The RA Teacher’s Lesson Planning Cliff Notes
(see our RA website page for digital copies of handouts to guide these routines)
Strategies for Before Reading:
Personal Reading History
Addresses the Personal Domain.
An exercise in which each reader remembers and writes about their development as a reader noting particular highs
and lows, insider and outsider moments, and supports or lack of support for literacy development.
Students share some highlights in pairs and then as a whole group.
Anticipation Guide
Addresses the Cognitive Domain.
An Anticipation Guide helps students activate their prior knowledge before reading, develop a purpose for reading,
and make connections between their own experiential base and what they read.
Students complete the Anticipation Guide before reading and discuss their responses. After completing the reading,
they return to the Anticipation Guide for revision.
Gallery Walk
Addresses the Personal and Knowledge Building Domains.
In groups, students read a quotation, question, view a picture, etc. Each group records 3 main ideas or questions
they agree upon regarding the text. Groups hang their posters around the room. Armed with sticky notes,
individuals travel from poster to poster recording their thinking and posting it on the poster. Groups visit their
poster again and discuss their feedback. During debrief, each group discusses how their understanding was
deepened by the sticky-notes their received.
LINK (is actually used before, during, and after)
Addresses the Knowledge Building Domain.
List/Inquire/Note/Know is a brainstorming and discussion strategy featuring group interaction that helps students
access and build their background knowledge and delve into a topic in preparation for reading.
Students are given a term related to an upcoming reading and are guided through a list (where they individually list
everything they think they know about a topic and then share one item from that list to compile a class list) and
inquire (where they get to ask for clarification about why fellow students placed items on the list). As the students
discuss/read, they take notes about what they are reading/learning. After reading they write and discuss what they
know after they have read the new material.
Give One/Get One
Addresses Personal, Social and Knowledge-Building Dimension
Using a t-chart, students brainstorm individually everything they know about a topic/person/etc. on one side of the
chart. After 2+ minutes, students stand and move around the room, “giving” something they know about the topic
and “getting” something they didn’t know about the topic by listening and recording on the other side of the tchart. Allow students time to meet with most of their classmates before debriefing. This routine can lead to a KWL
or LINK.
Test As Genre (is actually used before, during, and after)
Addresses the Knowledge Building Domain.
"Test As Genre" gives students opportunities to analyze passages and text items similar to those on high-stakes
standardized tests. Students learn about the assumptions behind the tests, how test questions are constructed, and
what the test is asking them to do. Using sample test passages, the teacher models approaching the test by thinking
aloud. The students practice by using a Think Aloud or Talking to the Text. As a class use QAR to review
question types. The class generates a "Test-Taking Strategies List" based on the students' ideas.
Reciprocal Teaching (is used before, during, and after)
Addresses metacognition and all four domains.
Reciprocal Teaching is an instructional procedure designed to help struggling readers improve their reading
comprehension through interactive dialogue. Students orchestrate group dialogue to deepen understanding of
content of text by students assuming the responsibility of four cognitive strategies - Summarizing, Questioning,
Clarifying and Predicting. (Visualizing is also an option for a 5th group member).
K-W-L (is used before and after)
Addresses the Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains.
K-W-L is a strategy that aids students in thinking actively while reading by recording what they already know about a
topic, what they want to know about a topic (both before reading), and what they learned about the topic (after
reading).
Wall of Inquiry
Addresses the Personal and Social Dimensions
This process can be used to build anticipation and interest in reading a text. Students are given a topic and are asked
to record all of the questions they have about that topic. Then in pairs, students share questions and choose one to
record on larger paper and add to the Wall of Inquiry. This is literally a space in the classroom that houses all of the
students’ questions about the current unit of instruction. The teacher can read (anonymously) each question aloud
and categorize them for further exploration. This might offer a great opportunity to bring in ancillary texts.
Walkabout Bingo
Addresses the Personal and Social Dimensions
This on-their-feet activity encourages students to get to know one another while building knowledge. On their
“bingo” card are written different categories or questions related to the content (or just to get to know one
another). Students start by filling out one box, then circulate to fill in each of their remaining boxes with the
answers or names of their classmates. Debrief responses be highlighting new ideas or facts they learned or topics
they still have questions about.
Strategies for During Reading:
Talking to the Text
Addresses the Cognitive Domain.
