KWL CHART

 

K	W	L
K stands for Know	W stands for Want	L stands for Learned
What do I already know about this topic?	What do I want to know about this topic? or What do I think I will learn about this topic?	What have I learned about this topic?

Students sometimes have difficulty understanding what they have read. This can be extremely frustrating for students. To help them understand, a reading comprehension strategy called KWL can be taught. This comprehension strategy can be used at all grade levels and works well with all types of text, but is found to be especially useful for understanding expository text. The KWL chart is a three column chart that was developed by Donna Ogle. It can be used before, during, and after reading to enhance the students comprehension. Using the chart before reading will help students generate their background knowledge and determine what they know about the subject. Then have students predict what they might learn about the topic.  Take a picture walk through the text focusing on topic headings, pictures, and charts that are found within the reading. This helps set their purpose for reading and focuses their attention on key ideas. After reading, students should fill in their new knowledge gained from the reading. At this time the students can clarify any misperceptions they had about the topic. It is important to determine if they understood the reading or not.

Procedure:

1. List what you know about the topic in column K.

2. List what you want to know about the topic in column W.

3. Read the article or chapter.

4. List what you have learned.

5. Reflect.