K
stands for Know
This first stage
may surprise you:
Think first about, then list,
what you know
about the topic.
This advanced
organizer provides
you with a
background to the
new material,
building a
scaffold to
support it.
Think
of it as a
pre-reading
inventory.
- Brainstorm!
Before looking at
the text, think of
keywords, terms, or
phrases about the
topic, either in
your class or a
study group.
- Record these in the
K column of
your chart until you
cannot think of
more.
- Engage your group in a discussion about what you wrote in
the K column.
- Organize the entries
into general
categories.
W
stands for Will
or Want
The second stage
is to list a
series of
questions of what
you want to know
more of the subject, based upon what you listed in K.
- Preview the text’s
table of contents,
headings, pictures,
charts etc.
Discuss what you
want to learn
- List
some thoughts on
what you want, or
expect to learn, generally or
specifically.
Think
in terms of what you
will learn, or what
do you want to learn
about this.
- Turn
all sentences into
questions before
writing them down.
They
will help you focus
your attention
during reading.
- List
the questions by
importance.
L stands
for Learned
The final stage is to answer your
questions,
as well
as to list what
new information
you have learned.
Either while
reading or after
you have finished.
- List out what you
learn as you read,
either by section, or after
the whole work, whichever is comfortable for you.
- Check it against the
W column, what you
wanted to learn
- Create symbols to
indicate main ideas,
surprising ideas,
questionable ideas,
and those you don’t
understand!
Expand this exercise beyond K W L:
Add an H!
Stands for HOW you can
learn more.
- Pose new questions
about the topic
- How can I learn more
or answer questions
not answered in my
worksheet
These include other
sources of information, including: organizations,
experts, tutors, websites, librarians, etc.
What’s
missing?
Another strategy is to answer the questions that form
the basis of good journalism:
Who What When Where Why and How (5 W's and an H)
Who are the main characters?
What does the author say happened?
Where did the action occur?
When did it happen or what is the span of time?
Why did this happen?
How did it happen?
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.
Kipling, Rudyard. (1902). The Elephant's
Child. In The Kipling Society. Retrieved August
14, 2007, from
http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_serving.htm.
See also:
Ogle, D.M. (1986,
February). K-W-L:
A Teaching Model
That Develops
Active Reading of
Expository Text.
The Reading
Teacher, 39(6),
564–570. doi:
10.1598/RT.39.6.11
Mooney, Margaret. (October 1990). "Reading To, With, and By
Children." Richard C. Owen Pubs., Inc. SBN:
0913461180
ISBN-13:
9780913461181
Suggests adding a
fifth column, H, for How to learn more.
Huffman, L. E. (1998). Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 41(6), 470-472. Combine focus
questions (5 W and 1 H) with K-W-L.
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