Making Connections Section 1: Building and Activating Background Knowledge Developed by Why is Background Knowledge Important? The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together. ~ William Shakespeare, Alls Well That Ends Well Creating Mental Images Making Inferences Asking Questions Our prior experience and background knowledge fuel the connections we make. The books we read, the authors we choose, the discussions we have, our past experiences, the newspaper, the evening news, the weekly magazines, the Internet, and nightly dinner table conversations all forge connections that lead to new insight. We teach kids to think about their connections and read in ways that let them discover these threads (Harvey and Goudvis, 2000). How do we Gain Background Knowledge? Birds are flying in my head. And there is an alarm clock that wakes me up with a sound like a pencil tapping a table. There is a really thin tree, tall as a skyscraper. There is a book about yellow and orange butterflies really, really beautiful butterflies. A bird with a body made out of the United States and blue wings flies behind my eyes. In my head there is a beach with grass instead of sand and water that is made of ice. There is a missing tooth and a gap. Two plus two equals four is in my head and so is the moon. I believe in water and snow. Annie, kindergarten (Writers in the Schools) Stuff In Annies Head Handout #1 Whats in Your Head? Goals Understand the importance of making connections to background knowledge Discuss ways to build new background knowledge Discuss ways to activate existing background knowledge Introducing Background Knowledge When you use schema, its like adding things together. Say you see leaves falling. You think in your head, Oh, its fall now! Its kind of like your old schema comes out of your head and grabs the new schema and pulls it back inside your head. - Christopher, a student, in Miller (2002, p. 69) An Example Good ReadersStruggling Readers Comprehension (Recht & Leslie, 1988) Some Background on Background Knowledge Our knowledge is organized in a series of networks (Marzano, 2004) Forest More Background A rich network of associations makes memory strong: new material is more likely to be remembered if it is related to what is already in memory. (Willingham, 2006) Mon.Tue.Wed.Thu.Fri. For new information to become part of memory students need: 3-4 exposures No more than 2 days apart (Nuthall, 1999) Think Turn Talk Why is it important for teachers to know how background knowledge impacts comprehension? Background Knowledge can be Academic: relates to traditional school subjects such as mathematics, science, history, etc. Non-academic: based on contexts and experiences (examples: knowledge about soccer, public transportation, local area) (Marzano, 2004, p. 3) Remember all students have background knowledge even though not all of them have the academic background knowledge necessary to do well in school. The background knowledge that is not germane to academic success may still be highly valuable in other contexts and, as such, should be honored along with the bearers of that knowledge. (Marzano, 2004, p ) Build? Or Activate? Building Background Knowledge Students know little or nothing about a topic May take place 1-2 weeks before reading Takes 3-4 exposures, no more than 2 days apart (Nuthall, 1999) Activating Background Knowledge Students have some knowledge of a topic Takes place directly prior to reading Takes 2-10 minutes Building Background Knowledge Planning When beginning a new unit or topic of study, assess what students do/do not know (Wilhelm, 2004) Pre-read selections to determine knowledge that is essential for understanding unit texts Plan virtual experiences to build students knowledge (Marzano, 2004) Virtual Experiences Reading and read-alouds Discussions Educational television or videos Classroom demonstrations Visual aids/photographs Maps Timelines and flow charts (Archer, 2008 ; Marzano, 2004; Wilhelm, 2004;) Building Background Knowledge Open Court and Foro abierto para la lectura, 2 nd Grade Scott Foresman Reading and Lectura, 3 rd Grade Handout #2 Insert Cover Page of Core Program Text With Which You Plan to Model Building Background Knowledge Week prior to reading: Monday: read aloud article from social studies text about Native American reservations. Tuesday: Point out Shoshone reservation on map. Discuss Wyoming climate. Wednesday: PowerPoint slide show on Wyoming wildlife, including mountain lions and coyotes. Thursday: Brainstorm words to describe mountain lions and coyotes. Friday: Review what we have learned about Wyoming/ Shoshone Reservation. If Available: Insert Excerpt from Core Program Teachers Edition Section on Background Knowledge We Do Think-Turn- Talk: What background knowledge will I have to build? How will I build it? Insert Text from Core Program Select a story from your core program. Preview the story and determine what background knowledge you will need to build, if any. On your Planning Handout: write 3-4 virtual experiences you can use to build background knowledge. Your Turn Handout #3 Activating Background Knowledge Activating background knowledge should take just a few moments (Moats, 2005) We should activate background knowledge that is crucial to understanding the story The background knowledge we activate should be linked to our purpose for reading Preview Text Present students with introductory material before reading Definitions Translations of foreign words or phrases Explanations of difficult concepts Plot synopsis Lists and descriptions of characters (Strangman & Hall, 2004) Activating Background Knowledge Open Court and Foro abierto para la lectura, 2 nd Grade Scott Foresman Reading and Lectura, 3 rd Grade Insert Cover Page of Core Program Text With Which You Plan to Model Activating Background Knowledge CPQ: How does Spider feel about the spelling bee throughout the first part of the story? Activate Background Knowledge: Brainstorm feeling words and write on sentence strips. Place words on a continuum from happy to sad. If Available: Insert Excerpt from Core Program Teachers Edition Section on Background Knowledge We Do Think-Turn- Talk: What background knowledge will I have to activate? How will I activate it? CPQ: What is life like for children on the Mayflower? Insert Text from Core Program Write a CPQ for your core program story. Determine what background knowledge you will need to activate. On your Planning Handout, describe how you will activate the necessary background knowledge. Your Turn Handout #3 1.Modeling: When will I come and model building and activating background knowledge in a lesson? 2.Planning: When will we meet to plan lessons? 3.Side-by-Side Teaching: When will we plan to teach a lesson together? 4.Coaching: When will I observe your teaching and provide feedback? 5.Next Comprehension Meeting: When will we meet next? Bring reflections and lesson plans to the next session. Next Steps: Decisions to Make References Archer, A. (2008). Reading comprehension: The big ideas. Advanced Coaching Institute III: Creating Deeper Buckets of Knowledge. Houston, TX. Au, K. (2002). Multicultural factors and the effective instruction of students of diverse backgrounds. In A. Farstrup, & S. Samuels (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (pp ). Newark: International Reading Association. Harvey, S. & Goudvis, A. (2000). Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension to enhance understanding. York, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Marzano, R. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Miller, D. (2002). Reading with meaning: Teaching comprehension in the primary grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. References Moats, L. (2005). Language essentials for teachers of reading and spelling module 6: Digging for meaning: Teaching text comprehension. Boston: Sopris West. Nuthall, G. (1999). The way students learn: Acquiring knowledge from an integrated science and social studies unit. The Elementary School Journal, 99 (44), Pressley, M. (2000). What should comprehension instruction be the instruction of? In M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research: Volume III (pp ). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Recht, D., & Leslie, L. (1988, March). Effect of prior knowledge on good and poor readers' memory of text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(1), Retrieved June 23, 2008, doi: / Risko, V., & Walker-Dalhouse, D. (2007). Tapping students' cultural funds of knowledge to address the achievement gap. The Reading Teacher, 61 (1), Strangman, N., & Hall, T. (2004). Background knowledge. Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved June 23, 2008 from Stuff in Annie's Head. (n.d.). Retrieved from Writers in the Schools: Robinson, J. (2008). How to get more out of your core reading program. Advanced coaching institute III: Creating deeper buckets of knowledge. Houston, TX. References Wilhelm, J. (2004). Reading is seeing: Learning to visualize scenes, characters, ideas, and text worlds to improve comprehension and reflective reading. New York: Scholastic, Inc. Willingham, D. (2006). How knowledge helps: It speeds and strengthens reading comprehension, learning - and thinking. Retrieved June 20, 2008, fromreports/american_educator/issues/spring06/willingham.htm