Strategy 2: Plan/Prepare to Comprehend a Multimodal Text
(DR/TA)
What is a Directed Reading/Thinking activity?
A DR/TA activates prior knowledge, gives students an opportunity to bring their own experiences and background knowledge to the reading. It is a good a pre-reading activity because it prepares students for what is upcoming and also connects their own lives to the content.
Why does this strategy work?
This strategy works because it is a low-pressure pre-reading activity. It gives students an opportunity to preview the information and make decisions on what they know and what they want to know. In that respect, this strategy is similar to the KWL.
How does this strategy work?
Students are asked to preview such things as headings, subheadings, graphic, or any other text features.
While previewing the material, students may complete the first three parts of the strategy. The first two questions are geared towards focusing students on the topic. The third question charges students with forming predictions about what they will learn.
Students then read the text selection to either back their opinions or diffuse them.
The last question allows students to prove what they have just learned.
What does this strategy look like?
Questions:
What I know I know:
What I think I know:
What I think I'll learn:
What I know I learned:
