What procedures might Ms. Lin suggest?

Page 4: Develop Background Knowledge

Mr. Carter wants to teach a writing strategy to help his students to more consistently complete their written assignments. He follows Ms. Lin’s recommendation and introduces the first instructional stage of the Self-Regulated Strategy Development Model—develop background knowledge. Doing so, Mr. Carter will:

Identify the skills students will need to use a particular strategy
Assess whether his students possess these skills
Help students develop the necessary skills (e.g., vocabulary) they may need to learn the academic and self-regulation strategy

Students’ pre-existing skills can be assessed in a number of ways, the simplest of which is for a teacher to ask his or her students to perform a task and observe what they can and cannot do. Teachers can also ask their students directly about what aspects of a task are the most difficult or whether there are some steps they are unable to carry out. Another good way to determine what skills students may need in order to implement a strategy is to perform a task analysis, which involves breaking down all of the steps needed to complete the strategy. Click here for an example of a task analysis. If Mr. Carter finds that his students lack the skills necessary to implement his writing strategy then he can begin to teach those specific skills.

In addition to developing their students’ background knowledge, teachers can introduce self-regulation strategies. Having assessed his students’ needs, Mr. Carter will begin with goal setting and self-monitoring. Listen below to Karen Harris talk about these two strategies.

Karen Harris, PhD
Division of Educational Leadership
and Innovation
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona