TEACH: Cheat sheet for reading activities from the Learning Progressions

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You may already have downloaded this resource. If you haven’t and you want to click the link below:

These resources are filled with activities and ideas that you can use or adapt. But navigating them can be tricky. So we designed a cheat sheet.

Cheat Sheet for Read with Understanding Activities

Here’s how to use it. Just look down the list at the second column. This tells you in one sentence what learners actually have to do in the activity.

From there, you can look at the name of the activity, find the page number in the resource, and see which progressions it lines up with.

Things to remember:

  • Most activities cut across multiple progressions. This is fine. Just make sure you know what your focus is. Refer back to your learning outcomes.
  • The level of difficulty for the activity depends on how you pitch it to your learners. That’s why there’s no list of which steps a particular activity applies to. For example, if you choose a text with easy words, it’s going to be steps 1 to 3. If you choose a text with more academic or technical words, it’s going to be steps 4 to 6 depending on the words.
  • Not all the activities will be useful to you and your situation. If you do decide to take the time to look through these, you might want to rate them for yourself. In other words, can you use this?
  • You don’t have to use these. If you have your own ideas then go with that. But remember, if you need inspiration or want to look at activities that were written by experts then look here.

You can download it here as PDF or just read below.

Activity

What do learners do?

Which progressions does it focus on?

Where do I find it?

Can I use it?
Rate: ✓ ? ✗
Word sort Sort words according to features such as syllables, prefixes, suffixes or sounds Decoding and vocabulary p 29
Word building Decode unfamiliar words by identifying root words and exploring patterns Decoding and vocabulary p 30
Word maps Brainstorm words that relate to a single focus word in order to extend vocabulary Vocabulary p 31
Interactive cloze Use context clues in a sentence, paragraph or text to work out unknown words Vocabulary, language & text, comprehension strategies, reading critically p 33
Clustering Group words together into meaningful clusters Vocabulary, comprehension strategies p 35
Structured overviews Organise words into a hierarchy (e.g. like an chart describing all the roles in an organisation) Vocabulary, language & text, comprehension strategies, reading critically p 36
Clines Arrange words into a sequence that shows shades of meaning (e.g. like words expressing temperature) Vocabulary p 37
Predicting and defining new words Predict and define keywords they think will be in a text Vocabulary, comprehension strategies p 38
Concept circles Explain concepts and relationships that link related words Vocabulary, comprehension strategies p 39
Pair definitions Write a definition and someone else has to guess the original word Vocabulary p 40
Word and definition barrier activity Match words with definitions verbally Vocabulary, comprehension strategies p 42
Identifying key words Locate keywords in a text and work out their meanings from context. Vocabulary, comprehension strategies p 43
Navigating a text Skim and scan a text to identify its structure, key ideas and relevant details. Language and text, comprehension strategies, reading critically p 44
Surveying language and text structure Scan a text to get an overview of how it’s organised and predict its content Language and text, comprehension strategies, reading critically p 45
Brainstorming Activate prior knowledge about a topic before reading a text Vocabulary, comprehension strategies p 46
KWL activity Activate prior knowledge about a topic and create a purpose for reading Comprehension strategies p 47
Previewing and predicting text content Preview a text in order to predict its content Language and text, comprehension strategies, reading critically p 48
Asking questions Ask questions about a text in order to create a purpose for reading. Comprehension strategies, reading critically p 49
Skimming and scanning Skim a text to get a general idea and then scan for relevant information Language and text, comprehension strategies, p 50
Identifying main ideas Match sentences that summarise the main ideas in a text with paragraphs from a text Comprehension strategies p 51
Using ‘comment codes’ Mark up a text using comment codes to show their response or the kind of content Comprehension strategies, reading critically p 52
Using question dice Roll a dice to generate questions to ask about a text they’ve read Comprehension strategies, reading critically p 53
Selecting relevant information Sort statements about a text depending on how relevant they are to purpose or question Comprehension strategies, reading critically p 54
Using three-level thinking guides Read a text for meaning on three different levels including literal, interpretative and evaluative Comprehension strategies, reading critically p 55-56
Reciprocal teaching of reading Discuss a reading text in a small group using different roles to predict, clarify, question and summarise Comprehension strategies, reading critically p 57-58
Shared-reading Practice reading comprehension strategies Decoding, vocabulary, language and text, comprehension strategies, reading critically p 59, 118
Teaching-decoding A selection of activity ideas across the steps in the decoding progression Decoding p 119-121

 

 

Author: Graeme Smith

THIS IS GRAEME I write and teach about practical education, professional growth and cultural insights. I also make music. Available for inspiration, innovation, creation and education consulting and advisory work in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally.

2 thoughts

  1. Hi Graeme, thanks for your summaries. I am currently doing the Certificate in Adult Literacy and Numeracy through Open Poly. Your site is a useful resource.
    Cheers,
    Chris

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