If applying the prediction reading strategy for teaching sixth-grade students, one should teach them how to use the information provided in the text, concerning the issue of “what has happened”, to determine what is likely to happen next in the given text. In order to do this, it is possible for the teacher to use the “KWL” prediction reading strategy in the sixth-grade students’ classroom.
According to Donna Ogle, the creator of the KWL strategy, “KWL helps students become better readers of expository text and helps teachers to be more interactive in their teaching” (Carr, Ogle, 1986, p. 12). “KWL” is a special teaching approach that helps teachers to activate the prior knowledge of their students in any particular subject. This method also assists the teachers to encourage the students’ active reading and research.
It indeed works positively, as it awakes students’ interest in the topic by the representation of some prior clues and by the development of the idea in the students’ imagination. Thus, it is possible to state that the usage of the given approach would be fruitful in the auditorium of the sixth-grade students.
“KWL” operates with the help of the charts. It is important to note that such charts are really helpful in the prediction reading strategy when reading and analyzing the expository text with the students. This again proves that the “KWL” approach is the right one to use while teaching sixth-grade students, as the majority of the texts they are studying can be described as expository ones.
Making the strategy of the lesson with the above-mentioned group of students, one should concern the following charters. The “K” – the teacher should think over the issue of what the six – grade students already know. The “W” – the teacher should weigh on what the given category of students wants to learn. The “L” – the teacher considers the issue of what the students would learn if they read the text.
While communicating with the children, the teacher should use the charts: “KWL charts help students to be active thinkers while they read” (Carr, Ogle, 1987, p. 14). Therefore, the teacher has to give the students specific things to look for in the text. After that, the teacher asks the students to reflect on what they learned after reading the book and if their predictions were accurate. The teacher should perform each step aloud, maintaining the communication process with the students. Such a process is very exciting for the sixth-grade students and this again proves that the “KWL” method is the right one to use while working with the given age group.
If referring to the scholar Flavell J. and his interpretation of “KWL”, then it appears that “in learning, metacognition involves the active monitoring and conscious control and regulation of cognitive processes. It involves thinking about thinking, self-awareness, and self – regulation.” (Flavell, 1979, pp. 907 – 908). Thus, it is possible to state that the “KWL” approach is very effective in the work with the sixth – grade students as it implements self – questioning (that is very helpful for the given age group), so students are enabled to fully comprehend the required text.
It is easy to explain such a phenomenon, as when the students set their own purposes and ideas for reading, they become more active and motivated as readers. Simply saying, the “KWL” approach in the prediction reading, used by the teacher, enables the students to set their own reading objectives.
References
Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34, pp. 906-911.
Ogle, D. S. (1987). K-W-L group instructional strategy. In A. S. Palincsar, D. S. Ogle, B. E Jones, & E. G. Carr (Eds.). Teaching reading as thinking (Teleconference Resource Guide, pp. 11-17). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.