Concept Ladder
1. What is a Concept Ladder?
A Concept Ladder is a literacy support tool that guides students to ask questions about a specific topic and guides students’ reading to better understand the text. This is set up in a graphic organizer type format. A concept ladder is used to get students to develop a deeper understanding of the topic. The ladder is set up just like a traditional ladder, but it has a big box or “rung” in order for the students to write in. The topic will go in the top “rung”. The questions may be given to the students already, or the students can come up with their own questions. If this is done as a pre-reading strategy, the students can come up with their own questions based off of their background knowledge of the topic, or the teacher can put the questions on the ladder for the students to answer. As a post-reading strategy, the students can come up with questions that they might have that were not answered. A lot of times to make this more advanced for students, they questions have to be related to Bloom’s Taxonomy. This strategy would best be used in either Science or Social Studies.
2. Why would I teach this strategy?
It is so important for students to be able to generate background knowledge on a topic before they begin reading about it. When students generate questions before reading, they will be able to establish a purpose for reading. When readers develop their own questions about a text, they have already thought about the upcoming reading. When this happens, they are able to make connections with their own background knowledge related to the content, or texts that they have already read and information that they have previously learned. After reading, students will be able to generate questions that they expect will be asked in future reading or research on this topic. If you use this the advanced way with Bloom’s Taxonomy, then the students will become critical thinkers. Getting students to think critically is important because it helps expand their thinking.
3. How would I teach this strategy?
I would teach this as a pre-reading strategy while doing a Science lesson in the 5th grade. I would first explain to the students that we are going to be learning about The Solar System. I will hand out concept ladders to the class, and explain to them that this concept ladder will be used before reading so we can generate any questions that we might have before learning about our topic of The Solar System. Then, I will show the students that the topic “Solar System” would go in the first rung of the ladder. Then, they have to generate questions in the rest of the rungs about The Solar System. I will give them some times to generate these questions and then I would have them do a pair/share activity to share their questions with classmates and myself. When they have shared their questions, I will tell them that I am going to read the book “The Solar System for Children” by HarperCollins Publishers. I will tell them that they would have to pay very close attention to see if the book answered any of their questions. Then, I would read the book to the class. After I finished reading the book, I would ask the students if the book answered any of their questions, and we would have a discussion. I will explain to the students that were are going to do some further research and a project on The Solar System. I would explain to the students that in the next day or so, we would use this concept ladder again, but we would use the advanced one to create questions that we would like answered in our future research.
Credit to: Amanda Dignon
1. What is a Concept Ladder?
A Concept Ladder is a literacy support tool that guides students to ask questions about a specific topic and guides students’ reading to better understand the text. This is set up in a graphic organizer type format. A concept ladder is used to get students to develop a deeper understanding of the topic. The ladder is set up just like a traditional ladder, but it has a big box or “rung” in order for the students to write in. The topic will go in the top “rung”. The questions may be given to the students already, or the students can come up with their own questions. If this is done as a pre-reading strategy, the students can come up with their own questions based off of their background knowledge of the topic, or the teacher can put the questions on the ladder for the students to answer. As a post-reading strategy, the students can come up with questions that they might have that were not answered. A lot of times to make this more advanced for students, they questions have to be related to Bloom’s Taxonomy. This strategy would best be used in either Science or Social Studies.
2. Why would I teach this strategy?
It is so important for students to be able to generate background knowledge on a topic before they begin reading about it. When students generate questions before reading, they will be able to establish a purpose for reading. When readers develop their own questions about a text, they have already thought about the upcoming reading. When this happens, they are able to make connections with their own background knowledge related to the content, or texts that they have already read and information that they have previously learned. After reading, students will be able to generate questions that they expect will be asked in future reading or research on this topic. If you use this the advanced way with Bloom’s Taxonomy, then the students will become critical thinkers. Getting students to think critically is important because it helps expand their thinking.
3. How would I teach this strategy?
I would teach this as a pre-reading strategy while doing a Science lesson in the 5th grade. I would first explain to the students that we are going to be learning about The Solar System. I will hand out concept ladders to the class, and explain to them that this concept ladder will be used before reading so we can generate any questions that we might have before learning about our topic of The Solar System. Then, I will show the students that the topic “Solar System” would go in the first rung of the ladder. Then, they have to generate questions in the rest of the rungs about The Solar System. I will give them some times to generate these questions and then I would have them do a pair/share activity to share their questions with classmates and myself. When they have shared their questions, I will tell them that I am going to read the book “The Solar System for Children” by HarperCollins Publishers. I will tell them that they would have to pay very close attention to see if the book answered any of their questions. Then, I would read the book to the class. After I finished reading the book, I would ask the students if the book answered any of their questions, and we would have a discussion. I will explain to the students that were are going to do some further research and a project on The Solar System. I would explain to the students that in the next day or so, we would use this concept ladder again, but we would use the advanced one to create questions that we would like answered in our future research.
Credit to: Amanda Dignon