Samantha Stewart

Strategy Notebook

Table Of Contents:

TOAST (Vocabulary)
Anticipation Guide (ELL)
Writing Roulette (Writing)
Story Impressions (Vocabulary)
Possible Sentences (ELL)
Rewrite (Writing)
Writing Roulette (Writing)
Cubing (Writng)
Mirror Assessment (Reading/Test)
Graphic Comprehension (Reading/Test)
PORPE (Reading/Test)

TOAST
APA Citation:
Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies . Content Area Literacy ().
Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Steps:
1.

Test- Students will first pretest themselves on new vocabulary introduced to them in

class.
2. Organize- Students will organize their words into some type of framework that will enhance
their ability to learn new vocabulary.
3. Anchor- The students will work with a partner to teach and test each other using a tape recorder,
used timed trials and trying to link the word to something.
4. Say- The students will review that stages of the procedure.
5. Test- The students will conduct a posttest after each review to check how well they have learned
the words.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
TOAST is an independent strategy to help students learn their vocabulary words easier.
Students can study at their own speed and learn the words how they want too. It is also a good
rehearsal technique for second language learners in that it is repetitive and forces you to learn the
words in a more convenient way.
Words Given:
Grid Systmes- determines longitude & latitude
Legends- what symbols are on a map
Scales- ration of distance on a map
Compass Rose- device showing directions

ANTICIPATION GUIDE

APA Citation:
Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies . Content Area Literacy ().
Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Steps:
1. Identify the major concepts and supporting details in a print selection.
2. Identify students experiences and beliefs that will be challenged by material.
3. Create statements reflecting your students prereading beliefs concerning a course topic that may
challenge those beliefs.
4. Arrange the statements on a sheet of paper. Have students respond positively or negatively to
each statement on an individual basis.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

The anticipation guide is an easy and interesting way to see what students already know
about the upcoming lesson or chapter. It also gives the students a look ahead to see what is
coming up in the chapter. Allowing the students to view and express their own opinions on the
topic at hand is also an excellent way see where they stand with the topic. It is an experiencebased level of understanding use throughout the classroom.

___ Milk is something used that we mostly consume.

___ You could one day wear milk.
___ Some people are already wearing clothes made out of milk.
___ Clothes made from milk would be gross and smell weird.
___ Fabric made out of milk would feel like leather.

WRITING ROULETTE

APA Citation:
Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies . Content Area Literacy ().
Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Provide a simple structure for the story, consisting of three major elements
Students must use at least two words from the lesson or unit they have been studying.
They need to underline these words in their story.
Set an specific time limit for the first story section.
When time is up, have student exchange papers or collect and shuffle them. Advise students to
read the paper and continue the story.
6. Exchange papers again and add to the story again.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

Writing Roulette is a great strategy for building writing skills and vocabulary. It can also
help ELL students with becoming more confident & fluent in another language. You can have
them write about anything they want too, which also encourages artistic freedom.

EXAMPLE
Gertrude and Susie were on their way home from school. Gertrude, said Susie, that
anticipation guide we use in class was really great.
Yeah, replied Gertrude. And didnt you just love the graphic organizers? I cant wait
to get home and call all of our friends and let them know about our class.
Gertrude and Susie continue down the street, chatting happily.

STORY IMPRESSIONS
APA Citation:

Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies . Content Area Literacy ().
Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Steps:
1. Preview a section of text and identify the 10 12 important terms (words, phrases, concepts, or
names) you want students to know
2. List the words in the order in which they appear in the text
3. Students should be given enough words to form an impression of the text but not so many that
they can easily recreate the text
4. Ask students to then create a possible version of the text by using all of the words in a paragraph
Strengths & Weaknesses:
Story impressions provide students the opportunity to create semantic relationships
amongst a group of words by asking the students to write a paragraph using the words in order of
which they appear. It also allows the students prior knowledge to be used when writing the
paragraph.

EXAMPLE
-

Grass
Bunny Rabbit
Egg

The grass was green outside on this beautiful day. Very soon a little bunny rabbit would be
coming around and bringing treats to all the little boys and girls. Eggs would soon be all over
the yard.

POSSIBLE SENTENCES
APA Citation:
Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies . Content Area Literacy ().
Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.

Steps:
1. Choose and display the vocabulary words.
2. Ask students to define the words and pair related words together.
3. Ask students to write sentences using their word pairs. Remind students that their sentences
should be ones they expect to see in the text as they read.
4. Have students read the text and compare their possible sentences with the actual sentences within
the text.
5. If your students' possible sentences are inaccurate, ask them to rewrite their sentences to be
accurate.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

Possible Sentences in a technique used to improve vocabulary, concepts, and reading
comprehension. It can increase students comprehension and spark their curiosity over what they
are reading. It is a great tool to help learn about context clues.

