Activating Prior Knowledge (Schema)

I came across an interesting technique in helping students monitor their own comprehension. While reading independently, students place a sticky note labeled with a question mark to indicate areas of the text they didn't understand. Placing a sticky with PS signals a place where the student was able to problem solve to improve comprehension. S indicates the reader was surprised at this point in the text, W=I wish I could write like this, and T means I need to talk to someone. Teachers use these sticky notes as a basis for reading conferences with individual students. The authors of Mosaic suggest using think alouds to introduce metacognitive strategies. Teachers should carefully select a text, previewing it to identify key concepts and themes, connections that can be made, and places to pause and think aloud. Prior knowledge includes making connections to self, text and world as well as knowledge of the author's writing style. Emphasis should be placed on how prior knowledge aids comprehension and how schema changes by what is read. Keene and Zimmerman feel that teachers should focus on one skill for six to eight weeks before moving on to another. During that time, responsibility is gradually released to students. I discovered an updated edition of Mosaic called Mosaic of Thought: the Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction.