KWL - A way to activate Prior Knowledge

Use the following KWL Chart when introducing a new topic, lesson, or theme.  There are many layouts that you can find online but most are one full page each.  So in order to cut back on paper, I created my own KWL sheet with two.  You could also project the image onto a screen so that students can fill it out on their own paper.  Eventually, after using the KWL several times, the students will log the layout into their memory and they won't need to see the sheet in order to complete the assignment. 


The chart is simple.  Under the K, your students must write down what they know about the topic.  This is any information that they learned outside of your classroom, or in the years before.  They can not use any other resources in order to fill out the chart because that would defeat the purpose of the assignment.  Under the W, they will fill out any questions they have.  Let's say the topic is Alfred Wegner and his theory of plate techtonics.  A student might know that plate techtonics refers to the moving plates underneath the earth's crust.  This information would then go under the K.  Now the student doesn't recognize the name Alfred Wegner, then he could put that information under the W.  Think of the 5 Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why) for the W column of the chart.  At this point,  I begin introducting the topic to my students and discussing as a class what we came up with.  On the board, I create a large KWL chart and have the students take turns going up to the board to write down what they knew or what they would like to know. 


After our discussion, we begin the lesson and assignments.  During the closing of the period, we bring the chart back out and complete the L.  This is what the student learned today.  Then, when turning in the assignment(s), the KWL sheet is stapled on top. 

KWL