KWL

1

• KWL
• An engaging teaching method that stems from
  cognitive-social-constructivism
• Works well for an introduction and extension of a
  topic
• Requires a good amount of time! (so make sure you
  dont overdo it choose a few topics/lessons
  that would be best delivered through this
  approach)
• Created by Donna Ogle (1986)
• Benefits
• Prior knowledge tapped (bridging what students
  know with what they want to know and what they
  would eventually learn)
• Bring all student to a relatively similar
  knowledge base / platform of learning
• Being critical about information
• Allowing students to generate questions
• Students look for answers to the questions
  (self-generated)
• Students have to verify if what they already know
  is valid and accurate, if not, say why or provide
  alternative (critical thinking)
• Students get to correct each others knowledge
  base and contribute toward refining and
  reconstructing it
• Purposeful reading and/or search of multimedia
  and internet materials/resources
• Purposeful reading activity can culminate in
  purposeful group work
• Generation of new ideas could lead to
  identification of new topics for projects and
  research

2

• Things that needs to be prepared (e.g. lesson
  about The Eiffel Tower)
• A handout on The Eiffel Tower the complexity
  of the handout language, length, pictures, etc.
  depends largely on the level of students, their
  language level, and attention span a good
  handout is one that does not bore students and at
  the same time is comprehensive and interactive
  enough to engage students in learning (sometimes,
  teachers could choose to use the materials
  provided in the textbook or workbook)
  regardless, whats important is that the teacher
  spends time and intentionally chooses the
  material for reading and/or further research. If
  a teacher is ill-prepared and uses anything that
  comes to his mind first thing in the morning, the
  KWL method would prove to be disastrous!
• KWL chart this could be specially made by card
  sheet has to be big enough for the whole class
  to view ideally, a teacher could divide the
  white board into three sections and label the
  sections (K, W, and L). Sometimes, it also helps
  to use MS word table projected to a big screen
  teacher could type as students provide input
  this works well in a really big class

