DescriptionKnowledge rating is a strategy to help introduce words before reading. When students know what the keywords are in a story or book, it will help them read more effectively. This strategy helps foster awareness of words and allows students to have control over their own knowledge. The way that this takes place is that the teacher gives the students a new list or words from the book or story. With these words the student thinks about how well they know the word using the following four stages:
1. Never saw or heard this word 2. Saw or heard it but don't know it 3. Know it in a sentence; know the meaning vaguely 4. Know it well Once the students read through the story, they then see if they have a better understanding of the word from using the context within the story or book. Video: In the video on the right-hand column, the teacher in the front of the classroom demonstrates one way that knowledge rating can take place. She is doing this with the whole class to see how well the students understand the vocabulary. This strategy can be used independently or in small groups as well. Pictures: The two pictures on the right provide you with a graphic organizer that you can use for this strategy and an example of what may look like filled out. This is a way that students can work independently with this strategy, in which they would fill out the worksheet on their own before reading through the text. |
|
Content Area Examples1. Mathematics: Knowledge rating can take place in mathematics before a student reads a chapter from their math textbook. They could go skim the text to find unknown words, or the teacher could provide the students with a list of words that they may not know. Then the student can rate the words before reading the chapter. Once this is accomplished, the students can then read the chapter and think about whether or not they have gained a better understanding of the word once they have finished reading the chapter.
2. Health: This strategy could take place before the students read through a book on nutrition as a class. The teacher could ask the students to hold up a finger between one through four to show how well they know the words being discussed before reading the book as a class. Once the class finishes reading the book, the students can then discuss as a class what they have learned about each word from the reading. 3. Literacy: Knowledge rating can take place during literacy as a guided reading group. The teacher will go through a list of words with the students beforehand and question them as to how well they understand the word. Then once the story is read the students will discuss whether or not they have a better understanding of the word once the read through the story. 4. Science: This strategy could take place in science as a whole group and small group lesson. First the teacher could discuss with the students a list of words and see where they fall on the spectrum with understanding them. Then the students can divide up into small groups and read through the article and then discuss as a small group what they learned about this word from the article. |
Resources1. Jennings, J., Caldwell, J., & Lerner, J. (2014). Vocabulary Development and Listening Comprehension. In Reading Problems: Assessment and Teaching Strategies (7th ed., p. 242). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson.
2. Knowledge Rating Strategy for Vocabulary. (2015, October 16). Retrieved November 6, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABtdDHQ0WmA |