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.
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.
As we wind down this school year, many of our students will need to participate in extended learning during the summer. But who wants to go to summer school? Just the thought of it brings to mind "failure." So, this summer, let’s disrupt what’s been known as summer school and let’s call it summer camp!
When I began my teaching career in 1991, guided reading was a new practice that was being introduced in schools across the country. The focus of the guided reading groups was to help students develop metacognitive strategies they needed to process a text on their instructional reading level. In these groups, the teacher provided necessary scaffolds. It was up to the teacher to decide the type of scaffold the student might need. For example, a student might not have background knowledge related to the events or topic of the text. The teacher would then provide some background information to support comprehension.
