This blog continues the two part series covering reading strategies. While classrooms have well designed word walls, students can benefit from a personal, smaller version of the word wall. These words can also be organized by category to increase meaning.
Graphic Organizers
Connect-Compare-Contrast
Vocabulary & Relevance
Understanding of vocabulary can be enhanced through relevance. In this classroom, the teacher connected an experience with the key vocabulary words. In addition, she created visuals that linked this experience with the vocabulary word.
In this example, the teacher has used a graphic organizer to link relevance for the students.
Building Vocabulary through Logographic Cues
And last, but not least, steps for reading can be broken down for the student and then decorated with a favorite character. In this example, the teacher and parent decided that the strategies would be best understood if Sponge Bob Square Pants was endorsing them. They added several Sponge Bob stickers around the edges of the paper and increased the effectiveness of the reading strategies.
-Lisa Rogers
The Education (K-12) Blogs and Special Ed Q & A are written and maintained weekly by Lisa Rogers with Educating Diverse Learners. Lisa received her M.A. in Special Education with an endorsement in the area of individuals with severe disabilities. Mrs. Rogers has also created products that have been used throughout the state of Texas for training purposes. Through the Association for Texas Professional Educators [ATPE], Ms. Rogers has produced an online course that targets the importance of visual strategies for student with autism spectrum disorders and just released her highly anticipated book titled: Visual Supports for Visual Thinkers.