COMPREHENSION STRATEGY LESSON PLAN 1

JMU Elementary Education Program

Dylan Barton
Cheryl Shelton, Wilson Elementary School, 2nd grade
Lesson on November 12, 2014, 8:35-9:10am
Submission on November 10, 2014

A. TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON
Schema
B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
I will be doing this lesson with a small group of students in Power-Up, so I know their literacy
levels are about the same. These students have been practicing their reading and writing skills,
including predicting, asking questions, visualizing, checking for understanding while reading, and
thinking about what they are reading. In Power-Up they listen to a read aloud where they are guided
in all of these reading strategies, as well as rereading the read aloud stories on their own to practice
using these strategies. They have touched on schema a little bit by discussing any prior knowledge
they have of a topic before reading about it, so I know that they know the importance of doing this. I
will be working with a small group of students on activating prior knowledge and experiences, and
learning how to use their schema.
C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand

Know

Prior knowledge can relate to

the topic of a text.

Key terms:
Schema: Thinking
stems, making
connections using
prior knowledge.
Prior knowledge:
information/knowledg
e you have about a
topic being studied,
before studying it.

Do

Use prior knowledge to

predict information, and to
interpret pictures and
diagrams.

Discuss real-life experiences

and knowledge that relate to
the topic.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING

Objective
Prior knowledge can relate to the topic of a
text.
Key terms:
Schema: Thinking stems, making
connections using prior knowledge.
Prior knowledge:
information/knowledge you have about
a topic being studied, before studying
it.
Use prior knowledge to predict information,
and to interpret pictures and diagrams.
Discuss real-life experiences and knowledge
that relate to the text.

Assessment
Observation of discussion of prior knowledge.
Observation of discussion of schema and
prior knowledge.

The things written down on the paper about a

specific topic, how much the students have to
offer about a topic before discussing it.
Discussion of information and experiences
that relate to the topics on the papers.

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING

English 2.8/9
The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fictional/nonfictional
texts.
b) Relate previous experiences to the main idea.
F. MATERIALS NEEDED
Large white paper
G. PROCEDURE
1. I will tell the students that we are going to do a short activity in which I write the name of
something on a large sheet of paper and when I turn it to show them, they will have about a
minute to tell me anything they know about that topic. The word will be Family.
2. I will write down what they say as they are shouting it out. At the end of the minute, we will
review what I have written. We will discuss the fact that everyone in the group knew something
about the topic and could tell me at least one thing that came to their mind. This is called
schema; the things you already know about something, before you begin to study it. I will
explain to the group that schema is your background knowledge, or prior knowledge that you
have about a topic.
3. I will write another word on a separate sheet of large paper and tell the students to use their
schema to tell me anything they know about what I have written down in one minute, just like
we did previously. However, this time I will write down a topic that the students arent too
familiar with, such as Government. I will give the students the same amount of time for this
word, but I anticipate them not having much to say.
4. When I finish, I will ask them why there wasnt as much written down for the second word as
there was for the first. I will explain to them that they have more schema or prior knowledge
about family because they all come from families and have a lot of experience with family.
However, they havent learned much about the government yet, and dont really have any
experience with it.
5. Finally, I will explain the importance of schema in reading. When we get a book to read, we
activate our schema by looking at the title and the pictures before actually reading. We may be
interested in it because we already know something about it, or it is something weve heard of

before and want to learn more about. While reading, we use our schema to make connections
and inferences about the story. For example, if I come across a page where the characters are
doing something I do in my life, I can make that connection. Also, if I am reading about
something I know a little bit about, I can use that background knowledge to make predictions
about what I think might happen next, or draw conclusions based on prior knowledge and new
information Ive learned.
6. I will let the students discuss what I have told them about schema so far and how it relates to the
activity we just did.
7. I will then explain that in the next lesson, we will use schema the same way we did during this
lesson, except by using a book this time. I will ask them ways in which they think they will able
to use their schema while reading, summing up what I just discussed.
H. DIFFERENTIATION
Because I will be working with a small group of students who read and write at the same level, I
wont have to differentiate too much. I will make sure each student understands the lesson before
moving on, and I will include each student in the discussion by asking appropriate questions. The
students will be sharing different information based on their personal schema, so I will make sure
everyone understands what each other is talking about. I will encourage the students to build off of
one anothers ideas and ask each other questions about what they are sharing.
For students who are struggling to understand the concept of schema, I will provide more
examples for the group other than the two we discussed. I will provide them with more explanation
of what schema means in terms of my own examples. I will also encourage them to come up with
two topics on their own; one in which they know a lot about and the other that they dont, to help
them develop this concept using their own experiences and ideas, this way it is more meaningful to
them. For the students who seem bored with the lesson, or are grasping the concept quicker than
others, I will have them draw pictures of the topics we discussed, as well as the ones they came up
with on their own to demonstrate another way in which they can activate their schema.
I.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
When I write down Family, the students might not have a lot to say about what they know
about the word because they might not understand the activity.
o If this happens, I will ask them for another word that they all know a lot about and we
will try the activity using that word.
When I write down Government, the students may know more than I anticipated and I wouldnt
be able to use that as my non-schema example.
o If this happens, I will come up with another word that I know they will know nothing
about and try the activity using that word. I will explain that some things we have more
schema for than others.
The students could not understand the term, schema, even after I explain it using multiple
examples.
o If this happens, I will need to use examples from books they have read in Power-Up, or
things they are currently learning about in their classes to explain the idea that sometimes
we know about something even before we study it in school, or read about it in a book,
and this is called prior knowledge.