PLAN

Your Name: Matt Nickels #20

Strategy name: PLAN

Student appropriate grade levels: Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth

Tags: PLAN, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Science, Social Studies, Math, Language Arts, Business, Technology, Health, Prereading, During reading, After Reading, Vocabulary, All, general, gifted, high achievers, middle achievers, low achievers, visual/spatial Content areas: Science, Social Studies, Math, Language Arts, Business, Technology, Health

Type of Strategy: Prereading, During reading, After Reading, Vocabulary Types of Students: All, general, gifted, high achievers, middle achievers, low achievers, visual/spatial

Strategy Description: PLAN stands for Predict, Locate, Add, Note. It is a strategy that is designed to improve textbook reading comprehension though it could be used for any form of book. The first step is to Predict what is in the reading (content) and how it is written (structure). The student makes a concept map based on the title, subtitles/headings, bolded words, italicized words, graphics and anything else that stands out in the text. The next step is to Locate known and unknown information on the map. The student places checkmarks next to information that is known and question marks by unknown information. The third step is to Add words, phrases, ideas, drawings to the map while reading the text. Students add information that validates what is already known and add information that explains what is unknown. The final step is to Note the new understanding gained by making the map and reading the text. There is a large amount of freedom in this step. Students can remake the map so it is clearer, turn the map into an essay or drawing, talk about the map or anything else that shows that the students comprehend the reading.

Strategy implementation example: For this lesson, the students will be using PLAN for reading Chapter 4 Section 4 Organ Systems from a McGraw-Hill Science textbook. The students would first Predict what will be in the text by looking at the title, subtitles, bolded words, italicized words, graphics and anything else that stands out in the text and making a concept map based on the predictions. The title of the section is Organ Systems. The subtitles/headings are How Do Blood and Air Travel?, How Animals Get Oxygen, How Liquid Wastes Leave the Body, How Do Animals Take In and Digest Food?, How Do Animals Sense Changes?, Special Sense Organs and How Do Animals Move?. Graphics boxes that stand out are Circulatory System Facts, Respiratory System Facts, Digestive System Facts, Nervous System Facts and Muscular and Skeletal Systems Facts. Each of these would be a separate component of the concept map. Next, the students would Locate what they already know on the map and place a checkmark next to it. For example, if a student did not know how animals move, then the student would put a question mark next to How Do Animals Move? Then the students would Locate what they do not know on the map and place question marks next to those items. The students would then read the section and Add words, phrases, ideas, definitions, drawings, etc to the map. The students will write down information validating what they know and adding what they do not know. Using the same example, the student would write down that for a vertebrate, the bones and the muscles work together to allow animals to move. For invertebrates, muscles stretch and shorten to allow movement. Once students have completed all aspects of their concept map, the students will Note their new understanding. The students could make a comic book with each page as a heading and each panel as a subheading describing all aspects of the concept map.