RELP PEDAGOGY FOR TEACHERS

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES
Anticipation Guide
Concept Sort
Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)
Inquiry Chart

Jigsaw
List-Group-Label
Question the Author
Reciprocal Teaching

Semantic Feature Analysis

Think-Aloud
Think-Pair-Share
Visual Imagery

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

ANTICIPATION
GUIDE

AN ANTICIPATION GUIDE
An anticipation guide is a comprehension strategy that is used before reading to
activate students' prior knowledge and build curiosity about a new topic. Before
reading, students listen to or read several statements about key concepts presented
in the text; they're often structured as a series of statements with which the students
can choose to agree or disagree. Anticipation guides stimulate students' interest in a
topic and set a purpose for reading.

WHY?
1. It allows teachers to introduce the new vocabulary which students will see in
the assigned text.
2. It provides teachers with information about how much the students already
know about a topic.
3. It familiarizes students with the vocabulary of a new topic or book.

WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

While Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

By Groups

After Reading

Whole Class

HOW TO USE
1.Construct the anticipation guide. Construction of the anticipation guide should be as
simple as possible for younger students. Write four to six statements about key ideas in the
text; some true and some false. Include columns following each statement, which can be
left blank or can be labeled Yes, or No (Maybe can also be used).
NOTE: Teachers may wish to create an additional column for revisiting the guide after the
material has been read.

2.Model the process. Introduce the text or reading material and share the guide with the
students. Model the process of responding to the statements and marking the columns.
3.Read each of the statements and ask the students if they agree or disagree with it. Provide
the opportunity for discussion. The emphasis is not on right answers but to share what they
know and to make predictions.
4.Read the text aloud or have students read the selection individually. If reading aloud,
teachers should read slowly and stop at places in the text that correspond to each of the
statements.
5.Bring closure to the reading by revisiting each of the statements.

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

CONCEPT
SORT

CONCEPT SORT
A concept sort is a vocabulary and comprehension strategy used to familiarize
students with the vocabulary of a new topic or book. Teachers provide students with
a list of terms or concepts from reading material. Students place words into different
categories based on each word's meaning. Categories can be defined by the
teacher or by the students. When used before reading, concept sorts provide an
opportunity for a teacher to see what his or her students already know about the
given content. When used after reading, teachers can assess their students'
understanding of the concepts presented.

WHY USE CONCEPT SORT?

1. It allows teachers to introduce the new vocabulary which students will see in
the assigned text.
2. It provides teachers with information about how much the students already
know about a topic.
3. It familiarizes students with the vocabulary of a new topic or book.

WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

While Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

By Groups

After Reading

Whole Class

HOW TO USE

1.

If your goal is to teach a concept such as rough/smooth, gather 10-15 objects or

pictures that have rough and smooth textures. Or, if your goal is to teach a concept or
vocabulary that is presented in a book, choose 10-15 relevant, important words from
the book.

2.

Working individually, in small groups or as a class, have the students sort the cards or
objects into meaningful groups. The groups (or categories) can be pre-defined by the
teacher (often called a closed sort) or by the students (often called an open sort).

3.

Discuss the categories used within the different groups. Describe why certain cards
were placed within certain groups.

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

DIRECTED
READING THINKING
ACTIVITY (DRTA)

DIRECTED READING THINKING ACTIVITY (DRTA)

The Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) is a comprehension strategy that
guides students in asking questions about a text, making predictions, and then
reading to confirm or refute their predictions. The DRTA process encourages
students to be active and thoughtful readers, enhancing their comprehension.

WHY USE
1. It encourages students to be active and thoughtful readers.

2. It activates students' prior knowledge.

3. It teaches students to monitor their understanding of the text as they're reading.
4. It helps strengthen reading and critical thinking skills.

WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

While Reading

After Reading

By Groups

Whole Class

HOW TO USE
1.
2.
3.
4.

Teachers should follow the steps below when creating a DRTA.

Determine the text to be used and pre-select points for students to pause during the reading
process.
Introduce the text, the purpose of the DRTA, and provide examples of how to make
predictions. Note: Be aware of the reading levels of each student, and be prepared to provide
appropriate questions, prompts, and support as needed.
Use the following outline to guide the procedure.

