Alphabox

Researcher: L. Hoyt
Description: The Alphabox technique is supported by the word knowledge component of the
Shanahan Framework. This technique is a way for students to collect important vocabulary
alphabetically with a graphic organizer. A box for each letter of the alphabet makes up the
graphic organizer. Students can write each vocabulary word in a box containing the letter that
corresponds with the first letter of that vocabulary word.
Using this technique will help students in the following ways: The alphabox can be used as a
reference for student as they take notes, write their connections to content, and share their
reflections. Collecting important vocabulary and referring back to what theyve recorded in their
alphabox helps students to focus on what theyve collected and how they can use their word
knowledge to comprehend the concepts being taught.
How this technique works: The alphabox works by frontloading vocabulary, words we must
know to communicate effectively. We cant effectively teach our content and support
comprehension of readings without vocabulary/word knowledge.
How to introduce and use in my classroom: I would start students off with a set of vocabulary
words that will be important to their understanding of the unit. Using this set of vocabulary
words, I will model how I would like them to use their alphaboxes to categorize important
vocabulary alphabetically in the corresponding boxes provided on the graphic organizer. I would
use this technique on a daily basis, encouraging students to search for new words to add to their
alphaboxes that will be important to their understanding of the content being taught.
How to assess student use of this technique: As they collect vocabulary, I will have them
explain their reasoning for adding each word to their alphabox. I can further assess their use of
the alphabox by using what theyve collected as a review of the unit.

Asking Questions
Researcher: Raphael & Yopp
Description: Asking Questions is supported by the comprehension component of the Shanahan
Framework, and involves asking questions before, during, and after reading. Strategic readers
focus on the reading through questioning to have a clearer understanding of the text. They
preview text features to generate questions before reading, search for answers and develop new
questions while reading, and ask questions after reading to reflect on what they learned and what
they may still be struggling with.
Using this technique will help students in the following ways: Asking questions helps students
to be more strategic readers that are engaged with the text by giving purpose to what they are
reading. Research has shown that overall comprehension improves as well when students ask
questions before, during, and after reading.
How this technique works: Asking questions is a technique that strategic readers use when they
read, giving purpose to the reading as they search for answers and develop new questions. They
keep track of what has been answered, and understand the possibility that not all of their
questions will be answered by the text. Students that finish reading a text with unanswered
questions may then make inferences from the text for plausible answers to their remaining
questions. They may also ask questions of themselves, reflecting on their comprehension.
How to introduce and use in my classroom: I will first model how asking questions can give
purpose to a nonfiction article related to the content being taught. Before reading I will have my
students scan and skim for text features that might indicate the text is interesting. I will also have
them scan for vocabulary that may be difficult to understand, and ask questions to give purpose
to their reading. During reading I will have students make predictions, reread, look up words
they dont understand, and ask questions to encourage engagement in the text. I will discuss the
importance of asking questions with students, and how this strategy can help them to understand
the readings on a deeper level.
How to assess student use of this technique: After reading I will have students summarize,
synthesize, and ask questions, including, What did I learn from this? and What do I need
more support with? Their reflections will help me to assess their comprehension of the text
through asking questions.

Double-Entry Journal
Researcher: Chris Tovani &Vaughn
Description: A Double-Entry Journal (DEJ) is a two-column journal, supported by the
comprehension and writing components of the Shanahan Framework. The left column is for
student notes from the reading. The right column is for their connection to the reading.
Using this technique helps students in the following ways: DEJs are an opportunity for
students to become better note-takers, which increases their focus on comprehension. The
importance of good note-taking is revealed in the research that there is a 45% difference on test
scores between good and bad note takers. Harnessing their note-taking skills increases their
reading skills, helping them to understand reading assignments and organize what they learn in
class.
How this technique works: A completed DEJ serves as a resource for students to refer to for
later use in the class. They might draw upon their connections and learnings from what they read
to compose essays or support understanding of assignments. The DEJ is a starting point for
learning that gets students thinking about their thinking. As students write down their
connections to an assigned reading in their DEJ, they are thinking about and finding words to
explain their learning, how they understand, and what that learning involves.
How to introduce and use in my classroom: I would hand out DEJs the first couple of weeks
of class, gradually releasing students to develop the DEJs on their own. To encourage note-taking
I might say, Write this down. I would ask my students to take notes in one column and write
their connection to what they learned in the other column. Using their notes and connections I
would then have them write a summary of their learning.
How to assess student use of this technique: Collect students DEJs and read through their
notes, connections, and summaries to assess their use of the DEJ as a note-taking and writing to
learn tool. What theyve written will help me to gauge their comprehension of what was being
taught.

