How to Build and Activate Background Knowledge Fortunately, there’s an easy and effective solution: provide students with the background knowledge they need comprehend the books they are reading, and help them activate what they do know. Before students start reading, they benefit immeasurably from a quick overview of the reading journey ahead—easily and efficiently accomplished through quick two- to three- minute teacher book talks, picture walks through a book with illustrations, DVD clips, slide shows, vocabulary introduction and definitions, and interactive discussion. (“What do we already know about this topic?”) All of these strategies can play a role in helping students fill knowledge gaps, enabling them to create the schema they need to process and comprehend new information (Duke, et al., 2011). Additionally, if students are facing particularly challenging content, a history textbook for example, reading historical trade books first may help. The easier, engaging reading builds background knowledge that will ease students’ way into the more challenging textbook. The Benefits of the “Think Aloud” Students may not relate to texts that they encounter in school or believe that these texts belong to them. Students may view school texts, remote from their experience or knowledge, as something they must memorize and then forget. Sadly, this view hinders simple comprehension because successful readers must connect their personal knowledge to every text. A simple way to encourage students to connect their background to text is to model a think aloud. Teachers demonstrate think alouds by reading the text aloud as they normally would, and then pausing now and then to ask themselves questions about the text. When students observe teachers asking questions and demonstrating a reflective demeanor, they begin to realize what it is to read. It is more than words on a page; it is one’s interaction with the text that makes reading come to life. Teachers may ask the students to think aloud in pairs, teams, or, as they gain confidence as reflective readers, as individuals. It can be slow, but students see between the lines, insert themselves into the scene, and discover reading. This constant use of background knowledge is a vital enabler of reading comprehension (Scharer et al., 2018; Yudowitch, Henry, and Guthrie, 2008; Wilhelm, 2012). Closing Thoughts Helping students acquire the information they need to process a new text often happens most effectively during pre-reading. Providing students with information relevant to a text or making students aware of already known, relevant information improves their comprehension (Shanahan, 2012). As Hampton and Resnick (2008) note, “In the subjects studied in school, prior knowledge of the subject is fundamental for acquiring new knowledge. It is fundamental to comprehending texts.”
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BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
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