3
The Eiffel Tower Designed by Gustave Eiffel in
1889 for the Worlds Fair, the Eiffel Tower is
perhaps the most recognizable structure in the
world. When the Eiffel Tower was first
constructed in 1889, many in the artistic
community of Paris signed petitions against the
useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower. Nature
lovers worried it would disrupt the flight of
birds over Paris. People claimed it could not be
completed on time, or within its budget of 1.5
million dollars. Despite these early grumblings,
people flocked to ride the elevator nine hundred
feet up to the third level observation platform.
From the platform visitors could marvel at the
uninterrupted vistas of Paris from every
direction. In fact, so many people visited the
Eiffel Tower during its first year almost all its
construction costs were covered by ticket sales.
Today the Eiffel Tower stands as one of the most
famous landmarks of France, attracting tourists
from all over the world. 1889 World's Fair The
city of Paris held a competition in 1887, looking
for designs for a temporary monument that would
be unveiled during the 1889 Worlds Fair. The
winning designer, Gustave Eiffel, designed a huge
iron latticework tower as a tribute to the French
Revolution. Originally the tower was slated to
stand for only twenty years. Part of the rules of
the design contest stated the structure could be
taken down easily. However, by the twenty-year
mark, in 1909, the tower was not only popular
with tourists it proved a valuable communication
tool for radio broadcasting. A Modern
Marvel Standing 986 feet tall, the tower is
constructed of 18,000 pieces of wrought iron.
Every seven years it is repainted. Three
different colors are used to help give the tower
a uniform look. Darker paint is used on the top,
and slightly lighter paint is used on the bottom,
to contrast against the lighter sky and darker
ground. Because the Eiffel Tower was the tallest
structure in the world at the time of its
construction, Gustave Eiffel put careful
consideration into how it would hold up to gusty
winds. He designed the tower with open
latticework of wrought iron, allowing winds to
blow through the tower, rather than against it.
This plan worked so well that even during the
strongest winds the tower never sways more than
four and half inches. A National Symbol By WWII,
national pride in the monument that was once
hailed as an eyesore was so great that when Paris
fell to the Nazis, French rebels cut the cables
to the elevator of the tower so Hitler would have
to climb the stairs. When the Nazis hung their
swastika flag from its summit, a determined
Frenchman climbed up the tower and replaced it
with the French flag. Despite poor acceptance
during its first few years, the Eiffel Tower has
been embraced by French citizens, and stands as
one of the most recognizable structures in the
world.
sample
4
Teacher starts the class by saying students,
today we are going to learn about THE EIFFEL
TOWER. But instead of telling you all about it, I
want us all to learn together. I am going to
divide the board into three sections the first
section is entitled what I know? the second
section is entitled what I want to learn? and
the third section is labeled as what I have
learned? okay, lets start with what we
already know about THE EIFFEL TOWER. At this
time, we are not worried about the accuracy or
correctness of what we know. We will worry about
that later just share with everyone what you
already know or what you think you know about THE
EIFFEL TOWER (note let as many students as
possible respond do not dismiss any students
answer there is no need to only look for
accurate information the idea is to get
everything out of students mind and have them
express later on the method has an inherent
system of verifying all stated ideas Teacher
writes all the points by students down teacher
needs to be quick here often, paraphrasing what
students say is helpful. Sometimes, students may
come up with silly points write them down as
well! Teacher could contribute ideas as well no
harm in doing that. But dont be fixated about
correctness of facts and figures at this time!
5
After filling up the first column with all that
students claim they know, the teacher
says wow look at the board look at all that
we already know about THE EIFFEL TOWER but I am
wondering if there are things that we are still
wondering about things that we still need to
find out about the EIFFEL TOWER I bet that there
are many other things that we want to find out or
learn more about THE EIFFEL TOWER why dont we
write the questions that we have in our minds in
the second column now? Teacher elicits
questions from students writes them down from
time to time, teacher needs to paraphrase student
questions so that it is understandable by all
but allow students to ask questions in their own
way dont correct them just accept questions
and put them up in the correct form (language,
word use, etc.) the idea is to get them
thinking about questions and asking them no
matter how silly they might sound and be.
6
What do we Know? What do we Want to Learn? What have we Learned?
1.-------------------- 2.-------------------- 3.-------------------- 4.-------------------- 5.-------------------- 6.-------------------- 7.-------------------- 8.-------------------- 1.------------------- 2.------------------- 3.------------------- 4.------------------- 5.------------------- 6.------------------- 7.------------------- 8.------------------- 9.-------------------
sample
7
Once the two columns of the KWL chart have been
filled with the help of the whole class, the
teacher then directs the students attention to
the next step, which is a crucial one. we have
successfully filled two columns of our KWL chart
now, we need to do the following First, we
need to verify or check if what we said we know
about EIFFEL TOWER is correct Secondly, we need
to answer the questions that we have raised so
that we could learn more about the EIFFEL
TOWER Thirdly, if you come across anything
anything at all other than whats on the board,
feel free to note it down too there is no harm
in learning more than we had planned To
accomplish this, I have prepared for you a
special handout read the handout interact
with it highlight, circle, underline, etc.
read with the purposes of fulfilling the three
objectives mentioned above 1) to verify 2) to
answer 3) to seek additional information Note
this kind of reading is highly motivating because
students are now reading with a
purpose! Variation ask students to google the
eiffel tower or put students in groups to
research on eiffel tower whichever way you
choose, make sure they are purposefully trying to
accomplish the three objectives mentioned above
8
The Eiffel Tower Designed by Gustave Eiffel in
1889 for the Worlds Fair, the Eiffel Tower is
perhaps the most recognizable structure in the
world. When the Eiffel Tower was first
constructed in 1889, many in the artistic
community of Paris signed petitions against the
useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower. Nature
lovers worried it would disrupt the flight of
birds over Paris. People claimed it could not be
completed on time, or within its budget of 1.5
million dollars. Despite these early grumblings,
people flocked to ride the elevator nine hundred
feet up to the third level observation platform.
From the platform visitors could marvel at the
uninterrupted vistas of Paris from every
direction. In fact, so many people visited the
Eiffel Tower during its first year almost all its
construction costs were covered by ticket sales.
Today the Eiffel Tower stands as one of the most
famous landmarks of France, attracting tourists
from all over the world. 1889 World's Fair The
city of Paris held a competition in 1887, looking
for designs for a temporary monument that would
be unveiled during the 1889 Worlds Fair. The
winning designer, Gustave Eiffel, designed a huge
iron latticework tower as a tribute to the French
Revolution. Originally the tower was slated to
stand for only twenty years. Part of the rules of
the design contest stated the structure could be
taken down easily. However, by the twenty-year
mark, in 1909, the tower was not only popular
with tourists it proved a valuable communication
tool for radio broadcasting. A Modern
Marvel Standing 986 feet tall, the tower is
constructed of 18,000 pieces of wrought iron.
Every seven years it is repainted. Three
different colors are used to help give the tower
a uniform look. Darker paint is used on the top,
and slightly lighter paint is used on the bottom,
to contrast against the lighter sky and darker
ground. Because the Eiffel Tower was the tallest
structure in the world at the time of its
construction, Gustave Eiffel put careful
consideration into how it would hold up to gusty
winds. He designed the tower with open
latticework of wrought iron, allowing winds to
blow through the tower, rather than against it.
This plan worked so well that even during the
strongest winds the tower never sways more than
four and half inches. A National Symbol By WWII,
national pride in the monument that was once
hailed as an eyesore was so great that when Paris
fell to the Nazis, French rebels cut the cables
to the elevator of the tower so Hitler would have
to climb the stairs. When the Nazis hung their
swastika flag from its summit, a determined
Frenchman climbed up the tower and replaced it
with the French flag. Despite poor acceptance
during its first few years, the Eiffel Tower has
been embraced by French citizens, and stands as
one of the most recognizable structures in the
world.
sample
9
What do we Know? What do we Want to Learn? What have we Learned?
1.-------------------- 2.-------------------- 3.-------------------- 4.-------------------- 5.-------------------- 6.-------------------- 7.-------------------- 8.-------------------- 1.------------------- 2.------------------- 3.------------------- 4.------------------- 5.------------------- 6.------------------- 7.------------------- 8.------------------- 9.------------------- when students come back, teacher goes through points in column 1 first (verify one by one), and then, answer questions in column 2 (one by one). Ideally, points from column 1 should be re-written in column 3 along with answers for questions in column 2 in addition, any additional information is also entered in column 3 in case their reading (or the material) doesnt allow them to verify or answer then the teacher could put an asterisk mark beside the point or question for future investigation or could also serve as homework for volunteers who choose to. Because of these, expect column 3 to be the longest. Actually, column 3 is where assessment of the whole lesson takes place. My own experience no time for this but this is the most important part! So, be a good time manager! Happy KWL-ing
sample