Environmental Print
Researchers: Gunn, Simmons, & Kameenui
Description: The materials that you post in your classroom for students to connect with what is
being studied. Environmental print is supported by the word knowledge component of the
Shanahan Framework, and is essential for connecting prior knowledge to a lesson.
Using this technique helps students in the following ways: When the students word
knowledge is transportable academic success is possible. Displaying vocabulary on the wall can
help students as they learn to use the words and make connections to new concepts.
How this technique works: Principles for effective vocabulary instruction include students
being immersed in vocabulary. Teachers and students reconstruct the classroom to represent a
book or a theme that the class has studied with written materials so that students can live in the
lesson. The room arrangement should encourage repeated opportunities to interact with literacy
materials and activities to practice skills that students are learning (Gunn, Simmons, &
Kameenui, 1995). Research has shown that it takes an exposure of 15-18 times to own a word.
Environmental print is a way to expose students to vocabulary every day. This repeated exposure
encourages skills that are more automatic.
How to introduce and use in my classroom: I will have environmental print posted in my
classroom to allow easy visual access to high-frequency words for all students in the room. What
I put on the walls will always be supportive of what is being taught in that class. Content will be
a part of the students surroundings to help them with word knowledge and comprehension.
How to assess student use of this technique: Have them share what theyve learned using their
surroundings as reference points to support their reflection.

Fast-mapping
Researcher: L. Barcus
Description: Fast-mapping involves following unfamiliar words with a definition or synonym
that students can connect prior knowledge to. This technique is supported by the word
knowledge component of the Shanahan Framework.
Using this technique helps students in the following ways: My job is to use techniques that
help kids to understand vocabulary so that they can use it effectively to understand readings.
Owning a word increases self-efficacy, or a students belief in their own ability. I just fastmapped! Yay! Fast-mapping can also be helpful for English Language Learners as a form of
explicit instruction to boost comprehension since they are challenged with an abundance of
multiple meaning words.
How this technique works: We can have all the materials and lessons, but the teacher is key to
making everything meaningful to the student. Fast-mapping gives meaning to new words using
repeated and multiple exposures to clarify context. According to Nagy & Anderson, The
number of words students need in their academic vocabulary skyrockets during their secondary
schooling years. Fast-mapping is a great way to expose students to new word during instruction,
following them with the appropriate synonym or a definition.
How to introduce and use in my classroom: As words arise in my teaching that need to be
given definition, I will follow the word with its definition as I say it or with a synonym that
students would recognize from prior knowledge. Making these connections to the prior
knowledge of my students to help them comprehend content is something that I will do every
time an unfamiliar word comes up. If we want students to acquire word knowledge, we need to
introduce vocabulary in meaningful ways.
How to assess student use of this technique: Make a vocabulary list from the words you fastmapped for students to analyze in a self-awareness chart. They will have the opportunity to
provide an example and definition of each word, and rate their comfort level for how well they
feel they know the word. This will highlight their understanding of what they know and what
they still need to learn to comprehend the content being taught.

Read Aloud
Researcher: Emily F. Calhoun
Description: A nonfiction read-aloud is simply reading aloud to your students. The purpose is to
focus on content and to build prior knowledge. Read-alouds teach fluency, comprehension, and
vocabulary while making connections to the text; all three are components of the Shanahan
Framework. Read-alouds can take the form of book recommendations by modeling enthusiasm
and enjoyment while engaging with the texts. This often leads to increased student engagement
with reading. Read-alouds are motivational in this way, and a great opportunity to model
strategic reading behaviors, including fluency attributes such as pace and smoothness. This can
be a great way to include the fluency component of the Shanahan Framework into your
classroom instruction while also supporting reading comprehension and word knowledge.
Using this technique helps in the following ways: Teacher and peer modeling of strategies are
critical to text comprehension. Research shows that Reading aloud increases test scores,
provides opportunities for extended discussions, connects readers with content area subjects, and
provides demonstrations of oral reading and fluency. Read-alouds make books accessible to at
promise readers and research shows this technique to be successful in engaging students and
encouraging critical thinking in content area instruction. Teachers can take on a multidimensional
approach to teaching, introducing nonfiction new articles, for example, that align with the
content being taught. This is supported by research, When students see their teachers reading a
variety of genres, they begin to see possibilities in their own literate lives.
How this technique works: This technique encourages comprehension and gradually releases
responsibility to the students with the goal of them knowing more about what is being taught
than when they started. Making connections to prior knowledge, encouraging active listening,
reading a passage, and asking students to respond and apply what they learned is a read-aloud
sequence that helps students to comprehend the content presented in the reading. Our long-term
goal is for students to use similar text as learners and independent readers.
How to introduce and use in my classroom: I would use this technique to help my students
learn science by reading to them from a nonfiction science article. I would ask them to be active
listeners for key concepts. After reading a selected passage, I would have the students list the
concepts they listened for during the reading. When you are looking for good models to share
and discuss with your students, look for passages that address concepts that fit into curriculum
content across disciplines; and passages that are well-written, especially in terms of how the
author announced and supported his/her major points. I will select readings that align with the
content Im teaching and are appropriate for student interests. I will practice the reading selection
to be sure Im accurately modeling fluent reading, and engage the students with guided inquiry.

