, and the author through the text, so that each child can discover the author's meaning on the first reading.

Highly recurring phonics elements Students are taught highly recurring phonic patterns through recitation and intensive practice of 3-5 new patterns every 2 days. The teacher continually refers to the patterns whenever new words that contain one or more of the patterns are introduced.

Idea book A journal or notebook where a student will record his/her ideas, plans, designs, revisions, problems, solutions, or questions.

Independent reading The student reads without assistance at a level where he/she can be regularly successful, or his/her independent level

Individual assessment checklist Target skills that are assessed by the teacher at a certain grade level that are on a checklist to assist teachers in keeping track of skills that are taught and mastered. The skills are categorized by subject area, i.e. reading, writing, evaluating, etc. There is one checklist per student.

I-search reporting Expository writing based on a question a student poses and then answers by researching information. Research may include interviews and observations as well as use of print and electronic sources. Usually written in first person, and conversational in tone and approach.

Jigsaw A strategy where text is divided among individual or paired readers. Each person or pair then reports the information learned from their section to the rest of the group.

Journals There are many kinds of journals, which have different purposes (e.g., writing notebooks for collecting writing ideas, personal journals for personal thoughts, reflective journals to reflect on learning or new ideas, response journals for responding to something that has been read or heard).

Key word This strategy is used before reading to focus attention, activate prior knowledge, arouse curiosity, and set purposes for learning. From the text, the teacher selects several words or numbers that relate to the topic and that can be associated with one another in different ways. The teacher shows these to the students and asks them to speculate on how they're related to the topic. Students form hypotheses, explain their reasoning, and justify their thinking, then read to inform, refute, or revise their hypotheses.

KWL This is a three-column chart. The first column is what is known, the second is what do you want to find out, and the third is what you have learned after the reading or investigation.

Language experience Students dictate a short story and the teacher writes it down so the student can reread it.

Learning logs Students record what they are learning.

Letter sound match Students identify upper and lower case letters and match sounds to the appropriate letter symbol.

List-group-label Students begin with an array or words or phrases. These are then placed into groups that have like characteristics. Finally, a label is given to each group.

Literature circles This is an approach where small groups of students read different books frequently on the same topic or theme (similar to a book club).

Metacognition The ability to recognize one's own thought processes and being conscious of strategies being used.

Monitor and clarify While the student reads text, she/he monitors his or her understanding of content. The student can clarify by rereading or by reading ahead.

Note taking * Sticky notes - Students use sticky notes to mark interesting passages or places where they have questions while reading. * Sticky notes #2 - Students respond to a question charted on large paper by placing a sticky note on chart. This results in a classroom compilation of responses on sticky notes. * Two-column note taking - The student records words or phrases from reading in the first column and then writes what he/she thinks is meant in the second column. * Three-column note taking - This is like two-column note taking with a third column where the student records his/her reaction or personal response to what was read.

Opinion proof chart This is done in a T-chart format. Students review the text to find evidence to support an opinion.

Panoramic book The panoramic talking book is a student made book that is built upon the walls of the classroom. Using student artistic creations based on a currently studied theme, students create bubbles to share what the characters on the wall are saying. The purpose of the book is to provide a successful reading experience with the student's own words in their environment. The process is excellent for building understanding of quotation marks, punctuation, and language patterns.

Phonemic awareness This is auditory discrimination of sounds, taught through rhyming, word segmentation, word blending, consonant and/or vowel substitution, picture sorting, etc.

Phonic pattern hopscotch The teacher introduces new words, one phonic element at a time, until the whole word is built; avoid introducing the initial sounds first. Goal is to have students form the habit of looking at the whole word, identifying all the letter patterns they know, and build the word around those familiar patterns.

Phonics/decoding strategy This is a series of steps to do when a reader comes to an unknown work, including: 1) Look carefully at the word. 2) Look for word parts you know and think about the sounds for the letters. 3) Blend the sounds to read the word. 4) Ask yourself: Is it a word I know? Does it make sense in what I am reading? 5) If not, ask yourself: What else can I try?

Plot map This is a graphic representation of the story elements, characters, setting, plot events, climax, and solution. It is useful for increasing comprehension or as a prewrite for narrative.

Possible sentences Students take an array of words from text to be read and try to make sentences incorporating the words that will give them a clue to content.

Problem solution chart A guide that helps students to think, write, and discuss issues. Problems are listed on the left side, effects in the middle, and solutions on the right.

