Grade Levels: 1-6
Social Studies Strands: All
Why: (Purpose)
- Deep learning
- Students will be able to dive deeper into the text
- Student engagement
- This strategy will help students be actively engaged in reading
What: (Description of the Strategy)
The Stop and Jot Strategy helps students monitor their comprehension while reading. As students read a section of text, they underline important words that are found in the text. Then they “stop and jot” down one of the following:
- What picture is in the student’s mind
- What they wonder about
- What they feel
- What they find interesting
- What they question
- Connections and thoughts
- A new thing they learned
How: (How to set up the Strategy)
This strategy can be done in the classroom or virtually, but may need to be modeled a few times and then done as a class, so students understand the process.
Walk students through the steps for this strategy:
- Divide your paragraphs — this could be just drawing a line to separate the paragraphs of the text.
- Read the text together or individually. Have the students underline the important words that come up as well as words that are used multiple times.
- Stop after each sentence and write what the sentence was about to the side of the article. (Or you could do it after every paragraph.)
- Underline important words while reading.
- Jot down your thoughts that come to your mind as you read the text.
- Answer questions that go with the text. (These could be comprehension questions.) The jots and marks will help students with comprehension and answering questions from the text. They can refer to their jots to answer questions.
- Write a summary of the text using information from your jots.
Digital/Virtual Application of the Strategy
When working remotely, you can assign this activity through Google Classroom. The students then can send in their jots and summary for you to assess.
You can also have the students use Studies Weekly Online’s highlighting and annotating tools for each article. They can highlight words instead of underlining them, and then use the pop-up text boxes to jot their thoughts. You can review their highlighting through your Teacher Login at Studies Weekly Online.
Face to Face Application
In a classroom setting, students can do this strategy on their own, with a partner, or with the whole class. They will need the text, a highlighter, and a pencil to stop and jot with.