CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1

Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

Strategy: Paragraph Shrinking. Reading Rockets (Bridges)

Detailed Description: Students are either assigned a partner or choose a partner to read a text with. In the group of two, students alternate being a “coach” and a “player”. The “player” reads a paragraph aloud. He/she must then stop and summarize the paragraph, answering the following the questions without rereading: who or what is the paragraph about, what is most important about the who or what, and the main idea of the paragraph. If the “player” answers something wrong, the “coach” asks him to reread and helps him find the right answers. Their summary of each paragraph should be 10 words (depending on the length of the paragraphs, I would give students a 3 sentence limit). Students alternate these roles until the entire text is read and summarized. I would encourage students to write their summaries out.

Practical Application:  In a science class, students are often required to read lengthy texts. The teacher could assign a text discussing the process of the water cycle. Students could either pair off or, the class could be divided between “coaches” and “players” and each coach has to pair up with a player. The student would then take the text and read aloud and attempt to summarize the text, writing down their summaries as they go along. When students finish with the text, students can either turn in their summaries or use them to discuss as a whole group the process of the water cycle.

TRAP: The earliest research cited for this method was in 1999 and the last year cited was 2005. This method was also a part of the Peer Assisted Learning Strategies which has also been cited during these years. All citings for this strategy included research from Dr. Douglas Fuchs, a professor and department chair of Special Education at Vanderbilt and a member of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development since 1985. This strategy is for teachers to make available for students use in the classroom to help them succeed in their studies.

Strategy:  Selective Underlining (Freeman)

Detailed Description: This is a strategy that helps students understand what the author is saying from a text. This also helps students organize specific information from the text. Students will read the text first, then asked to highlight important information while reading. This helps students pay close attention to information that can be useful to cite in research.

Practical Application: While reading an excerpt, students can underline the important words or phrases in the excerpt. Then when a discussion arises about the excerpt, the students should be able to have a better understanding of what the author is conveying because they have underlined the big ideas that the author is stressing in the excerpt.
TRAP: The article was written in 2005. The strategy is relevant because it gives students the opportunity to see how two ideas are similar. This strategy can also be used to see how what they are learning in class is related to something they are around or something that concerns them, making what they are learning more relevant. The audience is teachers who want to find a way to see how they can get students to be more involved in their learning. The purpose of this strategy is to get teachers to find a way to make the student’s learning more personal.

Common core teaching and learning strategies. (2012, May 1). Retrieved February 22, 2015, from http://www.isbe.net/common_core/pdf/ela-teach-strat-read-text-6-12.pdf