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  • Learning is about making connections

    • neurological connections

    • cognitive connections

    • social connections

    • experimental connections

 

 

  • The more a student is engaged in a learning activity, the more parts of the brain are actively stimulated.  When this happens in a positive emotional setting, without stress and anxiety, the result is greater long-term, relational, and retrievable learning (Willis, 2007)

 

  • Students retain more when they have to think about what they are learning (Pinker, 2007)

 

  • Schemata-cognitive structures of facts, ideas, and associations organized into a meaningful system of relationships (Cross, 1999)

 

  • Social interactions with other children and with adults, enable children to expand their prior knowledge and their use of language (Wood, Roser & Martinez, 2001)

 

  • Conversation becomes purposeful dialogue, collaboration is more than getting along nicely.  It is actively interpreting, processing, and making sense of new information. (Strahan, L'Esperance & Van Hoose, 2009)


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Probable Passage

Research Says..

1.  Choose 8-14 key words from the text that will be meaningful after reading the selection

  • some with an obvious connection (Characters, Setting)

  • some that will make them think harder (Problem, Outcome)

  • some they might not know

 

2.  Model the strategy a few times by thinking aloud while using it

 

3.  Place the words into particular categories based on what you know  (Think aloud while modeling this step)

  Each word can only go in ONE box. 

  • Characters

  • Setting

  • Problem

  • Outcome

  • Unknown (Only to be used if you NEVER saw the word before)

 

4.  Model making a GIST statement, or a summary, of what you predict the story will be about.   Use as many of the key words as possible.

 

5.  Think aloud what SPECIFIC information would have been helpful for you to make a better prediction.  

Write those things under "To Discover..."  

 

6.  Read the selection. 

 

7.  After reading, check the following:

  • How accurate was your gist story? Partly correct? Not correct at all?  Completely correct

  • Are the words in the boxes in the correct place?

  • Can you answer your "To Discover..." questions? 

  • Were you able to figure out what the "Unkown Words" mean?

 

Once the students learn this, they can do it without your help.  

 

See "Resources" for Word Documents. 

 

Directions
Media Presentations
Resources
Background

Probable Passage was created by K. Wood in 1984.  It encourages students to make predictions, to activate their prior knowledge, to see causal relationships, to make inferences, and to visualize while reading.  It is basically predicting the story using a set of given vocabulary words before reading.  Then, the students compare their prediction with the actual story. 

 

The Probable Passage strategy does the following:

  • forces students to think about the plot and vocabulary before they even read it.

  • introduces students to vocabulary they will encounter

  • gets them to make predictions 

  • gets them to make comparisons

  • makes them draw conclusions

  • requires them to summarize

  • makes the invisible act of thinking visible (with graphic organizer)

  • makes them monitor for understanding

  • making connections to their prediction while reading

  • encourages rereading

  • encourages reflection  

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