FREE ESSAY ON THE ART OF TEACHING THE K-W-L APPROACH

THE ART OF TEACHING THE K-W-L APPROACH

The students background information is extremely important. What the child knows will give
them a better chance to develop understanding of the vocabulary and of their concepts. A
teacher can find out how much background information each student has by using the K-W-L
approach. This approach will not only let the teacher know what they already know, but
also what they want to learn about the subject and finally what they have learned though
their reading. A child that does not have a wide variety of background experiences to
draw from can learn from what the others are saying, though pictures, discussion, film,
filmstrips and if at all possible a field trip or a guest speaker to bring more meaning
to the subject. For example, if the class was beginning a unit on Farm Animals, the
teacher could ask what kind of animals live on a farm. They could read stories, look at
pictures, make a farm by choosing which animals they would want on their farm, bring in
different farm animals, bring in hay to use in the quiet area, have a farmer come and
talk to the class and take a trip to a farm. This way the students can see first hand
what a farm is, the animals that live their and how they live. Even though some students
will have been to a farm or have a knowledge on what a farm is, they can also learn more
from these experiences as well as those without first hand knowledge. The more
information that is given, the more print rich the environment is, the better off the
students will be.
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