Frontloading content is an instructional strategy where teachers introduce key concepts, vocabulary, or background information to students before they engage with new learning material. This approach aims to prepare students by providing the necessary context and tools, enabling them to better comprehend and retain new information.
Implementing a "Person of the Week" activity in the classroom is an effective strategy to enhance students' prior knowledge, especially for those with limited world exposure. This activity introduces students to diverse individuals, fostering curiosity and broadening their understanding of various cultures, professions, and historical contexts.
Learning Objectives:
Cultural Awareness: Students gain insights into different cultures and historical contexts.
Vocabulary Development: Exposure to new terms and concepts enhances language skills.
Critical Thinking: Analyzing the individual's contributions fosters critical thinking and discussion.
Empathy and Inspiration: Learning about diverse lives and challenges builds empathy and can inspire students.
Developing a rich schema is essential for effective reasoning. A schema encompasses all the factual knowledge and categories we understand about the world. Children who lack a well-developed schema face significant learning disadvantages, as they may struggle to make inferences and draw conclusions due to limited factual knowledge and vocabulary. Therefore, it is crucial for teachers and parents to strategically plan to help these children develop world knowledge.
For children acquiring English as a second language, expanding vocabulary is vital
Prior knowledge, also known as background knowledge, is critical for making logical assumptions, conclusions, and claims. Many children lack the prior knowledge related to topics in the texts they are asked to read in school. As educators, we must plan to build and use prior knowledge to help students make sense of new learning.
One way to get young children to think critically is to engage them in educational games like "Guess in 10" or "Twenty Questions". These games can significantly enhance their world knowledge, while teaching them that retrieval and comprehension of concepts and facts are the basis of logical reasoning.
The Educator's Playbook for Vocabulary Instruction is a comprehensive resource designed to provide teachers with strategies and techniques to support vocabulary development in their students. In the playbook, teachers will find a variety of direct and indirect instructional methods. Each strategy is tailored to specific student needs, from activating prior knowledge to synthesizing new learning and using vocabulary in writing and discussions.
Empower Your Planning with a Teacher Playbook
Imagine having a go-to resource that simplifies your planning and helps you make targeted instructional decisions for your students. That’s the power of a teacher playbook. Designed with "If...then" statements, a playbook serves as a quick reference guide during team planning or when collaborating with an RTI team on interventions. It’s like having a personalized strategy map tailored to specific learners and learning situations.
The "What's the Word?" technique is an engaging activity designed to activate students' background knowledge, build language comprehension, and encourage the use of newly learned language.
Language comprehension is the foundation of successful learning, particularly in literacy-based subjects and courses. It goes beyond decoding words on a page—it's about understanding and making meaning of what is read. Without strong language comprehension skills, students may struggle to grasp the content, regardless of their ability to read the words themselves.
Comprehension involves a complex interplay of vocabulary knowledge, background information, inferencing skills, and understanding of text structure. These elements work together to enable students not only to read but also to think critically about texts, make connections, and engage deeply with content.
During this interactive webinar, educators will learn how to use books from their classroom library to engage students in math problem-solving. Picture books are an excellent resource that help students identify mathematical problems in everyday life, including number sense, geometry, measurement, and algebraic thinking.
We’ll be joined by special guest and educational consultant Kelly Harmon, MAEd, who will model how to guide students through using literature to promote math learning and provide examples to illustrate the concept of math through literature.
The following are videos and professional resources for building expertise in mathematics.
