This blog post was written by Sammie Hauer, a current undergraduate student at Saint Vincent College enrolled in my course, Reading, Writing, and Differentiation in the Content Area. Read more about Sammie at the end of the blog.

First Lines

First Lines is a technique that a teacher at any grade can use whether you teach in an elementary building or a high school building. This technique is also versatile since you can use it in small groups, with the whole class, or individually. This strategy is based on reading the first line of a given text and then making predictions about what you are about to read. After the activity when students read the whole text, it is common for students to change or adjust their predictions about the reading.

Some benefits of this pre-reading strategy include improving students’ reading comprehension, activating prior knowledge, and it also requires the students to anticipate what the text is about before they start reading. Another great benefit to this technique is that it is very simple! This is not an overwhelming activity and the students only have to read one line. Motivation for this activity should come very easily as you would definitely not be asking too much from your students.

How do First Lines Work?

1. Ask students to read the first line of the text.
2. Ask the students to make predictions based off of that first sentence.
3. Have the students ready to volunteer their predictions and then have them share with the class.
4. Remind students that there is not a “right” or “wrong” way to make a prediction but have them back their prediction up with information from that first sentence.
5. Engage in a class discussion about predictions.
6. After reading the text, encourage the students to revisit their old prediction.

 

Why does First Lines work? How do I use it in my classroom?

First Lines helps students learn to make predictions about the content they will be reading. Additionally, it helps students focus their attention and activates their “thinking skills” by making them analyze what was in that first sentence and making connections to any previous knowledge they have to form those predictions they shared with the class.

As stated before, First Lines can work for almost any teacher in any content area and can be modified. The only drawback to this reading strategy would be math as they often do not read texts that explain the material that they are going to learn. As for modifying this strategy, if you think the first line does not give enough information, you can have them read the next line as well. If you are an English teacher and have assigned a novel, you can have students complete this activity for each chapter they read.

In the science content area, this technique can be difficult depending on the text that the students are offered, but it is not impossible to incorporate this strategy into your classroom. You will just have to use your best judgement with your students’ levels of prior knowledge and the difficulty of the text.

https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/first_lines

http://www.adlit.org/strategies/23330/

ABC Brainstorming

ABC Brainstorming is a great way to get students to activate their prior knowledge? Not only is this technique perfect for activating prior knowledge, it is a really easy activity to use to get your students engaged and motivated to learn. This strategy is also adaptable in many ways so you can use it many times in your classroom. This activity can be done individually, in small groups, or as a whole class.

https://bksykes0731.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/wkst.jpg%5B/caption%5D

 

How Does ABC Brainstorming Work?

1. Select a Topic or Text

Topics can include the Civil War, films, books, etc.

2. Determine Your Purpose

Do you want to see what students already know about a topic? If so, use it as a warm-up activity.

Do you want to use this as a review for a test? Then you can use this as a way to recall your students’ memory.

Do you want to use it to discuss what a student just watched from a film or read from a text? If so, use it as an Exit Card.

3. Prepare for the Brainstorm Activity

Either give the students a handout (shown in picture) or hang 26 different papers on the wall and have the students move around and fill each paper out with their ideas.

4. Conduct the Brainstorm

Do you want it timed?

Do you want students working in groups or individually?

Will students turn their work in after?

5. Talk About It

After the activity, have a discussion about what everyone wrote down for each letter and address misconceptions or errors if there are any.

Modifications

As stated before, this activity can be adapted and modified in a variety of ways. These include an Alphabet Brainstorm Race, a Partial- Alphabet Brainstorm, and a Spoken Alphabet Brainstorm. For the Alphabet Brainstorm Race, you will have students working in small groups or as two teams and then have students compete to see who can be the first team to complete the brainstorm. This gives that competitive spirit in the classroom that will motivate students to learn. The Partial- Alphabet Brainstorm is where you give students only a portion of the alphabet to work with or you can divide the alphabet into sections and split those sections among groups. This can make the activity seem less daunting. The Spoken Alphabet Brainstorm is when you have students line up and have them say a word/phrase that relates to theme that was explored. The students will do the alphabet in order down the line.

Who Can Use this Strategy?

Almost any teacher can use this strategy in their class. The hardest subject to implement this into their content area would be math. However, it is not impossible for math teachers to use this strategy if they can find a way to make it work. For a math teacher, they may want to do a Partial- Alphabet Brainstorm and do it as a review for a test. The teacher could use it as a way to see what all equations the students remember that will be included in the exam.

https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/alphabet-brainstorm

About the Author

Sammie Hauer is a senior at Saint Vincent College pursuing a B.A in Spanish Education with a minor in French. Her goal is to create an environment in which students can flourish and be their true authentic selves while also exploring the worlds of different languages. She believes that by studying other languages, one can be better prepared for communicating with others around the world and they can also get a deeper insight into their own language.