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Activating Prior Knowledge - Helping students do it independently!

1/21/2014

1 Comment

 
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Activating prior knowledge is a common educational phrase. Almost any teacher will tell you the importance of getting students to make connections to their background knowledge before they learn about a new topic or read a new story. 

Recently I searched for ideas on how to activate prior knowledge. Everything I found included the teacher doing the activating of the students - an external event, rather than students learning how to activate their own brains.
We need our students to be able to do this independently! During standardized assessments, teachers are not able to prompt students with questions, KWL charts, and other hints about the topic. During most authentic learning situations, I don't have someone saying to me "What do you Know about this topic?"

So how does one activate one's own knowledge? What do you do when faced with a topic you know little about? I reflected on my own experience and then developed a tool to help my students. The
Prior Knowledge Spinner provides 6 questions to stimulate metacognition, particularly as it relates to prior knowledge.  I provided students with the topic, then had them spin and answer the questions. 

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I also created a second version with visual prompts to help our English Learners or other students who needed some additional support. 


Our goal is to have students use the spinners frequently enough that the questions become embedded in their metacognitive processes. This  will include a transition phase when we fade out the actual spinners and encourage a visualization.

Interested in these tools? Email me a request at anne@ideasforeducators.com and I will be happy to send them to you. 

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Reading Comprehension Booster

7/23/2013

4 Comments

 
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After more than a year in development, my Reading Comprehension Booster iPad app is now available on the App Store! Many of my regular readers have attended my workshops and seen the app in the early stages. I welcomed your input and changed the design to include your suggested features. Testing with children of various ages also improved our design to the point where I believe it will be an asset to any literacy program.

What makes my app different? I have reviewed many apps tagged as reading comprehension apps. What I found was that most of these provide students with text to read and then answer questions. It seems to me that this assesses reading comprehension but doesn’t work on the skills needed to improve reading comprehension! Reading Comprehension Booster targets the foundational elements of understanding fiction and non-fiction and engages students in interactive responses to these. The app is also fully accessible - children can respond with audio recordings, drawings, text and drag and drop.


Click here for a video overview of the app, or read below for the specific details. If you feel that it is worthwhile, I would appreciate you spreading the word for me through your contacts, blogs and other networks. I will also welcome your feedback as we work on updates. I already have ideas for adding more non-fiction features in a future release.


Boost reading comprehension with this set of interactive tools! Based on the idea of paper bookmarks, each booster encourages the child to record responses, while they are reading, based on a specific reading focus. No more wondering if your child or student was actually paying attention while s/he was reading!

Booster bookmarks were designed by an expert in the field of differentiated instruction, and are based on essential instructional elements identified in literacy, brain and learning research. Each booster has a variety of interactive options to tap into different ability levels and interests. Users can read or listen to directions, draw, type, drag or record responses, and much more. Children can choose from Characters, Connections, Story Seeds and other bookmarks, or use several simultaneously. Children can easily email their work to a parent or teacher for review and discussion.  

Features

•    Interactive tools to increase reading engagement and comprehension

•    Each bookmark provides cues to prompt thinking

•    For beginning readers through early teens 

•    Allows for multiple users for classrooms sharing iPads

•    A range of response options increases accessibility

•    Data can be emailed to parents, teachers, RtI specialists, IEP team members



4 Comments

Inclusion Benefits Everyone!

6/11/2013

0 Comments

 
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Recently I was invited to write for Expert Beacon - a site dedicated to sharing expert advice on a wide range of topics. Here is my first article on the Do's and Don'ts of successful inclusive practices.


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    Anne M. Beninghof

    Anne's mission is to improve instruction through collaboration and the sharing of creative, practical ideas for educators.

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