The Directed Reading Activity is a strategy that provides students with instructional support before, during, and after reading. The teacher takes an active role as he or she prepares students to read the text by pre-teaching important vocabulary, eliciting prior knowledge, teaching students how to use a specific reading skill, and providing a purpose for reading.
During reading, the teacher asks individual students questions about the text to monitor their comprehension. After reading, the teacher engages students in a discussion focusing on the purpose for reading, and follow-up activities that focus on the content of the text and the specific skill that students learned to use.
When you've completed the activity, write a summary and reflective analysis of the experience. Your summary should be at least 250-300 words and should be a description of how you completed the activity. Your reflective analysis should also be 250-300 words and should be your personal reflection of how the activity went. You should be answering questions like: What did you like about the DRA? What did you not like? Would you use this type of activity in your classroom on a regular basis? Why or why not? Is there
anything you would change and do differently? If so, what? How did you find this assignment to be beneficial or non-beneficial?
If you are not currently teaching, arrange to conduct this activity with at least 3 children. Please be sure to follow the direction on the template in order to receive full credit for the assignment.
Purpose: Directed Reading Activity serves several purposes:
Teaches word identification skills.
Elicits students' prior knowledge of the topic of the text.
Teaches specific reading skills.
Sets a purpose for reading.
Encourages students to monitor their comprehension while they are reading.
How to Use Directed Reading Activity
Choose a text. This strategy is intended to be used with expository texts.
Select vocabulary words from the text to be pre-taught. The words you choose should be critical to comprehension of the passage and unfamiliar to most, if not all students. Vocabulary should be taught in context. Write the words on the board in sentences taken directly from the text. As a class, discuss what the words might mean based on the context, structure (e.g. prefixes, roots, or suffixes), and/or sound (e.g. deciding if the word sounds like another familiar word) of the word.
Elicit prior knowledge on the topic of the text. Ask students, "What do you already know about _______?" or "What experiences do you have with ________?"
Teach students a skill that will help them comprehend the text. The skill you choose will depend on the text. For example, if the text your students will be reading compares two different things, you might focus on the skill of compare/contrast. If the text is an editorial, you might talk about how to identify fact from the author's opinion.
Give students a concrete purpose for reading. For example, "Read pages 283-287 to find out what a tide pool is."
Have students read silently. Be available for questions as students read. Walk around the room asking individual students comprehension questions.
After students have finished reading, ask the purpose-setting statement as a question. For example, ask, "What is a tide pool?"
Encourage a discussion that grows from students' comments and questions.
Engage students in follow-up activities. These activities should be designed to reinforce both the content of the text and the skill that students learned. Activities might include writing activities, further reading, art projects, group mapping activities, etc.