SCOPE Preview

"I Assumed My Students Knew What To Do"

Dear Readers,

Ever since I started using SCOPE Magazine a couple of years ago I have been hooked. I adore the articles, videos, visuals, etc. They are well researched, student friendly and high interest. I am not sure who is more excited when we receive the newest issue, the students or I.

One strategy we consistently do is to preview the latest issue. We spend a day browsing, chatting and predicting what we will be learning and reading about. I had an "AHA" moment this year when I realized, do all of my students know what previewing a text is? I determined that in fact, many did not.

I created a strategy list for them. First explaining, this is how I would preview an educational journal or any magazine I would pick up.

1. Look at the cover. Notice the titles, pictures, etc. What is typically located on the cover? The main feature of the article.
2. Look at the Table of Contents. We know SCOPE really well so we know what genres to look for. 
3. Look at the text features as you browse. (titles, headings, subheadings, bold/italic words, maps, pictures/photographs, labels, captions, etc.)
4. Make predictions about what you might be reading about.
5. Make connections to prior knowledge.

We decided to sketchnote what we were looking forward to reading! Please see below.

I then decided to spend some time previewing Escape from Alcatraz. We spent quite a bit of time using the Before Reading Resource from the teacher website. This is our thinking!

In another group we practiced finding evidence to support a claim provided by SCOPE. I love the "As You Read" questions or statements posted at the start of many articles. Why was Alcatraz considered an escape-proof prison?

We loved watching Mythbusters and are looking forward to reading the full article! We are really undecided at this point, could they have escaped? Was it possible?

More to come!

Warmly,

Teresa