D = DIRECT. Teachers direct and activate students' thinking prior to reading a passage by
scanning the title, chapter headings, illustrations, and other materials. Teachers should use
open-ended questions to direct students as they make predictions about the content or
perspective of the text (e.g., "Given this title, what do you think the passage will be about?").
R = READING. Students read up to the first pre-selected stopping point. The teacher then
prompts the students with questions about specific information and asks them to evaluate
their predictions and refine them if necessary. This process should be continued until
students have read each section of the passage.
T = THINKING. At the end of each section, students go back through the text and think about
their predictions. Students should verify or modify their predictions by finding supporting
statements in the text. The teacher asks questions such as:
1.
2.
3.

What do you think about your predictions now?

What did you find in the text to prove your predictions?
What did you we read in the text that made you change your predictions?

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

INQUIRY
CHART

INQUIRY CHART
The Inquiry Chart (I-chart) is a strategy that enables students to gather information
about a topic from several 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 posed questions within the I-chart. Students generate a
summary in the final row. Different answers from various perspectives can be
explored as a class.

WHY?
1. It fosters critical thinking and strengthens reading skills.
2. It teaches younger students to generate meaningful questions about a topic and
learn to organize their writing.
3. Students build upon prior knowledge or thoughts about the topic by sharing
interesting facts.
4. It can serve as an evaluation tool for how much a student has learned about a
topic.
WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

While Reading

After Reading

By Groups

Whole Class

HOW TO USE
1.
2.

3.
4.

The teacher provides each student with a blank I-chart and assists with topic selection OR
provides the pre-selected topic.
The students engage in forming questions about the topic. Those questions are placed at the
top of each individual column.
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.
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.

The planning phase includes:

1. identifying the topic
2. forming questions
3. constructing the I-chart
4. collecting materials
The next step is to engage students in the interacting phase which involves:
1. exploring prior knowledge
2. sharing of interesting facts
3. reading and rereading
Finally, teachers guide the students through the integrating and evaluation phase by:
1. summarizing
2. comparing
3. researching
4. reporting

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

JIGSAW

JIGSAW
Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy that enables each student of a "home"
group to specialize in one aspect of a topic (for example, one group studies habitats
of rainforest animals, another group studies predators of rainforest animals).
Students meet with members from other groups who are assigned the same aspect,
and after mastering the material, return to the "home" group and teach the material
to their group members. With this strategy, each student in the "home" group serves
as a piece of the topic's puzzle and when they work together as a whole, they create
the complete jigsaw puzzle.

WHY?
1. It helps build comprehension.
2. It encourages cooperative learning among students.
3. It helps improve listening, communication, and problem-solving skills.

WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

While Reading

After Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

By Groups

Whole Class

HOW TO USE
1.
2.

Introduce the strategy and the topic to be studied.

Assign each student to a "home group" of 3-5 students who reflect a range of reading
abilities.
3. Determine a set of reading selections and assign one selection to each student.
4. Create "expert groups" that consist of students across "home groups" who will read the
same selection.
5. Give all students a framework for managing their time on the various parts of the
jigsaw task.
6. Provide key questions to help the "expert groups" gather information in their
particular area.
7. Provide materials and resources necessary for all students to learn about their topics
and become "experts.
Note: It is important that the reading material assigned is at appropriate instructional
levels (9095% reading accuracy).
8. Discuss the rules for reconvening into "home groups" and provide guidelines as each
"expert" reports the information learned.
9. Prepare a summary chart or graphic organizer for each "home group" as a guide for
organizing the experts' information report.
10. Remind students that "home group" members are responsible to learn all content from
one another.

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

LIST-GROUP-LABEL

LIST-GROUP-LABEL
List-group-label is a form of semantic mapping. The strategy encourages students to
improve their vocabulary and categorization skills and learn to organize concepts.
Categorizing listed words, through grouping and labelling, helps students organize
new concepts in relation to previously learned concepts.

WHY?
1. It helps students organize their understanding of specific vocabulary and
concepts.
2. It builds on students' prior knowledge about a topic.
3. It actively engages students in learning new vocabulary and content by
activating their critical thinking skills.
4. It teaches categorizing and labelling skills.
WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

While Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

By Groups

After Reading

Whole Class

HOW TO USE

1. Select a main concept in a reading selection.

2. List: Have students brainstorm all the words they think relate to the topic.

Visually display student responses.

At this point do not critique student responses. Some words may not
reflect the main concept, but hopefully students will realize this as they
begin grouping the words in the next step.

3. Group: Divide your class into small groups. Each group will work to cluster
the class list of words into subcategories. As groups of words emerge,
challenge your students to explain their reasoning for placing words
together or discarding them.
4. Label: Invite students to suggest a title or label for the groups of words they
have formed. These labels should relate to their reasoning for the grouping.