QAR's A questioning scheme developed by Raphael called Question-Answer Relationships. This strategy is especially helpful as students learn to infer. Students learn to identify different types of questions and to know that they require different kinds of work to answer the questions. Questions include Right-there questions and Think-and-search questions. First students identify the type of questions when asked by the teacher, and then they are asked to create their own types of questions.

Read-talk-write This strategy helps to monitor comprehension as students read. A small section is read. Then the students talk in pairs about what was read and then write summary information. Variations include: Read-draw-write, read-draw-talk, listen-talk-write, etc.

Reading Logs Students record a list of books he/she has read.

Reciprocal teaching Reciprocal teaching is an instructional activity in a form of a dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of text. The dialogue is structured by the use of four strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher and students take turns assuming the role of the teacher.

Saturation reports This report is based on a student's observations of an occasion or place, reported with "saturation" in sights and sounds. Notes are taken on the spot, followed by an account that integrates the initial saturation with the writer's impression of the experience.

Semantic map A strategy commonly used before reading expository text to activate prior knowledge of a particular concept. It is similar to List-group-label - Pearson and Johnson

Shared reading This reading model occurs when a teacher reads to a group of children rather than to a specific child. Shared reading may used Big Books, overheads, or other text.

Shared writing This is a writing strategy in which teacher and students write collaboratively, including choice of topic, content, and word choice. The teacher acts as a scribe and models conventions.

Sight words These are high frequency words which readers need to know automatically when they see them. Many of these words are not decodable.

Skimming and scanning skills Skimming is reading quickly through a passage to get the gist of it; scanning is moving your eyes quickly over a passage looking for a specific piece of information.

Story map This is a graphic representation of the elements of a story that may take many forms, (e.g., plot map, flow map). It is useful for increasing comprehension of stories, and as a prewrite for narrative.

Strip story One or more paragraphs have been rewritten as a list of sentences in mixed-up order. Students cut out the sentences and put them in the right order.

Structural analysis Breaking words apart into smaller units to decode (e.g., dis/cover/y).

Student-generated questions Students generate their own questions to be answered as they read.

Tableau A reading strategy used to increase comprehension by connecting to the emotions of the characters. Students read a portion of text, freeze, then discuss what the characters are feeling at that specific moment in the story.

Taxonomies These are lists of words related to a specific topic or subject area, usually organized alphabetically.

Text features These are parts of a text that help the reader to understand (e.g., headings, titles, index, table of contents, captions, bold type, italic type).

Thematic units Thematic units are written and planned as units of study around common knowledge or concepts that develop important concepts, promote the transfer of skills, and are relevant to the student's lives (e.g., A unit with the theme of overcoming hard times, or homelessness).

Think aloud Teacher or student shares process of thinking, with attention to all possible details of subject. Elaboration and details are encouraged.

Think-pair-share Students a.) think individually about a response b.)pair with another and discuss ideas c.) share thinking with rest of class.

Two-word summary A two-word description that summarizes text. Objective is to succinctly capture meaning in two words.

Vocabulary extensions Supporting strategies and activities that go beyond the vocabulary lesson. One example for vocabulary extension is to have students locate words that they are studying in a different text or context.

Vocabulary map A graphic organizer that helps students develop elaborate definitions of words, expand meanings, and discover relationships between words. (Carol Santa, Kendall Hunt, 2000)

WEB One acronym for independent silent reading, meaning Wonderfully Exciting Books (Reggie Routman Invitations, 1994). Students choose their own books that are read both at school and home for twenty minutes twice a day. Students keep a reading log of their daily reading with the title of the book and the pages read. Additionally, students meet in small groups and discuss the books that they have completed. The book sharing usually can be done during the independent reading time or the literacy block.

Word sort The students sort words according to a variety of characteristics, including beginning or ending consonant sounds, vowel sounds, number of syllables, and rhymes.

Word splash Students write original and interesting stories from the words that are randomly "splashed" on paper (a picture graphic). Students can use the words from a story, book, or dictionary.

Word wall A visual strategy of arranging words on walls for vocabulary development, language development, use as a thesaurus, and spell check.

Writing as Learning strategies Refers to the book, Writing as Learning, Evelyn Rothstein and Gerald Lauber, Skylight Training and Publishing, Inc., 2000.

Updated: 05/17/05 rlhl)