Pre-Reading Assignments (Overview)
I hate any moment in any training that begins with some variation of “Here’s the old stupid way to do things that you’re probably all doing but thank god I’m here now to set you straight.” Only slightly less offensive are over-simplified flow charts of what you could be doing in your classroom, as if teaching were little more than a 3-stage Rube Goldberg machine.
And yet, I present… triangles:
This is how things can go if we’re not careful.
Pre-Reading: We start a new unit or topic with minimal introduction – “When you’re done with your quiz over Chapter 13, turn it in and start reading Chapter 14.” If we’re feeling particularly pedagogical that day, we might even add, “It’s about Greece.”
During Reading: Students hunt for the answers to the assigned questions at the end of the chapter or check their text messages to see if anyone from the previous hour has posted their completed assignment yet. (Hopefully it’s that kid whose answers never make any sense but half the class copies them anyway.)
Post-Reading: The teacher tries to discuss the material the next day, or gives a short quiz, or assigns a group project based on the content, etc. Big shocker, though – no one knows anything they’re supposed to! So, the teacher spends most of their time trying to remediate or spoon-feed or berate their little brains into learning.
But here’s something closer to what most of us try to do these days:
Pre-Reading: The total time available hasn’t changed, but we try to “pre-load” more – we preview vocabulary, or take time to establish connections to what’s already known, or to students’ lives. We scaffold the crap out of these darn lessons, in hopes of minimizing repair time later on.
During Reading: Ideally, time spent actually reading or watching or otherwise “learning” the content is more effective thanks to this brilliant scaffolding. Plus, students are now fascinated and hungry to learn more because we’ve stimulated their interest in the subject matter with our nimble pedagogicalizing.
Post-Reading: Hopefully this now consists of either a brief assessment to verify understanding or some sort of enrichment or connection to other subject matter. From time to time, something artsy-fartsy is involved.
Why Pre-Read, Pre-View, Pre-Think, Pre-Whatever?
Keep in mind that while you may teach the same basic subject all day, every day, students have an annoying habit of leaving our room after an hour or so to go to, say… math class. There, they do MATH for an hour, which helps your efforts very little. From there it’s English or Science or P.E. or Art, all fine in and of themselves, but none of which directly support YOUR content on a regular basis.
They go home at some point, often with the solitary goal of blocking out any thoughts related to their day in school. Even if they do a bit of homework, they SLEEP afterwards – effectively rebooting the entire machine before rolling back into your room 23 hours later!
No wonder they have no idea from day to day what’s going on. It’s maddening.
Time spent making connections, previewing vocabulary, or building interest (or helping them fake it, at least), doesn’t necessarily add to the total time you spend on a unit. Even if it does, I respectfully suggest it’s better to anchor and help students retain less information than to blow through some impressive quantity they’ll never recall or know how to apply if they do.
KWL Charts
You know this one – it’s been in every teacher training curriculum since Horace Mann first required your Normal School Certificate be hung on the wall before presenting you with the Teacher’s Edition of that McGuffey’s Reader.
When introducing a new subject, we start with what students already Know. Then, what do they Want to know? After the unit – or lesson, or chapter, or whatever – what did they Learn? Some add a ‘Q’ for further Questions.
There’s nothing wrong with going old school. Just because something’s vintage doesn’t mean it’s not useful. Classic rock commands at least one station in every market for a reason, right?
I prefer a variation of this which I think I stole from someone along the way, but have no idea when, where, or who. Sorry if took your rectangle.
The TOPIC being introduced goes in the center.
The top left section is for what students already know, just like with a KWL chart. Whether we’re practicing this together, doing them in small groups, or occasionally working individually, I insist this be filled one way or the other. They know SOMETHING – and usually more than they think or will admit. We will just keep coming up with stuff we know until it’s full – no matter how long it takes. This is a ‘mindset’ thing that’s a pain in the learning but pays off down the road.
Spoiler Alert: Sometimes it’s a bit further down the road than we’d like.
The top right section is somewhat dysfunctional in nature – and that’s OK. In this section we write any feelings or opinions we have about the upcoming subject, OR things we think we might know but aren’t entirely sure of. If we’re doing the rain forest, for example, this is where the good little activist children tell us that we must save the rain forest and that every time man cuts down a tree, the fairies cry. It’s also where the kid whose parents insist there are more square miles of forest now than ever before in history gets his say.
Students may not have strong preconceptions or feelings about, say, major geographical formations – but they can guess which are found where, for example, or even how many there might be. This is very much a ‘safe to be wrong’ box. Fill it up.
Lower left is for what they WANT to know about the subject. I taught 9th grade forever, and I can tell you the most common response to this without further prodding: “Nothing. We’re good. Can we move on?” So, as always when learning new skills, we’re gonna overdo this baby and fake it. Legit-sounding question after probing inquiry until even WE believe we care deeply. As Aristotle said, “Fake it, ‘til you make it.”
Lower right COULD be the one you come back to with what you learned. I don’t do that, because I’m not organized enough. More often than not, by the time we get to the ‘end’ of a unit, I’ve forgotten I have their three-quarters-completed squares in a file somewhere waiting for this moment. Or, I’ve let them hang on to them and half of them have no idea where they are. So I do pictures.
In the lower right section, draw a picture of something you believe represents the topic in the middle circle. Sometimes I’ll give further guidance – when we do ‘Oil Boom’, they’re not allowed to draw an oil well, for example. Otherwise, it’s all fair game.
Once they know how to do these and expectations have been established, these can be done individually, in pairs or small groups, or as a class. They make good bell-ringers, or you can easily check them merely by walking around the room as they work.
As a bonus, prep time is minimal and grading is easy for these. That should never be our primary concern, but there’s nothing inherently evil about it. Don’t worry – you’ll still find yourself overwhelmed by the endless hours spent on some other element of your teaching.
BCE Anticipation Square (PDF)