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

QUESTION THE
AUTHOR

QUESTION THE AUTHOR

Questioning the author is a strategy that engages students actively with a text.
Rather than reading and taking information from a text, the QtA strategy encourages
students to ask questions of the author and the text. Through forming their
questions, students learn more about the text. Students learn to ask questions such
as: What is the author's message? Does the author explain this clearly? How does
this connect to what the author said earlier?

WHY?
1. It engages students in the reading and helps to solidify their understanding of a
text.
2. It teaches students to form questions to the author while reading.
3. It teaches students to critique the author's writing.

WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

While Reading

After Reading

By Groups

Whole Class

HOW TO USE
1. Beck et al. (1997) identify specific steps you should follow during a question
the author lesson. This strategy is best suited for nonfiction texts.

2. Select a passage that is both interesting and can spur a good conversation.
3. Decide appropriate stopping points where you think your students need to
obtain a greater understanding.
4. Create queries or questions for each stopping point.
What is the author trying to say?
Why do you think the author used the following phrase?
Does this make sense to you?
5. Display a short passage to your students along with one or two queries you
have designed ahead of time.
6. Model for your students how to think through the queries.
7. Ask students to read and work through the queries you have prepared for
their readings.

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

RECIPROCAL
TEACHING

RECIPROCAL TEACHING
Reciprocal teaching refers to an instructional activity in which students become the
teacher in small group reading sessions. Teachers model, then help students learn
to guide group discussions using four strategies: summarizing, question generating,
clarifying, and predicting. Once students have learned the strategies, they take
turns assuming the role of teacher in leading a dialogue about what has been read.

WHY?
1. It encourages students to think about their own thought process during
reading.
2. It helps students learn to be actively involved and monitor their comprehension
as they read.
3. It teaches students to ask questions during reading and helps make the text
more comprehensible.
WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

While Reading

After Reading

By Groups

Whole Class

HOW TO USE
Before Reciprocal Teaching can be used successfully by your students, they need to have been taught and
had time to practice the four strategies that are used in reciprocal teaching (summarizing,
questioning, predicting, clarifying). One way to get students prepared to use reciprocal teaching:

1.
2.

3.
4.
5.

6.
7.
8.
9.

Put students in groups of four.

Distribute one note card to each member of the group identifying each person's unique role:

Summarizer

Questioner

Clarifier

Predictor
Have students read a few paragraphs of the assigned text selection. Encourage them to use notetaking strategies such as selective underlining or sticky-notes to help them better prepare for their
role in the discussion.
At the given stopping point, the Summarizer will highlight the key ideas up to this point in the
reading.
The Questioner will then pose questions about the selection:

Unclear parts

Puzzling information

Connections to other concepts already learned

The Clarifier will address confusing parts and attempt to answer the questions that were just posed.
The Predictor can offer predictions about what the author will tell the group next or, if it's a literary
selection, the predictor might suggest what the next events in the story will be.
The roles in the group then switch one person to the right, and the next selection is read. Students
repeat the process using their new roles. This continues until the entire selection is read.
Throughout the process, the teacher's role is to guide and nurture the students' ability to use the four
strategies successfully within the small group. The teacher's role is lessened as students develop
skill.

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

SEMANTIC FEATURE
ANALYSIS

SEMANTIC FEATURE ANALYSIS

The semantic feature analysis strategy uses a grid to help kids explore how sets of
things are related to one another. By completing and analyzing the grid, students
are able to see connections, make predictions and master important concepts. This
strategy enhances comprehension and vocabulary skills.

WHY?
1. It illustrates how words are both similar and different and emphasizes the
uniqueness of each word.
2. It draws on students' prior knowledge and uses discussion to elicit information
about word meanings.

WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

While Reading

After Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

By Groups

Whole Class

HOW TO USE

1.

Select a category or topic for the semantic feature analysis.

2.

Provide students with key vocabulary words and important features related to the
topic.

3.

Vocabulary words should be listed down the left hand column and the features of the
topic across the top row of the chart.

4.

Have students place a "+" sign in the matrix when a vocabulary word aligns with a
particular feature of the topic. If the word does not align students may put a "" in the
grid. If students are unable to determine a relationship they may leave it blank.

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

THINK
ALOUD

THINK-ALOUD
Think-alouds have been described as "eavesdropping on someone's thinking." With
this strategy, teachers verbalize aloud while reading a selection orally. Their
verbalizations include describing things they're doing as they read to monitor their
comprehension. The purpose of the think-aloud strategy is to model for students
how skilled readers construct meaning from a text.

