Chapter 3: Preparation for Learning

It is unbelievably important to allow for adequate preparation time during a lesson in order to assess and build upon prior knowledge. Students must be able to make connections between known and new information to learn and this cannot be done without the teacher becoming aware of student’s previous knowledge of the subject being discussed. The text compares learning to basketball. More time and effort is exerted towards the preparation of a game, compared to the game itself. After the game has been played, coaches and players often review their performance, critique their mistakes, and apply these corrections to future games. The same goes for learning. Studies show that students with more background knowledge on the topic being read tend to better comprehend the reading. Preparing for learning should be a permanent aspect in every lesson plan.

Preparing for learning includes assessing and building upon the prior knowledge of the students. Understanding what students do and do not know is crucial for student success because students with limited or misguided prior knowledge are at a disadvantage unless they are able to develop a more accurate and rich background of the future topic. Many strategies can be implemented to prepare students for learning but a few include; rewriting text, analogies, story impressions, K-W-L Activity, anticipatory guide, and pre-learning concept check. Many of these strategies can be used in any of the PAR categories but they are directed towards the “Preparing” category for the sake of this chapter. Students who have a limited or misconstrued prior knowledge of a subject can greatly benefit from writing previews and rewritten text. These two strategies allow students to be aware of the key concepts within the text and the strategies allow students to comprehend the original text by offering the information in a different way. Analogies help students make comparisons and relate information to real-life experiences. Graphic organizers and story impressions allow students to visualize and predict the story so they are more motivated and interested in the material. I believe “preparing for learning” strategies should be used within every lesson. Not only because the strategies motivate and inform students but because awareness of prior knowledge is important for both the student and the teacher. The absence of prior knowledge, in regards to a specific topic, can be extremely frustrating for the student and lead to lack of interest.