Strategies for improving

Literacy across the Curriculum

Abstract
This booklet contains a number of simple, easy to use strategies that can to help improve
literacy.

Kristian Peron

Contents
Jigsaw Reading ................................................................................................................................................. 2
Focus Questions ................................................................................................................................................ 3
Reading Annotations ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Text Predictions................................................................................................................................................ 6
Informational Text .......................................................................................................................................... 7
Word Understanding Pre/Post Test ............................................................................................................ 8
Vocabulary Folders .......................................................................................................................................... 9
Word Maps .......................................................................................................................................................11
Out of Sequence Texts .................................................................................................................................. 13
The Reading 5 ................................................................................................................................................. 14

Jigsaw Reading
Jigsaw Reading is a cooperative learning strategy that enables students to become experts in a
small section of a large piece of text.
Students are first broken up into a home group. The home group is the group the students come
back to after they have read a specific text or sections section of a text. In the home group they
share their understandings of what they have read. Before they can do this, each home group
needs to be separated into expert groups.
Expert groups are groups of students that read, analysis and summarize the major points of the
text they have been given to read. They comprise one member of each home group. After each
expert group has been given time to read, analysis and summarize they return to their home
group and share their summaries.
In this way students dont have to read the full text to gain a deep understanding of the entire
text.
The image below helps show how a jigsaw reading activity works.

Focus Questions
Focus Questions are a very simple tool designed to engage students in a piece of reading. The aim
of the focus question is to spark an interest in the text and improve student concentration while
reading.
Rather than answering a list of questions at the end, the focus question should give the students
an aim for their reading. The focus question should provoke critical thinking about the text and
require thoughtful analysis.
There are many different ways to utilise a focus question. They can be teacher led, e.g. The
teacher poses a specific question to the students or they can be student led, e.g. the student
decided what they want to discover through a piece of reading.
When using student led questions, before reading they can view the heading and any pictures
used in the text to decide what they think they article may be about and decide their question
from there.
Student led questions can also be shared between individuals or groups so that they swap
questions with each other.

Reading Annotations
Reading annotations are another simple tool students can use while undertaking a piece of
reading. They are designed to highlight certain parts of a text that a student might not
understand or be of importance.
Below is a simple list of some basic annotations that can be used by students during their
reading. Each one has a specific meaning and can be used to form the basis of group discussions
or for teacher led activities.
Question Mark

A question mark identifies

areas of the text that a
student may find confusing
or difficult to understand.

Exclamation Mark

An exclamation mark
identifies areas of the text
that students find
interesting.

Asterisk

An asterisk highlights
important facts that the
students come across while
reading.

Highlight/Underline

Highlighting or underlining
text indicates main ideas or
key concepts.

Circle

Circling words identifies key

vocabulary used in the text.

Text Predictions
Text predictions are another simple method of trying to motivate and engage students in their
readings. Students use the available images and headings in a piece of text they are about to read
and make predictions based on these. After reading the text students can refine, revise and verify
their predictions.
This method works well to activate students prior knowledge and helps them make connections
to new content.
Students can also share their predictions in small groups or with the class and after completing
the reading, share their results.

Informational Text
Informational texts are adjunct texts that aim at enriching a students experience while reading.
Informational texts can be from a variety of resources and should promote further reading.
They are best used prior to reading key texts as they can build background knowledge. They
should be interesting to students as well as informative.
Informational texts can include readings like newspaper articles, magazine articles, online
documents, fiction/non-fiction books, etc.
Informational texts aim at giving a different insight into a topic that a specific text may not give.
Students can take an interest in a new topic from reading about it from a different source rather
than from their text book.
This strategy does take some preparation time in finding articles for students to read.

Word Understanding Pre/Post Test

Testing students understanding of key vocabulary is an easy way of checking a students
progress and learning. Pre-testing before reading enables the student to link words with prior
knowledge and make connections. Post-Testing after reading provides information as to whether
learning has occurred.
There are many ways to test but using a simple scoring method is an easy way to assess whether
students have improved.
One simple method is to have students score words based on their understanding of the words,
for example;
I dont know this word
- Score 0
I dont know this word
- Score 1
I have heard this word and know its meaning - Score 2
The scores are then tallied and the total written down. After completing a reading or at the end
of a lesson students can retake the test and ascertain whether they have scored higher.
If students are still unsure of key vocabulary meanings, they can go over these words.
A simple table can be used for this method of assessment. In the I have heard this word and
know its meaning column students can write what they think the definition of the word is.
Key Word

I dont know this

word (tick)

0
Word One

Word Two

Word
Three
Total

I have heard this

word before but
dont know its
meaning (tick)
1

I have heard this word and

know its meaning
(Write definition)
2

Score

Vocabulary Folders
Vocabulary Folders are a way for students to creatively learn the definitions of key terms. They
are a simple worksheet that students fill out as they undertake reading. Each box has a key
vocabulary term listed in it and students fill in the box with a definition and a drawing. The
boxes can be designed in ways that reflect the words inside them as well.

Word One

Word Two

Word Three

Word Four

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Word Maps
Word Maps are another way of displaying information and summarizing key points of a text. In
appearance they are similar to a brainstorm or mind map and show how a key word links to
other ideas. They link with a students prior knowledge and help build connections with new
content.
There are many different ways to setup and use a Word map and this will depend on the subject
it is being implemented in.
The key sections of the Word Map include;
The word itself (in the middle)
A dictionary definition
The students own definition
Synonyms or Antonyms
The word used in a sentence
A picture or other use of the word
Synonyms/Antonyms

Your Own Definition

Key Word

Use it in a Sentence
Simple Word Map Example

Draw a picture

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Antonym

Synonym
s

Key Word

Dictionary Definition

Picture

My Definition

Word in a sentence

Advanced Word Map Example

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Out of Sequence Texts

Out of Sequence Texts is an activity similar to that of cloze activities. In cloze activities, words
are omitted from passages that students have to fill in from either a word list or their own
knowledge. In Out of Sequence Texts, whole passages are cut up and students have to reassemble
the whole text into the correct order.
There are many ways to cut up a passage of text into segments; these include paragraphs,
sentences or words. These can be done to match students level of abilities and to challenge
students thinking.
Out of Sequence Texts can be used at the beginning of a lesson to link in with students prior
knowledge or at the conclusion of a lesson to assess students learning.
Out of Sequence Texts can be linked in with skim reading where students briefly read a text then
get handed the jigsaw puzzle of segments and have to read, comprehend and arrange the
segments into the original text.
If Out of Sequence texts are used at the end of a lesson to assess learning, a different passage of
text can be handed out that students have not been exposed to which covers the topic of the lesson
for them to arrange into the correct order. In this way they are piecing together a summary of
the lesson.
Before

After

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The Reading 5
The Reading 5 are five simple questions that students answer at the end of a reading. These
questions aim at extracting key information from a piece of text in a simple easy to remember
way.
These five questions can be answered by most texts in most subjects. Each question can be
expanded in relation to the specific text being covered. Students should to extract key points from
the text to answer each question.
The five questions are;
1. What?
2. When?
3. Where?
4. Why?
5. How?
These questions can be answered in a simple table
What?

What happened?
What significance is this?

When?

When did this take place?

What time period?

Where?

Where did it happen?

What location?
What importance does this have?

Why?

Why did this happen?

What context did this happen in?

How?

How did it happen?

What is the background?
How does this relate to what we are learning about?