WHY?
1. It helps students learn to monitor their thinking as they read and improves their
comprehension.
2. It teaches students to re-read a sentence, read ahead to clarify, and/or look for
context clues to make sense of what they read.
3. It slows down the reading process and allows students to monitor their
understanding of a text.
WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

While Reading

After Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

By Groups

Whole Class

HOW TO USE
1.

Begin by modeling this strategy. Model your thinking as you read. Do this at points in the text
that may be confusing for students (new vocabulary, unusual sentence construction).

2.

Introduce the assigned text and discuss the purpose of the Think-Aloud strategy. Develop the
set of questions to support thinking aloud (see examples below).

What do I know about this topic?

What do I think I will learn about this topic?
Do I understand what I just read?
Do I have a clear picture in my head about this information?
What more can I do to understand this?
What were the most important points in this reading?
What new information did I learn?
How does it fit in with what I already know?

3.

Give students opportunities to practice the technique, and offer structured feedback to
students.

4.

Read the selected passage aloud as the students read the same text silently. At certain points
stop and " think="" aloud"="" the="" answers="" to="" some="" of="" pre-selected=""
questions.

5.

Demonstrate how good readers monitor their understanding by rereading a sentence,

reading ahead to clarify, and/or looking for context clues. Students then learn to offer
answers to the questions as the teacher leads the think-aloud

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

Think-Pair-Share

THINK-PAIR-SHARE
Think-pair-share (TPS) is a collaborative learning strategy in which students work
together to solve a problem or answer a question about an assigned reading. This
technique requires students to (1) think individually about a topic or answer to a
question; and (2) share ideas with classmates. Discussing an answer with a partner
serves to maximize participation, focus attention and engage students in
comprehending the reading material.

WHY?
1. It helps students to think individually about a topic or answer to a question.
2. It teaches students to share ideas with classmates and builds oral
communication skills.
3. It helps focus attention and engage students in comprehending the reading
material.

WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

While Reading
By Groups

After Reading

Whole Class

HOW TO USE
1. Decide upon the text to be read and develop the set of questions or prompts
that target key content concepts.
2. Describe the purpose of the strategy and provide guidelines for
discussions.
3. Model the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the
strategy.
4. Monitor and support students as they work through the following:
T : (Think) Teachers begin by asking a specific question about the text.
Students "think" about what they know or have learned about the topic.

P : (Pair) Each student should be paired with another student or a small

group.
S : (Share) Students share their thinking with their partner. Teachers expand
the "share" into a whole-class discussion.

12 CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

VISUAL
IMAGERY

VISUAL IMAGERY
Good readers construct mental images as they read a text. By using prior
knowledge and background experiences, readers connect the author's writing with
a personal picture. Through guided visualization, students learn how to create
mental pictures as they read.

WHY?
1. Generating an image while reading requires that the reader be actively
engaged with the text.
2. Creating mental images while reading can improve comprehension.

WHEN TO USE

Before Reading

While Reading

After Reading

HOW TO USE

Individual

By Groups

Whole Class

HOW TO USE
Follow these few simple steps to provide practice developing students' mental images:
1.
2.

3.
4.

5.

6.
7.

Begin reading. Pause after a few sentences or paragraphs that contain good
descriptive information.
Share the image you've created in your mind, and talk about which words from the
book helped you "draw" your picture. Your picture can relate to the setting, the
characters, or the actions. By doing this, you are modelling the kind of picture making
you want your child to do.
Talk about how these pictures help you understand what's happening in the story.
Continue reading. Pause again and share the new image you created. Then ask your
child to share what he sees, hears, tastes, smells and feels. Ask what words helped him
create the mental image and emotions. By doing this, you are providing your child with
practice with this new skill.
Are your images identical? Probably not! This is a great time to talk about why your
images might be different. Perhaps your child went on a school field trip or had a
school assembly that changed the way they created the picture in their mind. Perhaps
experiences you've had as an adult influenced what you "drew." These differences are
important to understand and respect.
Read a longer portion of text and continue the sharing process.
Once this is a familiar skill, encourage your child to use mental imagery when she is
reading by herself. You can feel confident that these mental pictures will help your
child understand the story in an important way.

RELP PEDAGOGY FOR TEACHERS

PEDAGOGY FOR TEACHERS SERIES

Redong English Language Panel
SK Felda Redong,
85000 Segamat,
Johor DT.