Name of Strategy: Chapter Tours
Source (Use APA or MLA style):
Buehl, D. (2009). Hands-on reading. Classroom strategies for interactive learning (59-61). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Text students will read(Use APA or MLA style):
Powell, W.S. (2003). North Carolina: A Proud State in Our Nation. Littell & Mifflin.
(This is one of the state-wide text books used in North Carolina for middle school. The students will read chapter 11: Forming a New Nation 1781-1815)
Give a thorough explanation of the strategy as it is described in the original source:
Often times, when students read through a chapter of their history book they get overwhelmed and bogged down by the number of dates, people, and events and completely miss the most important facts and concepts of the chapter. This instructional strategy is a pre-reading activity that sets up “readers for comprehension by stimulating connections to prior knowledge, self-questioning, imagining, inferring, determining importance, and ultimately, synthesizing understanding” (Buehl, 59). By guiding the students to first access what they already know about a subject, when they begin to read the chapter of the text, they will be able to link the information that is being presented to something they already know. This is called frontloading. Students will begin to find that it is very important to frontload before reading a text to successfully and more efficiently read and understand. With the students having this knowledge, the teacher will guide them through this strategy in reading selected chapters of their history book. There are 7 things to look for when reading through the chapter that the students can take note of that will lead them to better understanding: topic, main idea, major themes, structure, salient details, style, and tone/attitude/mood. The students can fill out this guide while they read to help them identify and comprehend the most important parts of the chapter. When this concept is new, students can get in small groups in class and practice. Once they have mastered it, they can apply this strategy to not only reading for their history classes, but also for science, language arts, and all their other classes!