Strategy Notebook

December 3, 2014
By: Lauren Firle

Table of Contents

English Language Learner Strategies

Graphic organizers
Learning Logs
Verbal visual word association

Study Skills Strategies

Anticipation Guide
Concept Ladder
Knowledge Rating Scale

Vocabulary Strategies
KIM Strategy
Possible Sentences
Word Sort

Writing Strategies
Best answers
Story Impressions
Quick Write

English Language Learner Strategies

APA Citation:
(n.d.). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from http://edhelper.com/teachers/graphic_organizers.htm
Name: Graphic Organizer
Steps:
1. The teacher has students get into groups and draw a flower on a piece of paper and have
the students write in the middle of the flower a verb and on the petals write what words
are verbs.
2. Do this for nouns and adjectives as well.
3. Have the students have a piece of paper that has the words that are for verbs, adjectives
and nouns and have the students figure out which ones are the verbs, nouns and
adjectives.
4. This way they will separate the words and know which sets of words belongs to
whichever category.
5. The teacher will then have each group share what they have down and the teacher will
make sure that table has the correct words for each flower.
Strengths:
This has students who are English language learners help understand the English
language better and know how to write sentences while knowing the different words that
describe verbs, nouns and adjectives. Students will also learn this while having fun and
not just writing notes or listening to a lecture. This will also help the students work
together and help each other.

Graphic Organizer Example:

APA Citation:
(n.d.). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from http://edhelper.com/teachers/graphic_organizers.htm
Name: Learning Logs
Steps:
1. Each student should receive a journal at the beginning of the year and kept in the
classroom and every time the teacher wants students to use them, hand them out to each
student during that class time.
2. After students read a book or chapter of a textbook, have students reflect and write what
they thought about what they just read.
3. When every student writes what they think of what they just read then they will hand
back to the teacher which will then not be graded but just looked at.
Strengths:
Learning Logs are great for ELLs because they allow students to write what they felt on the
subject they just read and by having the teacher not grade it, but just look at it will give the
student confidence knowing that it will not be graded. The teacher can even mark on the journal
the words or grammar they did not get write so they will know for next time.

Learning Log Example:

APA Citation:
(n.d.-b). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from http://www.khs-robinson.com/vvwa.html
Name: Verbal Visual Word Association
Steps:
1. Hand out an article and have students read through it.
2. Then put students in groups and give them a vocabulary word from the article.
3. Have each group to fold a piece of paper into four section and in each of the squares,
students will write in the top left square the vocabulary word they were given and in the
top right square write a personal association to the word, in the bottom left square write
the meaning of the word and in the bottom right square write the opposite of the word.
4. Have each group explain what their word was and state what they put in all four sections
to help other students know what that word meant.
Strengths:
Verbal Visual Word Association helps students get the meaning of a vocabulary word, a personal
association for that word, the actual meaning and the opposite of that word. This gives ELL
students a visual on a word so they can understand the word better than just knowing what it is,
but knowing the opposite of that word and a visual that the student can remember every time
they see that word again.
Verbal Visual Word Association Example:

Study Skills Strategies

APA Citation:
All About Adolescent Literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from
http://www.adlit.org/strategies/19712/
Name: Anticipation Guide
Steps:
1. After going over the major concepts and material for that section before the test hand
students a true/false guide to see if they know what they have been going over.
2. The teacher will organize statements on a paper.
3. Have students answer it true or false and if the statement is false, have students write a
brief description as to why it may be false or why you disagree.
4. Then go over each statement and if one is false explain why it is false so students will
know why.
Strengths:
Anticipation Guides are great because before teachers give a test or before they begin going over
new material this is given to see if students really understand what they have learned. This way if
students dont understand something they can ask questions or get the right answer when they
have the answer wrong. They give a description as to why its wrong that way students know
why it is wrong.
Anticipation Guide Example:

APA Citation:
All About Adolescent Literacy. (n.d.-a). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from
http://www.adlit.org/strategies/19712/
Name: Concept Ladder
Steps:
1. Hand students an article, have them read it.
2. Put them in groups and have each group after they have read the article get a piece of
paper and fold it in half and mark the paper into however many sections there are groups.
3. Have each group come up with a question for what they have read and write it on one
side and on the other write the answer.
4. Every group will then state their question and answer while every group writes it down in
a new section they have marked on their paper.
Strengths:
Concept Ladder is great for studying because it has everyone come up with a question and
answer as well as every group. This helps students understand not only what they are reading,
but it helps other groups who may not have come up with that question or not know the answer
and will then find out.
Concept Ladder Example:

APA Citation:
(n.d.-b). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from http://www.khs-robinson.com/vvwa.html
Name: Knowledge Rating Scale
Steps:
1. The teacher creates a note card and has main words and there are three sections which
are, know it well, have heard/seen it, and no clue.
2. Students then view the words and determine which of those three categories works for
them by checking that section.
3. The teacher will go over a power point that covers all the words that were on that
notecard.
4. Students then now know the words and can be able to study those words now.
Strengths:
Knowledge Rating Scale is great for students who may have never gone over any of those words
before or have seen it and maybe learned it before but cant remember what it means now. This
also helps students learn as a pre learning strategy because they have to determine if they really
know that word or have never seen it before. This is also great for the beginning of the year as
teachers are teaching a subject that students have taken before but may not remember anymore
because of breaks.
Knowledge Rating Scale Example:

