Literacy+Resources

David Cohn's Literacy Resources

Blank Templates used during Professional Development Workshops:


 * Document #1: This is a list of the 4 Ps as a refresher for teachers. These are __BEFORE__ READING/SOLVING activities to engage students. The first P is for prior knowledge- how can you tap into what the students already know about the topic and connect the new to the known. This can be a quick writing activity at the beginning of class. The second P asks students to scan pictures, captions, headings, subheadings, etc. and make a prediction about what they are about to read/learn. The third P sets the purpose for reading: what will you ask students to focus on while reading? The last P previews and defines a few of the vocabulary words students will encounter while reading.
 * Document #2: This is a pre-solving template for Math teachers to use with word problems.
 * Document #3: This is a blank anticipation guide. Before reading, the teachers comes up with a list of statements/questions about the upcoming topic and writes them in the middle column. Before reading/learning, students place an "A" for agree or a "D" for disagree in the left hand column next to each question or statement. While reading, students look for possible answers to these statement and after reading, fill in the agree/disagree chart on the right-hand side of the page. Based on new ideas and learnings, these may change from how they originally responded in the left column.
 * Document #4: Word Splash, another before reading activity (directions are on the page). While reading, students compare their original paragraph to the actual text to compare/contrast. After reading, teacher can ask students to use the same set of dictated words to write a summary of the text.
 * Document #5: Roundtable Alphabet: This is another before reading activity. Before introducing a new topic, students fill in as many letters of the alphabet based on their prior knowledge. For example, before learning about quadrilaterals, students might write Four-sided in the "F" box and Rectangle in the "R" box. While learning, students continue to add to the letter boxes until the entire alphabet is complete. Then, as a review, students can choose 4-6 words or phrases from the sheet to explain the topic at hand (similar to Word Splash)
 * Document #6: Vocabulary notebook: This is a great way to "unpack" vocabulary words and. instead of making tons of copies, students can keep a running list of words in their notebooks.
 * Document #7: Frayer Model: This is another good template for building vocabulary.
 * Document #8: Show/explain template for Math teachers
 * Document #9: Open-ended response template- This template forces students to provide evidence and examples to support their thoughts and to explain how each example supports their response.
 * Document #10: Q and A Chart- I've seen Science and SS teachers use this template with great success. In the left-hand column, students take headings from their textbook and turn them into a guiding question. In the middle column, while reading students write notes that correspond to each question. In the right-hand column, students write a detailed response to the question.