
Prime the Text
When I choose a text for students to work with (and for me to model with), I want to make sure there are some strong clues for the less familiar vocabulary. I recommend selecting a short chunk of text with a few unfamiliar words and several clues instead of a longer text with sporadic words and clues over the course of the text. If we focus on a shorter text, then we can more easily go back and summarize what we learned (as a result of considering the context clues) and begin to identify a main idea. Below is an excerpt from Gorillas (Macmanus, 2012) that I prepared in advance of a lesson. You can see how I identified unfamiliar vocabulary (with a box), underlined key details that support making meaning of the words, and wrote in the margins they type of clue.

Phase 1 – Read to Learn about…
In phase 1 of the lessons, the students read an excerpt from a mentor text their class was studying during a unit of study on nonfiction. (For more information on teaching in three phrases and a blank lesson plan template, see this link.)
Phase 2 – Provide Excerpt, Bookmark, & Anchor Chart
During phase 2, we handed out a context clues bookmark and I introduced the types of clues. While we gave the students a chance to scan all of the types of clues, we told them we’d only focus on the first three for that lesson. (This bookmark was co-produced with my wonderful colleague Alma! See this link for the context clues bookmark.)

I also introduced an anchor chart with three clear steps for making sense of context clues.

I projected the excerpt, the anchor chart and the bookmark for the mini-lesson. Notice in the image below my handwriting on the projected excerpt. Those are annotations from my think aloud on an excerpt from Everything Weather (Furgang, 2012).

Phase 2 – Think Aloud
During my think aloud, I consistently referred to (and marked on) the projected excerpt of text, the anchor chart with three steps, and the bookmark. (BTW – My think aloud was only about the first three sentences in the excerpt below. Cognitively that’s enough for many students; it’s a good idea to draw them in to some highly structured practice pretty quickly.)

Below is what my think aloud sounded like (or visit this link which includes the hyperlinks).

Phase 2 – Guided, Partner, Independent Practice
Then I guided the students in making sense of the word troposphere. (There was also a diagram on their excerpt they used to support them.) As they worked on their own to make sense of the clues for the meaning of barometer, I continued to support them. THEN WITH THEIR INDEPENDENT READING TEXTS (informational), I asked them to read, locate unfamiliar words and try to notice and name the types of clues as they made sense of those clues. I conferred with this in mind and share anecdotes about those conferences in Part 3 of this blog series.
Hope this helps.
Sunday