Reading for Intermediate and Advanced Learners, Spring, 2011

I am going to use this strategy with the students in my reading group. The book is about a mystery surrounding a youth baseball team. Before beginning to read the book we will talk about words/terms that come to mind when you hear the word baseball. Each student will get an alphabet brainstorming sheet and write down as many words on their own that have do with baseball under the correct letter of the alphabet (example: they might write glove under g). After 3 minutes students will share thier ideas with others and add to their chart. We'll come back together and talk about their terms and why they fit under the topic of baseball. As we read we'll add new terms to the brainstorming sheets and talk about what they mean. Prior knowledge is used in this strategy and students are updating that prior knowledge as they encounter new terms in the book. They are also having to justify their own choices for what to include on their own charts. I think I can use this technique alot in my classroom.