Strategy 4

Your Name: Erin Mcintosh

Name of Strategy: Alphaboxes/Pair-n-Share                         

 Source: West Virginia Department of Education     

 Link:   http://wvde.state.wv.us/strategybank/AlphaBoxes2.html

Description: Alphaboxes is a very useful and versatile strategy.  It can be used for vocabulary, comprehensions, recall, and many other things.  Basically you have a worksheet with square boxes labeled with the alphabet letters.  There is one letter in each box except for letters not commonly used, they usually share a box. For vocabulary purposes you could have students to list words that they already know that deal with the topic you are discussing, then as the unit continues they can add more words so that they have their own personal word wall.  For comprehension you could have students read a passage and highlight or underline words that are important in the text.  Then give them the alphboxes sheet and have them read the passage again placing the highlighted words into the boxes.  You could then have them choose two or three words that are the most important in the entire text and have them tell why they chose those words. For recall or summarizing, you could have them read first and then try to fill in the boxes without using the text to help them. For any of these you could then pair students up and let them share with one another and get words they may not have had before.

SCOS: Family and Consumer Science for me but could be used in any curriculum.

 

Why will this work and how will it help students to learn?

This strategy makes students responsible for their own learning by having them choose words to place in the boxes.  For the vocabulary part, students will have sheets full of words to help them when writing, studying, or reviewing.  For comprehension, they have to justify reasons for choosing certain words to represent the passage they are reading and they have to be able to remember what they read in order to do that. For recall they have to be able to tell what they read and what they got out of it.  This is a different strategy than the old boring “read and answer questions”.  Students will be able to hold themselves responsible for their own learning and will be able to do it in a way that appeals to them.

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