Vocabulary Strategies
APA Citation:
(n.d.). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from
http://www1.ccs.k12.in.us/teachers/downloads/cms_block_file/89322/file/117321
Name: Kim Strategy
Steps:
1. The teacher shares some vocabulary words to the students
2. The students then create the KIM organizer which has three categories; key idea,
information and memory clue.
3. The students will write what they think would go into each category for each word.
4. For information they will say what they think the definition of that word is.
5. For memory clue they will write what will help them remember the vocabulary word.
6. For the key idea part, students will draw a sketch of what they word is.
7. Then have students tell the class what they put down for some of the vocabulary words.
Strengths:
The KIM strategy is great for students to remember hard vocabulary words. It allows students to
have different ways of remembering the word and what it stands for. The chart is also a good
thing for students because they arent just writing things on a piece of paper, this chart will help
them get a better picture of the words.
KIM Example:

APA Citation:

All About Adolescent Literacy. (n.d.-a). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from

http://www.adlit.org/strategies/19782/
Name: Possible Sentences
Steps:
1. Hand out to students a list of words and put them into groups and give 2 words to each
group.
2. They must then try to figure out what the definitions are for those words.
3. After they write it down, they tell the class what they think they mean.
4. The teacher then hands out a sheet of paper that has the actual definition of the words on
there.
5. The students then have to write a sentence using the two words they were given and try to
make it make sense.
Strengths:
Possible sentences helps students figure out the meaning of words and once they know what they
are they have to try to put them into sentences. This makes them see how the words they were
given make sense together and work in the way they are defined.

Possible Sentences Example:

APA Citation:

(n.d.-b). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from http://www.readingeducator.com/strategies/sort.htm

Name: Word Sort
Steps:
1. The teacher has students read an article.
2. The teacher then hands students a paper with words in a section and three categories up
on top.
3. The students must then place the papers at the bottom and put them in one of the three
categories they belong to.
4. This can even be done with notecards or on a poster board for students to take and place
the words to each category.
5. The students can then share what words they put in which category.
Strengths:
Word sort is a great tool for students when learning vocabulary because it allows them to see
where words belong to and figure out why they belong to that category. This is a great tool for
agriculture because it would be helpful with breeds or animals or parts of a plant or things in a
shop for welding.
Word Sort Example:

Writing Strategies

APA Citation:
(n.d.-b). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from http://www.readingeducator.com/strategies/sort.htm
Name: Better Answers
Steps:
1. The better answer hamburger shows what to put in the first sentence (the bun), evidence
for your answer (the vegetables/meat) and then how to close the sentence.
2. Show this to students when learning how to write sentences and where to put what.
3. At the bottom it also has words that would be a good choice to use instead of the same
words over and over.
Strengths:
Better Answers strategy is great for little kids or even high school students who are learning how
to put sentences together or simply figuring out a better way to organize a sentence. This strategy
surely does help everyone out in all different ways when organizing sentences.

Better Answers Example:

APA Citation:

(n.d.-b). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from

http://www.learningpt.org/literacy/adolescent/strategies/story.php
Name: Story Impressions
Steps:
1. Hand students a piece of paper that has a bunch of words and have students use these
words to make a sentence.
2. Once they have done this, have some of them read aloud what they have and see if they
can figure out what the sentence is about.
3. Give students an article or a section to read that was about what they had to make a
sentence out of.
4. That article will give students a background history on what the words they put in
sentences is and how it relates to the article.
Strengths:
Story impressions allow students to figure out how to rearrange words to fit and make a sentence
while also trying to figure out what the sentence is trying to state. This is a great writing strategy
for students who are in elementary school all the way to high school. Story impressions helps
students not only write out sentences but to know what word is and how to place it in a sentence.

Story Impressions Example:

APA Citation:

(n.d.-c). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from

http://nrhs.nred.org/www/nred_nrhs/site/hosting/Literacy%20Website/Literacy%20Strategy
%20Templates/Quick_Write__description.pdf
Name: Quick Write
Steps:
1. Teacher hands out notecards to everyone and has students fold them in half.
2. Then the teacher will have students write down on the left side what they know about the
subject before going over the subject.
3. Then the teacher will talk about the subject whether with a power point or simply going
over the material.
4. Students then write on the right side what they learned about the subject that the teacher
just went over.
Strengths:
Quick Write is great for students to learn before and after a lesson because by having the teacher
see what they already know about the subject the students can try to figure out themselves. Then
by the teacher going over the subject the students will have what they think they know already in
their heads. This is a great strategy for writing because they have to know how to write in order
to understand what they are learning.
Quick Write Example: