Learning Strategies
Learning Strategies are activities that help people use their own learning style to best approach new learning. The anticipation guide, interactive notebook and the transactional reading journals are all strategies which can be used before, during and after reading the text. The anticipation guide however, is normally used before and after reading. These strategies are student centered and cater to their learning needs.
What we already know determines to a great extent what we will pay attention to, perceive, learn, remember and forget (Woolfolk, 1998).Thus, a significant strategy that can be used is the anticipation guide. Often before even beginning to read a text we examine such things as the cover of pages, number of pages, print size and reviews. By doing these simple things our minds go into “anticipation mode”. An anticipation guide can be describe as an activity to help students predict the ideas that will be disclose in the text, it provides support to help them start engaging with the text. It can take the form of a series of statement where the students choose to agree or disagree.
Another strategy which can be used is the interactive notebook aimed at helping students summarize ideas, distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information and compare or contrast information by making the various connection among various text. As the name suggest each student has a spiral notebook which will be used to record information, each side of the note is used for different purposes. The right side is used to record notes on the lessons. The left side of the notebook is used for the individual interaction with information on the opposite page. These interactions can be used as a closing activity. This strategy can be a useful tool which helps students reflect on their metacognitive skill in processing information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bdm8C9zqYc&feature=related
Lastly, transactional reading journal as Louise Rosenblatt (1978) explains it, is reading as a transactional process that occurs between the text and the reader. Students may be given a list of possibilities for their journal entries in other to allow them to interact with the text on a regular basis. She argues that meaning is not fixed but is rather the transaction that occurs between the reader and the text. In writing journals students get the opportunity to examine and engage in the writers craft. Also, they are given opportunities to write reflection based on their understanding of the text and connect their experiences with that of the characters.
These three strategies all help enhance students reading and writing skills. It allows them to construct their own meaning of the text, enjoy the reading experience and maintains their interest in the process.
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