Framing our Reading Part 2: Guided Thinking using KWL

	Text Citation or Link	Rationale for Choosing	Text Frame(s)	Strategies Used and Resource
Guided Thinking Example	How a bacteria cell recognizes its own DNA	This article describes a bacteria cell's replication and how it identifies its DNA from an enemy cell. This article draws on past knowledge and relates bacteria cells to Biology and the real world.	Goal/Action/Outcome Making Connections	K-W-L (McLaughlin and Buehl)

The KWL and KWLS Comprehension Strategy is a classic practice that allows students to combine and organize their knowledge, both pre and post reading, as well as add to it during the reading.  It allows students to synthesize information to form a visual aid.  This can be used as a study tool, or just a way to organize thoughts.  A KWL chart is beneficial because it has students think about prior knowledge, sets a purpose for the unit, allows a teacher to assess what the student learned, and shows teachers what their students interests are.

The KWL chart has 3 columns, the KWLS chart has a 4^th column to it.  The chart looks like the following and can be handed out as a template.

TOPIC:
K	W	L

The K Column refers to the question “What do I know?”  Here, students list everything they know about the topic.  This could include words, terms, or phrases associated with this particular topic.  This encourages students to make a connection to their past. 

The W Column refers to the question “What do I want to know?”  This is an important step because it begins to frame the reading and encourages the students to think about what the purpose of reading this text is.  It makes the student think a little deeper than just the superficial questions asked at the beginning of the text.

The L Column is filled with answers to the question “What have I Learned?”  This is filled out after the reading and discusses what the student has learned from the text.  Some teachers prefer to have students fill this out during the reading, which I agree has merit.  A student can forget a lot by the end of a reading.  Ideally, the L Column should answer most of the questions from the W Column.

The fourth, and optional column is S, which stands for “What do I still want to know?”  Students are encouraged to put unanswered questions from the W Column to this column.  They may also add questions that were developed from the reading.

I was excited to try out the K-W-L technique, because it’s basically just a bunch of lists and I happen to love lists.  I think that the KWL chart is a good way to organize your thoughts and think critically before, during, and after the reading.

TOPIC: Bacteria cells and how they recognize their own DNA
K -          Single celled organisms -          Many different kinds -          Can cause disease -          Reproduce through division (Called fission maybe?) -          Can duplicate itself quickly	W -How do they recognize their own DNA? - Is a single celled organism’s DNA different than a human’s? - In what situation would a bacteria cell need to tell the difference between its DNA and another cell’s DNA?	L -Bacteria have an immune system, fight off invasive viruses called phages -immune system called CRISPR “remembers” past encounter so it can defend against similar future attacks -“Chi sites” are uncommon in viral genomes, but common in bacterial genomes, acting as a self marker

After completing the reading using the KWL technique, I was surprised by how much I gained by using the technique, as opposed to just reading the article straight through.  I have not taken a biology class or studied cells since my freshman year of college and I was not confident that I would take away important information from the article.  By using the KWL technique, I not only was able to remember some very minor facts about bacteria, but I was able learn a lot more than expected.  I like that each entry into the L Column is a short little summary of the article.

I am a bit concerned with some aspects of this comprehension technique.  First of all, it is a lot of work prior to reading the actual article.  I have concerns that the students might get distracted and or bored before a teacher even gives out the article.  My second concern is that while I was reading the article, there were times where I was just reading to fill out the third column and not reading to learn and comprehend.

I do like that after completing the chart, one can look back and have a nice summary of the article and their learning process.  Furthermore, teachers can look at the chart and easily assess what the student learned and took away from the article.

To explore this article using a different technique, check out the Hands on approach by Samantha.

References:

McLaughlin, M., (2015).  Content Area Reading:  Teaching and Learning for College and Career Readiness. Boston:  Pearson.

Buehl, D., (2014) Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning, 4^th ed. International Reading Association.

Weizmann Institute of Science. (2015, April 13). How a bacterial cell recognizes its own DNA. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150413130825.htm