Make Available the Necessary Reading Tools It is important to remember that students will be reading for a variety of purposes. We must give them the tools they need. Teachers will have to determine what is most important for their own classroom.
Based on what the students’ needs are and the type of practice the teacher wants to do, this determines the material that will be powerful and effective. Different dictionaries such as literary terms, mythology, and English-language-learner versions will all be important. Thesauri are important to have when writing papers. Especially in a history classroom an atlas or almanac. Teachers must also supply their students with annotation tools such as post-it notes, highlighters, an overhead projector, butcher paper, the internet, and their own copies of texts.
Starting their Search Engine Skills
When having students research a topic, they need to know how to navigate online and how to find the meanings of words. It is important to teach how to use keywords and phrases as a starting point. Online search engines can show multiple results with a lot of different information. It is important to know how to use reliable resources.
Examples of great search engines:
Googlewonderwheel.com – shows a graphical representation of related search items Visuwords.com – a site that creates a word map of connections and word families Eyeplorer.com- a colorful wheel that arranges topics by categories Shahi or blackan.com/shahi _ which is a visual dictionary that combines wikitonary.org content with flickr.com images
Students can use these search engines and compare the different information that they find. Students can use the same key words in each website.