Front loading happens before the lesson. Kind of like an assessment, it sees what the students have in the way of prior knowledge. This can help the teacher know if she needs to go over anything further before the reading assignment. When front loading is used, it not only helps the teacher to see where the students are, it helps the students by giving them important information which will help them make the most of their assignment.
Front loading is also a way to engage students so that they want to read the material. Front loading can also teach students to dig deeper causing them to think critically. I might use front loading as an engagement activity to get the students attention. Showing the students a picture from a book we are about to read and see what they can figure out ahead of time about the story.
My question is: do you think students in elementary school get as much or more out of front loading than those in junior high or high school?
Tina,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, it made me think how useful frontloading could be to help remediate or enrich a lesson based on the students background knowledge. As students work through the frontloading exercise a teacher could circulate and break students out into groups for the main lesson so that each group can get appropriately engaging work and the teacher can focus on the group that needs more assistance with building their knowledge regarding the topic being covered.
Yes, I like the idea of group work. So many times when teacher put students into groups they split them in ways that cause one or two students to do the work and the rest just sit without participating. If the students were on the same level this would help get them to thinking about the topic at hand. Great idea!
DeleteGreat post. John a like how you mentioned splitting students into groups based on their understanding. I think that would be an efficient way to help each student and to meet individual needs.
ReplyDeleteTina I do think that frontloading can be utilized in lower levels. There are always opportunities to expand on a students prior knowledge and to build their direct experience so they can process the new information successfully.
I like your idea about showing a picture for frontloading. It goes back to how we talked that many things can be "read" as "texts." For example, I could show a theatrical performance to get my students talking. Maybe there are films or cartoons you could take advantage of?
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