AVID and National Geographic are partnering for the 2022–2023 school year to develop critical reading lessons. This partnership will allow AVID to provide highly engaging and rigorous content through disciplinary literacy—an emphasis on the shared ways of reading, writing, speaking, and thinking within a particular content area or academic field.
In this critical reading lesson, students will examine the interactive text “Lake Tours”—which is written by Beth Geiger and focuses on science and social studies—through Depth and Complexity Thinking Tools to develop a Listicle. This lesson uses the WICOR® (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, Reading) methodology and strategies from AVID’s curriculum library and is designed for a variety of learning environments.
Learning Objectives
- Students will engage in pre-reading discussion and note-taking.
- Students will closely read and annotate the text using comprehension tools.
- Students will collaboratively share their thinking about the text through words and images.
What You’ll Need
- National Geographic interactive content:
- AVID Elementary Weekly lesson
- Additional resources can be found on the AVID Elementary Weekly website by subscription only.
Activate
Establish a purpose for reading, build background knowledge, and set students up for success.
Plan for reading by thinking through or having students respond to the following questions and identify how the chosen text fits within the broader context of your instructional unit so that students are making connections to their prior knowledge:
- How does the text fit into the overall instructional unit or overall learning experience?
- What technology skills and knowledge will students need to access the text and complete the academic task?
This text meets the following features of an ideal text:
- The length of this text lends itself to modeling how to identify and read an excerpt of a text to accomplish the reading purpose.
- This text is formatted for text interaction, either digital or on paper, to provide students with a place to capture their thinking, questions, a-ha! moments, and wonderings as part of the focused note-taking process.
Allow students an opportunity to set up their notes and record the Essential Question before engaging in the learning. Students will be using a 30-Second Expert strategy in this lesson.
Engage
Build vocabulary and engage in purposeful rereads. Vocabulary development can happen at any point in the reading process.
Students will build vocabulary using Flash Cards, looking at both academic and content-area words. They will process information in a first and second read of the text and engage in a purposeful reread using a Depth and Complexity Thinking Tools strategy.
Extend
Reading tasks should be directly connected to what students will do with the text after they have read and understand it.
Students will use the text to develop the Synthesize academic thinking skill. They will extend beyond the text by creating a Listicle.
*Explore the sample lesson and contact AVID Care by phone at (833) 284-3227 or by email at [email protected] for more information about AVID Weekly® and AVID Elementary Weekly.