K-W-L-Plus


 * K-W-L-Plus **

KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) is a common method that many teachers use. The K-W-L-Plus strategy could be used as a pre- or post-reading strategy, however it is added to the DURING section because of the use of the Plus. In K-W-L-Plus students are guided in generating their own anticipation-based reading guide to prompt active engagement during silent reading. The benefit in this strategy is that students are more aware of their prior knowledge, what they need to know, and have the intent of processing and restating what they learn from the reading. Students seem to respond well to this strategy as they are answering their own questions that were raised. The Plus step is key to this strategy being effective.

__Steps in K-W-L-Plus__

Step 1. //Know//. Students are given a 3-column worksheet (Know/Want to Know/Learned). Teacher leads a brainstorming session on what they already know about a topic. Students fill out their worksheet as answers are shared.

Step 2. //Want to know.// The discussion is then moved to what students already know. Students should write these as questions in the second column of the worksheet.

Step 3. //Learned//. Students then silent read. As they read, they write their answers to the Want to Know questions in the Learned column. New questions can be written and answered if they encounter information they did not anticipate. The teacher then leads a discussion with the purpose of addresses the original questions and what additional information was learned.

Step 4. //Plus//. The teacher leads students in categorizing the information that was learned and in creating a graphic organizer to represent this.

Click here for a link to a sample article, sample K-W-L chart, and Plus graphic organizer.