Top Ten Tool Kit- Strategies (1-3)

The following are 3 types of strategies that can be used in my content area. Along with the strategies are descriptions and my personal ideas on how I could incorporate these strategies in a real classroom. Be looking out for future posts on this topic :)

1. Exit Slips (Struggling Readers): Exit slips are responses written by students that reflect on a question (or questions) given before the end of class. Normally short reflections, these slips help a teacher determine where each student stands compared to where he or she needs to be in relation to the unit. Given a few minutes to answer the problem, the students submit the slip of paper in a designated place at the end of class for the teacher to read. Hence the name, students are not to leave the classroom until their "ticket" to leave is dropped off.

For example, I may use an exit strip strategy after teaching a science lesson on density. Being required to teach in the 7th grade, according to the NCSCOS, this topic may be difficult to grasp, especially when having to relate the information to outside experiences or answer tough word problems, such as a problem that asks one to compare the densities of oil and water, and explain the differences. The following are examples of exit slip questions that can be used for the density topic:

Is there anything about today's density lesson that you don't understand?
By thinking more in depth, how could you determine the mass of a small object if you're only given the density and volume? (*remember: density = mass/volume*)
Summarize the lesson in your own words in 2 paragraphs or less.

2. Think Aloud (Reading Comprehension) The think aloud strategy encourages students to think aloud about what they are thinking when faced with problems or answering questions. The purpose of this strategy is to have students publicize their inner speech as they are trying to solve a problem so that a teacher may be able to scaffold a student's way of thinking and help the student make corrections, if needed. "As students think out loud with teachers and with one another, they gradually internalize this dialogue; it becomes their inner speech, the means by which they direct their own behaviors and problem-solving processes" (Tinzmann et al. 1990). By listening to the students' answers, the teacher can listen to see where a student may be and can determine whether or not he or she understands the given issue without further help from an instructor. This type of technique can be used on a daily basis, during any part of a lesson.

Think alouds can take place between student and teacher (as mentioned above), and between student and student. For example, I can pair up my science students in groups of 2 and have each team develop a hypothesis about the following objects' (a paper clip, a raisin, and a penny), densities when placed in a cup of maple syrup. One student can observe the 3 objects and predict (out loud) whether they sink or float when placed in a cup of syrup. At the same time, the other student can listen and write down the partner's response. Next, the students switch roles and the first recorder now spends time by observing and talking out loud about what can be seen, while the other is the new listener and recorder. After both students have gone, they both can talk together and reflect on what each other thought about and what worked and what failed.

3. Word Walls (Struggling Readers) Word walls are organized displays of words that are visible in the classroom for students to see. The purpose of a word wall is to help students with the reading and spelling of certain words that may revolve around the current topic or unit and can be set up in an easy manner: simply clear a wall that will purposely used for the display, staple the words (whether they be vocab, high frequency, word groups, etc.), to the wall, and refer to the wall of words as much as possible for the benefit of the students. Because a word wall can be used as a resource for an entire topic, it can be used throughout the entity of a class period.

When starting a new science unit on weather, I can post the vocabulary words from the chapters on the word wall so that the students start becoming familiar with the terms right away. Over time, new words can be added up as the chapters are read through. When some students are unaware of a certain term, he or she will have the opportunity to post the word up on the wall in order to become more familiar with the word and its appropriate usage.