EXAMPLE
-

Aquarium
Water
Fish
Sea

VERBAL/VISUAL WORD ASSOCIATION

APA Citation:

Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies. Content Area Literacy ().
Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Steps:
1. Have the students draw a square with four boxes in it.
2. You would write the words definition in the bottom left hand square.
3. Now in the top right square you would write a word that is a personal association for the word
given or draw a picture.
4. In the bottom Right Square you would need to include a words that describes something you do
or something you experience that is not the given word.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
Verbal Visual Word Association will help students that may be struggling with reading.
This will help allow the students to learn and retain both general and technical vocabulary. This
will help the students take a word and relate it to personal experiences. This will also help
second language learners to put a visual with the word to help them better understand what the
word means.

EXAMPLE

Salubrious

Surfing

Promoting Health

Smoking

MIRROR ASSESSMENT
APA Citation:

Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies. Content Area Literacy ().
Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Test items should be multiple- choice with four or five options depending upon the format.
Include at least one performance item- short essay- that follows the rubric
Test should be open book so the students have an option to search for information
Test should be timed
Answer the multiple choice should be bubbled in on standardized forms.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
This is a great tool for preparing students on how the state regulated tests will be set up.
It is perfect for easing students minds and helping to get rid of the anxiety of the unknown before
the big tests.

CUBING
APA Citation:

Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies. Content Area Literacy ().
Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Steps:
1.
2.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

Introduce the topic on the board

Have students in small groups examine the topic from the following six sides of the cube:
Describe It
Compare It
Associate It
Analyze It
Apply It
Argue for or against it
Strengths & Weaknesses:
Cubing is a great way for visual learners to comprehend the material at hand. It is
composed of six sides that allow multiple dimensions of the topic. It can be stretched out and
used for writing assignments, essays, letter, and reports as well.

INQUIRY CHART
APA Citation:
Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies . Content Area Literacy ().
Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Steps:

1. The teacher provides each student with a blank I-chart and assists with topic selection OR
provides the pre-selected topic.
2. The students engage in forming questions about the topic. Those questions are placed at
the top of each individual column.
3. The rows are for recording any information students already know and the key ideas
pulled from several different sources of information. The last row gives students the
opportunity to pull together the ideas into a general summary.
4. Teachers may ask students to resolve competing ideas found in the separate sources or
develop new questions to explore based on any conflicting or incomplete information.
Strengthens and Weaknesses:
The Inquiry Chart is a strategy that enables students to gather information about a topic
from sources. Teachers design the I-chart around several questions about a topic. Students read
or listen to several sources on the topic and record answers to the questions. This can help the
students better understand the topic under their own circumstances and on their level of learning.

Topic:
The Alamo

What we
know
Class text
Encyclopedias
Library Trade
books
Summary

What
were the
causes
of the
alamo?

What were
the
immediate
effects of
the war for
each side?

What were the

long-term
consequences
of the war?

What
Interesting
were
Facts and
the U.S. Figures
be like
today if
Santa
Anna
won the
war?

New
Questions

REWRITE
APA Citation:

Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies . Content Area Literacy ().
Dubuque: Kendall Hunt.
Steps:
1. Students would write the concepts about the topic and would incorporate in a blues song.
The song will incorporate information about the topic.
2. The students would have a copy of the song and follow along while it is played and sung
by the teacher.
3. Following the song activity the students will be broken into small groups to consider and
complete the 5-item anticipation guide.
Strengthens and Weaknesses:
ReWrite allows the students to learn using a concept learning and creation of musical
verses within a comprehensive pre reading and post reading lesson framework. This strategy will
allow the students to learn while also having fun. Having the students rewrite the verses and
trying to make it into a song will help the students learn better as they constantly writing the
information down.

You
__
__
__

Author
___ Bees are harmless
___ A bee sting can be more harmful than a jellyfish sting.
___ Bees are very helpful to the environment

GRAPHIC COMPREHNSION
APA Citation:
Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies . Content Area Literacy (). Dubuque:
Kendall Hunt.

Steps:
1. Teacher shows the students a graph and explains the mechanics of its use.
2. In the synthesizing stage the teacher presents teacher- made pseudographs; graphs that
relate to current text.
3. In the application stage students are asked to; develop their own pseudographs to
accompany the text, or critique the authors use of the graphic aids.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Graphic Comprehension refers to the ability to interpret charts, maps, graphs, and other visual
presentations that are commonly used to supplement the idea of textbooks, nonfiction trade
books, and newspaper. This will help with pre reading can help introduce vocabulary. This will
allow the students to learn from pictures and get a visual effect from the learning instead of a lot
of words.

PORPE
APA Citation:
Bean, T. W. (1981). Teaching and Learning Strategies . Content Area Literacy (). Dubuque:
Kendall Hunt.

Steps:
1. Predict- have the students create potential essay questions, particularly those eliciting
higher-order thinking.
2. Organize- students should outline, map, or use a graphic organizer to organize the
information they plan to use in their written response.
3. Rehearse- Students need to develop a long term memory for the information in the
outline or graphic organizer that needs to be easily retrieved at the time of essay question.
4. Practice- students are asked to write the answer to their predicted essay question recall.
5. Evaluate- having students evaluate their practice essay answer.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
PORPE can help students be better prepared for any essay questions. PORPE offers a step-bystep process to guide students independent studying for an essay test. Having a step to break
down each step of writing an essay will allow the students to better understand what is going on
and help them write their essays better.