Using KWL folders

Teaching Pre K-8, Jan 1999 by Glazer, Susan Mandel

A three-section folder to encourage an independent working environment for children.

Do feelings about learning have anything to do with success in school? You bet they do! Children, especially those with learning problems, respond to academic activities based on their feelings about school and learning.

Many children with learning problems experience academic failures and are often rejected. Feelings of inadequacy facilitate unhappiness and discouragement. Children develop a resistance to going to school, a reluctance to grow up and sometimes a defiance toward adult authority.

I remember the first time I cooked dinner for my parents. I chose to make a brisket-of-beef. My mother said, "Susan, all you do is put it in a pot, pour Heinz 57 Sauce on top and let it cook." My brisket was a failure. "Oh my goodness, Susan," my mother commented. "It's stringy, and the sauce is dried out! You cooked it too long." I never made brisket again.

Decisive structure. Minimal, indecisive instructions, like my mother's, can result in dried out, stringy writing - much like my brisket-of-beef. Specific formats for writing are essential for children who have difficulties organizing and completing projects. Once they're learned, children use these mental resources for many writing assignments.

KWL Strategy. One wonderful structure for writing research reports is my good friend Donna Ogle's KWL strategy (What I Know, What I Want to Know and What I Learned). This strategy has made it easier for teachers and children to write research and other types of reports.

Carol Satz, a reading specialist in the Center for Reading and Writing at Rider University, created a three-part folder which provides further structure for report writing.

The three-part folder permits children to move from one aspect of research and report writing to the next. The first section is labeled K and underneath the letter is "What I Know." The middle section is called W and "What I Want to Know" is written beneath it The third section is called L and cap tioned "What I Learned." (fig. 1)

An envelope is fastened to the back of the middle panel (the one called W) and labeled "Bibliography." (fig. 2) Carol makes a folder for each child working on a research project and one for herself. She introduces the KWL strategy by modeling the processes she uses to begin her report.

The following dialogue is excerpted from Assessment IS Instruction by Susan Mandel Glazer (Christopher-Gordon, Inc., 1998). Carol: "I've always loved tap dancing. I used to dance when I was little. My mother took me to dancing sch.oot and I liked tap the best So, I learned a lot about tap. " Pat: "My mom takes me to tapdancing, too. "

Carol: "Let's see. I know that Bill Robinson is the father of tap dancing in America His name was really Bill but I know that everyone called him Bo Jangles."

Pat: "My mom takes me to tap lessons. "

Teacher: "Do you know any famous tap dancer, Pat?"

Pat: "Yeah, I know about Shirley Temple. She tap-danced in the olden days."

Carol: "You're right I know that Shirley Temple was a star in the 1940s when she was a little girl I know, too, that Bo Jangles taught her how to dance.

Sally: "Oh, yeah. I saw a movie on TV and they were dancing together. Leonard "Sammy Davis, Jr. was a tan dancer."

And the dialogue continues as Carol, their teacher, writes on a large piece of easel paper titled "What I Know," each line contributed by a child and herself.

Carol: "I really want to know how tap dancing got invented."

Carol writes her last contribution on a new sheet of paper titled, "What I Want to Know."

This beginning activity in the research process should be carried out with a group of no more than 10 children. Limiting the number of children in group instruction allows time for each child to contribute.

Modeling. Carol collects several different resource books covering the topic and puts them into the classroom library. During an independent work period, she finds a book for herself and begins to research what she "wants to know." As she works, she speaks out loud to herself describing her actions. She writes information from the books on 5 x 7 index cards. Children watch and ask questions about Carol's actions as she works. Most of the children inevitably work on their research project as a result of observing their teacher's actions. When the teacher's finished, she/he monitors her progress, reviewing the "About My Research" checksheet and checks items as they are completed. (fig. 3)

Once the information is collected, a first draft can be written. Carol spreads out the index cards and sorts them into categories. She titles each category. When each child has categorized and sort.ed his or her cards, they gather at the easel to create a first draft.

The definitve structure and guidelines provided by the KWL folder permit all kinds of learners to write reports. Feelings about learning are heightened and self-esteem raised because children know how to proceed.

Susan Mandel Glazer is the Director of the Center for Reading and Writing at Rider University Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and a Teaching Editor with Teaching K-8.