How to assess student use of this technique: The purpose is for students to know more about a
topic from when they started. Sharing reveals diversity in the way reading is comprehended. I
would have students share the key concepts they listened for during the read-aloud.

Quick Write
Researcher: Brandenburg, Brozo, & Simpson
Description: Quick writes are a technique in which students write for a short, specific amount of
time about a designated topic related to the current content being taught. These opportunities for
writing can be an informal way for engaging students in thinking about an upcoming topic for a
lesson or could be a formative assessment of their understanding of concepts addressed in
previous lessons. Quick writes are supported by the writing component of the Shanahan
Framework, and embrace writing to learn as a useful strategy across content areas. Writing to
learn is a technique that gets students thinking critically about the content, serving as a starting
point for learning or as a formative assessment.
Using this technique helps in the following ways: Quick writes provide all students with a
nonthreatening opportunity to respond to inquiry. The purpose is to help students think through
the end of their pen. Getting their thoughts on paper encourages higher-order thinking and
engagement. This increases reading skills and helps students to recognize the importance of
reflecting on their own thinking. The critical thinking and creativity that takes place serves as a
catalyst for further learning and meaning-making. The benefits of writing to learn include
writing being the closest thing we have to increase the rigors of learning.
How this technique works: We recall only 5% of what we dont write down and quick writes
give students an opportunity to put their thoughts in writing. Writing is a tool for thinking and is
necessary for effective teaching. Quick writes are used to stimulate discussion, monitor overall
understanding of a class, provide review for the students, or reinforce learning of information
that students havent mastered. At promise readers have an opportunity to express themselves
through their writing because Not being able to speak is different from not having something to
say. Quick writes demand participation from every student, not just those who volunteer and
getting students writing through quick writes encourages critical thinking as they are introduced
to new concepts or review previous lessons. These could be in the form of admit slips, exit slips,
or part of a think ink pair share strategy as well.
How to introduce and use in my classroom: I would give students one minute to write out their
thoughts, focusing on what they learned and not on punctuation. I would use this technique at the
beginning of every class to keep students engaged and not waste any class time. I would have the
topic of their quick write up on the board for them to get started on right away while I take
attendance. The first 10 min. are important and a quick write could be useful in engaging the kids
immediately so that no class time is wasted. I would collect their quick writes as admit slips and
assign an effort or completion score along with feedback to encourage and support writing to
learn. Admit slips are a form of WTL that I can use in my science classroom to make connections
to background knowledge, identify student interests and predictions and help students to get their
thoughts on paper.

How to assess student use of this technique: Quick writes would be a formative assessment,
allowing me to collect data on students abilities to think critically. Its difficult to assess critical
thinking without having students write or explain aloud. Having students respond to contentbased writing prompts provides me with responses that I can read and get a good feel for whos
catching on, whos ready to move on, and who needs additional assistance in order to be ready
for whats coming next. I will use writing to learn in my classroom on a daily basis as a
formative assessment to give me a better understanding of student learning and to inform my
instruction.

Visualizing
Researcher: M. Pressley
Description: Visualizing is a way to help students comprehend what they read, and so it is
supported by the comprehension component of the Shanahan Framework. This technique
involves students making a picture in their mind. Its like seeing a movie in your head.
Visualizing is a strategy that helps us to visualize the text and better understand what were
reading by creating pictures in our mind from background knowledge making abstract material
more concrete.
Using this technique helps in the following ways: When students can draw from what they
already know, making sense of new material is not as challenging. Visualizing is critical
because it is often the image that makes the text vibrant and alive. The emotional responses
(seeing, hearing) often hook kids.
How this technique works: Background knowledge plays an important role in learning content
material, and is used by students to help them visualize text. Strategic readers use the authors
descriptive words to make pictures and movies in their mind. Readers are asked by the author
to see, hear and feel certain things. In order to do this, they need to combine their prior
knowledge with the descriptive language in the text to create images in their mind. The strategy
requires readers to be proactive.
How to introduce and use in my classroom: I would use this technique to help students picture
content from a non-fiction article related to the content being taught. I would want them to have
an opportunity to make abstract concepts more concrete by drawing upon their background
knowledge to construct a picture in their mind and transfer it to paper. I would read a passage to
them containing descriptive words that they can draw out of the reading to use in their
visualizing. I would gradually release the responsibility to them to read a passage on their own
and identify descriptive words to again make a picture.
How to assess student use of this technique: I would provide the students with graphic
organizers to draw their visualizations in designated sections. I would collect these visualizations
to use as a formative assessment of whether they were drawing upon background knowledge and
the descriptive words in the reading to visualize the content or if they seemed to be struggling
with this comprehension strategy.