NAME: _______________________________________ DATE: _________________________

Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across the Curriculum Module

3
Unit 1. Introduction of Key Concepts
A. Basic Strategies for Developing Literacy
I. Introduction / Rationale
Effective teachers are always on the prowl for new and exciting teaching strategies that will keep their
students motivated and engaged. Whether you’re a new or experienced teacher, you may feel inundated by all
of the new educational buzzwords, theories, and new strategies that are out there. With all of the information
available, it’s hard to decide which teaching strategies are right for your classroom. Sometimes, the old tried
and-true ones that you have been using in your classroom just happen to work the best, and that’s okay.
Teaching strategies that are considered “new” may just not fit into your teaching style.

II. Learning Objective

• compare the basic concepts of traditional and 21st century literacies and skills; and
• explain the features and critical attributes of the 21st century literacies.
III. Content
Here are teaching strategies that are a staple in most classrooms. Depending upon your style, preference,
and your students.
1. Making Connections

Students can make three different kinds of connections (text-to-text, text-to-self, text-to-world).
Students then use this knowledge to find their own personal connections to a text. A majority of students in the
upper elementary and middle grades are beyond decoding instruction and need more assistance with
comprehension to help them become successful, independent readers. Strategic reading allows students to
monitor their own thinking and make connections between texts and their own experiences.
Students who make connections while reading are better able to understand the text they are reading. It
is important for students to draw on their prior knowledge and experiences to connect with the text. Students are
thinking when they are connecting, which makes them more engaged in the reading experience.
Students gain a deeper understanding of a text when they make authentic connections. However, teachers need
to know how to show students how a text connects to their lives, another text they have read, or the world
around them. In this strategy guide, you will learn how to model text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world
connections for your students so that they may begin to make personal connections to a text on their own.

2. Text – to – Text connections

3.Visualization

• Visualization refers to our ability to make visual representations in our minds while reading. Some
people think of it as making videos or movies in our heads.
• Visualization helps readers engage in text in ways that make it memorable and personable. When
students create pictures in their minds, they become more involved with the text.
• Visualization stimulates the imagination, enhances involvement with the text, and improves mental
imagery
 • Students are taught visual, sequential steps for putting details together to get the main idea. By using prior

knowledge and background experiences, readers connect the author’s writing with a personal picture.
• Through guided visualization, students learn how to create mental pictures as they read.
They use sensory images like sounds, physical sensations, smells, touch, and emotions described in the
story to help them picture the story.

4. Inferring

• Inference can be defined as the process of drawing of a conclusion based on the available evidence plus
previous knowledge and experience.
• In teacher-speak, inference questions are the types of questions that involve reading between the lines.
• Students are required to make an educated guess, as the answer will not be stated explicitly.
• Students must use clues from the text, coupled with their own experiences, to draw a logical conclusion
• Students begin the process of learning to read with simple decoding. From there, they work towards
full comprehension of the text by learning to understand what has been said, not only through what is
explicitly stated on the page, but also through what the writer has implied. It is this ability to read what
has been implied that the term inference refers to for example, if we come across sentences such as: He
placed his hand firmly on her back and ushered her hurriedly out the door. “Yes, yes, yes. I will call you
soon to set up another meeting. I will!” George said, punctuating the end of his sentence with a firmly
shut door.”
In this extract the writer does not explicitly state that the man in the story wants to get rid of the person
he is addressing. He does, however, imply this is the case through the action the he describes. Reading
this correctly is to infer. To imply is the throw, to infer is the catch.

5.Questioning
• Questioning is a

strategy that readers use to engage with the text.

• Questioning techniques help the reader to clarify and comprehend what he is reading.
• Effective questioning should be practiced before, during, and after reading.
• When readers ask questions before they read a text, they are activating prior knowledge and making
predictions.
Both of these activities engage the child’s interest and increase the likelihood that he will connect
with the text and comprehend it. Questioning during reading can take the form of self-questioning,
questioning the text, or questioning the author.
• It creates a dialogue in the child’s mind as he reads.
• Asking questions after reading the text can stimulate critical analysis and further research on the topic.
• Effective reading teachers understand the value of questioning as an active reading strategy. They take
measures to ensure that all their students know how to ask questions in order to better comprehend what
they read.

6. Determining Importance

• Determining importance is a strategy that readers use to distinguish between what information in a text
is most important versus what information is interesting but not necessary for understanding.
• This practical reading strategy enables students to distinguish between the most and least important
information presented in textbooks and nonfiction reading
Although teachers find this strategy difficult for many students to accurately execute, it is essential to
comprehending complicated nonfiction text. As teachers we need to explicitly and systematically teach
our students how to extract the most important information they read.
• In order to help students, build their skill and confidence in this strategy, we must provide explicit
instruction and ample opportunities for guided practice. This systematic instruction will give students
many opportunities to practice before they are required to use the strategy independent

7. Synthesizing

• Synthesizing is one of the most challenging reading strategies for students to master, simply because it
requires students to use multiple skills and strategies together. In fact, the prefix “syn” means together.
 • Synthesizing a text
is the
process of pulling together background knowledge, newly learned ideas, connections, inferences and
summaries into a complete and original understanding of the text.
• When students synthesize, they are made aware of how their thinking changes and evolves as they read a
text
• It’s important that we teach our students to synthesize. We want them to do more than just provide a
retelling of a text that they read.
Instead, we want them to internalize it and grow and change as thinkers because of the texts that they
read
To do this, students need to stop often to evaluate and reflect on what they are reading.

Through synthesizing, readers form new ideas and opinions.

IV- Self – Test

V- Learning Activity
INSTRUCTION: Compare the basic concepts of traditional and 21st century literacies and skills with the use
of Venn Diagram
Basic concepts of traditional literacies 21st century literacies and skill

VI. Assessment / Reflection

INSTRUCTION: Make a reflection on simplified ideas, information showing the attributes of 21st
literacies visually presented through the different graphic organizers
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VII. Feedback:
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VIII. Post -Test

Test on: Basic Strategies for Developing Literacy
INSTRUCTION: Encircle the letter of the correct answer.
IX- References:
• https://www.teachhub.com/teaching strategies/2019/10/top-5-teaching-strategies/
• http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/making-connections
• https://sites.google.com/a/alaska.edu/diane-kardash/Home/making-connections
• https://www.redesignu.org/design-lab/skills/text-self-text-text-text-world-connections