TttT is a scaffold that provides students with an opportunity to engage with the text independently before sharing
their process.
Students are given a passage to read independently and encouraged to write in the margins, make notes, designate
unfamiliar vocabulary, ask questions, and make comments and predictions. In pairs and then as a class students use
their notes to help each other clarify meaning.
Think Aloud
Addresses the Social and Cognitive Domains.
A Think Aloud helps students practice the mental strategies engaged in by good readers. Teacher reads a piece of
text to the class that he or she has not seen before. The teacher verbalizes his thought process, modeling his
interaction with his inner voice, enabling the students to see how he makes sense of the text.
Capturing Your Reading Process
Addresses the Personal Domain.
While reading a piece of challenging text, students are asked to pay attention to the strategies they use to make sense
of the text and then answer some questions regarding their reading process.
Share and record reading strategies as a whole group. Post the list in the classroom as a Good Reader Tool Kit so the
strategies can be referred to as needed. It is a good idea to do this activity pretty early on in your implementation of
RA strategies.
Double/Triple Entry Journals (often called Book and Brain Notes or Evidence/Interpretation Charts)
Addresses the Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains.
A note-taking activity that is useful and adaptable across content areas. The reader records quotes or ideas from the
reading in one column and makes observations, personal connections, and comments about the comprehension
process in other columns.
Extensive Reading
Addresses metacognition and all four domains.
Extensive Reading is wide-ranging, independent reading in any content area class that supports and supplements
subject area knowledge and offers students some choice over reading selections. One type of extensive reading is
Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) where students read any text of their choosing for a set period of time on a regular
basis. A second type of extensive reading uses Thematic Text Sets in which a content area teacher (with the help of
a librarian) pulls together texts of varying reading levels and styles on a particular unit or topic. Students read any
text from that "thematic text set" for a set period of time on a regular basis.
Chunking
Addresses the Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains.
The Chunking strategy involves a continual evaluation of one's own understanding by periodically summarizing
what is being read.
The reading assignment is divided into logical, equal parts. Students note a main point, a question, and a connection
for each session.
Stop and Talk, Write, Highlight, Draw
Addresses the Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains.
These four instructional tools can stand alone or be used in any combination with each other. Each one involves a
different way of interacting with the text to enhance comprehension.
Stop and Talk= Students stop reading and discuss with a partner or group whether they agree or disagree with
what they are reading.
Stop and Write=Students stop reading and write down new information.
Stop and Highlight=Students stop reading and highlight everything they understand in one color and everything
they DON'T understand in a different color.
Stop and Draw=Students stop reading and draw what they are picturing in their minds.
Golden Lines
Addresses the Personal and Cognitive Domains
As students read, they highlight a certain number of words, phrases, and sentences that stand out to them as
important.
Students compare and explain their “golden lines” with a partner, then read one line to the class in a choral style
reading (no pausing to explain). Debrief by discussing which words/phrases/lines came up the most and why.
Stand Up, Pair Up, Share Up
Addresses the Social and Knowledge-Building Domains
After talking to the text for a certain amount of time, students stand with paper in hand and move shoulder to
shoulder with a partner. Partners then share their talk to the text comments, looking for similarities, differences, etc.
After 1-2 minutes, announce that the class must switch partners and begin the process again. Repeat 3+ times and
then debrief their new understandings.
Question Carousel
Addresses the Social and Knowledge-Building Domains
In groups, students share their questions about a chunk of text. Groups choose the most thought-provoking
question to write on the top of chart paper. Groups are assigned a marker color and rotate from group to group,
reading each question and answer collectively, using the text to support their group’s response. Groups return to
their original poster and review answers. Groups summarize answers/choose the best and present to the class.
Survival Words
Addresses the Personal and Knowledge-Building Domains
As all readers know from experience, they are often somewhat familiar with a word, even if they cannot define it
specifically. Similarly, even when they do not have prior knowledge of a word, they may be able to derive its
meaning from context. Rating word familiarity gets this idea across to students and helps them explore and expand
their vocabularies. To do this, choose several key words that may trip students up (5 or 6). Provide students will and
graphic organizer that lists the words and allows students to label each word according to their comfort level (never
seen the word before, seen but don’t use it, I know it but don’t use it, I know and use this word). Then debrief as a
class, developing a shared understanding.
Strategies for After Reading:
Question-Answer Relationships
Addresses the Cognitive and Knowledge Building Domains.
