The K-W-H-L STRATEGY

The House on Mango Street

Purpose: The K-W-H-L Strategy is used to assess the students' prior knowledge, discover their interests in the subject, and engage them in an important topic from the novel that will ultimately give their reading more meaning. This strategy also encourages students to organize their thoughts as to what it is they want to learn, while inviting them afterwards to share their new knowledge with the class. Students will also learn to search for new information and will be introduced to a variety of vital source options, such as the Internet, library, film, literature, periodicals, etc.

Rationale: Cisneros' novel, The House on Mango Street, is a culturally rich description about life as a young Latin American. In order to appreciate the diverse qualities and characteristics of this novel, the students need to have some background on Latin American and its culture. This K-W-H-L strategy invites the students to brainstorm about what they already know concerning Latin America and its people, and later, analyze what specific details they want to learn and how they are going to learn them. This is a broad topic that covers literally all of Mexico, Central America and South America, and includes history as well as tradition, everyday life, politics, schooling and more. This activity is an effective way to engage the students in the subject of the novel, assess their interests, prepare them to ask questions, and teach them how to search and find answers.

STEP 1 The K-W-H-L Strategy is used as an introduction to the novel, The House on Mango Street. Hold up the novel up in front of the class and read the first chapter aloud. Ask the students what is unique to them about this novel (compared to other novels they have read on their own or in school). (Language - not Standard English, Grammar, again - not Standard, short chapters, Voice is of a young teenager, etc.) As you place the blank K-W-H-L chart on the overhead, explain that to better appreciate and understand a new novel, it is helpful to organize what we already know about the underlying theme or setting and make some goals concerning what we would like to learn. Explain that this novel is specifically about the life of a young Latin American. Point to the overhead and tell them, "In a minute we are going to separate into groups and make a list of what we already know about Latin America, what we want to learn, and some ideas of how we can go about finding this new information". Tell them that this activity is really important because as a class we are going to analyze and decide what it is we want to focus on for the next 3 weeks while reading the novel. Explain, "this activity will help us personalize the novel to our own class (each class will be different) and adopt some issues that we will follow and develop by further research and discussion as the novel progresses". (7 minutes)
*The purpose of the following 3 steps is to model. Don't let the discussion get too long or detailed because the students are going to get into groups and do this on their own. Keep this part simple by calling on one student that will answer the questions and keep it short. The entire modeling (steps 2, 3, & 4) should only take 10 minutes.

STEP 2 - Modeling First - it may be helpful to bring a world map, or borrow one from another department so that the students can have a visual image of what countries are considered Latin (tape on front board). Ask the class if anyone has ever visited a Latin American country. Call on one of them to tell where he/she went and a specific detail about what he/she noticed in that country. Write on the overhead in the first column, entitled "What I Know" the country that the student visited and one or two special things they remember (Question prompts: food, weather, people, dress, music).

STEP 3 - Modeling Next, ask that student if there is something more they would like to know about Latin America (or the country/culture they visited). If he/she doesn't know, open the question to the whole class, "What do you want to know more about Latin America" (call on one student). To help them get started model the questioning technique by asking, "I want to learn some general Spanish phrases, such as how to say hello, good-bye, and other conversational items". Write this in the second column, entitled "What I Want to Learn".

STEP 4 - Modeling Return to the original student and ask where they could go or what they could do to find out more about the area in question. If the student is timid, open the question to the class, they can help to offer ideas. An easy answer to your model question would be to consult the Spanish instructor in the high school and have him teach general Spanish phrases. Other answers could be, the library, a dictionary, the Internet, periodicals, the newspaper, Spanish students, etc. (12-15 minutes)

STEP 5 Divide the class into groups of four. Have a large sheet of butcher paper and a dark marker for each group. Instruct the students to spread their paper on the floor (horizontally) and write in the upper left hand corner the names of each group member. Next, they need to recreate the K-W-H-L chart from the overhead (blank). Tell them it is now their turn. As a group they need to list everything they already know about Latin America in the first column. Next, they need to list what new information they want to learn in the second column. Finally, writing in the third column they need specific and realistic plans of how they will find the answers for every question in column 2. Explain to the class that they will have 12-15 minutes to complete their charts.

STEP 6 After each group has completed their chart, have them post the butcher paper on the walls around the room. Back in their seats, once again place a blank K-W-H-L chart on the overhead; also, distribute a copy to each student. Go through each of the columns and ask the students to volunteer some of their favorite ideas that they came up with in their groups. Write these on the overhead, have the students fill out their charts as you go. (10 minutes)

STEP 7 After you have the chart completed, ask the class to look closely at the second column. As a class decide their 5 favorite "What I Want to Learn" items and circle them. Each group must choose one of these items to research and bring back to the class. Send around a sheet of paper for the groups to write their names, the subject they are going to research, and how/where they are going to go about it.

STEP 8 Determine a time schedule for each group (maybe 2 a week for the three weeks of the novel) and assign each group a due date. Explain that in addition to their short class presentation on their findings, they will need to make a computer-generated handout, a commercial, a poster, flashcards, or another creative form that will visually represent their findings. Also, as each group presents, the students will be responsible for recording in the final column of their individual worksheet the new things they have learned. When completed their "What I learned column" must have at least one comment from each group.

Weir, 2000