QAR is a reading strategy for deepening comprehension and a classroom tool for having meaningful text-based
discussions in which students direct the focus. Questions are categorized into four types - Right There, Think and
Search, Author and Me, and On My Own.
Using text from either the core curriculum or supplemental materials, students develop all four types of questions,
then pose their questions to their peers, who in turn answer the questions and identify their type.
ReQuest
Addresses the Cognitive and Knowledge Building Domains.
In groups or individually, students write Right There, Think and Search and Author and Me questions pertaining to
a reading or chapter of study. After questions have been prepared, one student begins by asking one of his/her
questions. He/she calls on a student to answer and judges the quality of the answer. When the correct answer is
given, that student then gets to ask one of his/her questions. This continues until all students have answered a
question.
This Is About… This is Really About…
Addresses the Cognitive Domain.
"This Is About" uses group work to teach students how to infer the main idea about a text when it is implied but
not stated and to construct summaries from these main ideas. Students read and reread a passage combining
independent, pair, and whole group work to work through details and get the big picture idea.
VIP/MVP
Addresses the Cognitive and Knowledge Building Domains.
This strategy assists students in breaking down a lengthy piece of text and determining its main ideas.
While reading the text, students use post-it notes to mark the Very Important Points in the selection and after
completion, determine their Most Valuable Points. Students use these points to share out in pairs and whole group,
debating as a pair or groups which points are very important or most valuable and why.
Twenty-five Word Abstract
Addresses the Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains.
This activity is a summarization strategy designed to better access text. Students work independently and then in
groups to read a piece of text, discuss as a group any comprehension roadblocks, and discuss similarities and
differences in their choices of main ideas. Their final goal is an individual and then collaborative twenty-five word
abstract which is shared with the whole class.
Final Word Protocol
Addresses the Social Domain.
Final Word Protocol is a discussion format whose purpose is to give each person in the group an opportunity to
have his or her ideas, understandings, and perspective enhanced by hearing from others.
Each person has three minutes to share thoughts about a specific idea or quote in the reading and each group
member gives a response. The person who began has the "final word" and the process is continued with each group
member.
Analyzing Knowledge Demands of Text
Addresses the Cognitive and Knowledge Building Domains.
This application illustrates for students the importance of activating their own network of prior knowledge, or
schema, to aid in comprehension.
Use this activity with a medium such as comic strips or newspaper headlines with multiple meanings. Allow students
time to interact with the text individually then discuss the meaning of the text and prior knowledge used to
determine the meaning. This is a good strategy to use when your students will need some content-specific prior
knowledge to make sense of a piece of text.
Metacognitive Logs
Addresses metacognition and the Cognitive Domain.
Metacognitive Logs help students become more aware of their thinking as readers and give them more control over
how well they learn. They are a place for students to think and write about their own reading process.
Students choose a prompt from a list of sentence starters provided for them (such as "I was confused when..." and
respond thoughtfully to the prompt in their metacognitive logs or notebooks. This should become part of their
Extended Reading routine.
Strategies for Debriefing:
The key to RA is debriefing after a routine to help students be metacognitive about what they understand, don’t
understand and their process to get there. When lesson planning, be sure to set aside time to debrief as a class. The
following talk stems may be helpful as you run your debrief.
Summarizing
Can you re-state that in just a few sentences?
What words from the reading jump out at you to help you understand the important parts?
The text is mainly about…
What does the author say?
What was the focus of the reading?
What clues are within the text?
Why do you think that is the main idea?
Which details are most important? Why?
Which details are least important? Why?
Building Schema
What personal connection did you make to the text?
What comes to your mind when you hear the word (or phrase)?
Based on what you already know about this topic, what questions come to mind? (I wonder…)
What do you already know that might help you understand the information in the reading?
What other (articles, stories, text) does this remind you of?
What do you already know about this kind of text?
How are the events (or the information) related to your own experiences?
After reading the title or a few pages can you think of another book, article, text related to this one?
Determining Importance
What are some important ideas that stuck with you?
What is important?
What is the authors theme (perspective, goal)?
Which facts are important to the text?
How did you know that some details were more important than others?
Hitting All of the Dimensions:
Research shows that RA is most effective in classrooms where each dimension is addressed at least once in each
lesson. Below is a refresher on the dimensions and types of routines/foci that fall under each category.