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What Is K-W-L?
K-W-L is the creation of Donna Ogle and is a 3-column chart designed to support effective pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading behaviors by learners. It has the added virtue of inviting readers to be the setters of purpose for their reading, rather than depending only on the teacher to do so. [Hint: that's the wonder of the W!]

• K stands for Know
  This is the prior knowledge activation question.

• W stands for Will or Want
  What do I think I will learn about this topic?
  What do I want to know about this topic?
  This serves as purpose setting.

• L stands for Learned
  What have I learned about this topic?
  The "L" is often completed after reading or viewing but this does not preclude using it during reading or viewing.

How Does It Work?

1. On the board, on a doc cam, on a handout, or on students' individual clean sheets, three columns should be made.
2. Label Column 1 K, Column 2 W, Column 3 L.
3. Before reading (or viewing or listening), students fill in the Know column with words, terms, or phrases from their background or prior knowledge. If you are having them draw on a topic previously learned, then the K column may be topic-related. But if the topic is something brand-new, and they don't know anything (or much) about it, you should use the K column to have them bringing to mind a similar, analogous, or broader idea.
4. Then have students predict what they might learn about the topic, which might follow a quick glance at the topic headings, pictures, and charts that are found in the reading. This helps set their purpose for reading and focuses their attention on key ideas.
5. Alternatively, you might have students put in the middle column what they want to learn about the topic.
6. After reading, students should fill in their new knowledge gained from reading, viewing, or listening to the new content. This is the stage of metacognition: did they get it or not?

Common Issues with K-W-L

• "My students don't have background knowledge! 
  The reason to do the K column of the K-W-L is to have students bring to mind something they already know, as a hook to which new information can be attached. Some people who use K-W-L complain that their students either don't know anything or what they know is wrong. That's a great sign that the students have been asked not about what they know, but about what they don't know. Please "know" this: ALL students have background or prior knowledge. As teachers, we have to know our content well enough that we know how it's like something that would be familiar to our students. That should determine what we ask in the K column. It may OR MAY NOT be the topic.
• "I ask what they want to know, and they think of a zillion things!"
  Especially with younger elementary children, they'll suggest all kinds of questions for what they want to know. And with older kids, maybe they say, "Nothing!" That's why I like Pat Widdowson's suggestion: Use the W to ask what they think they WILL learn. Then, it's predictive, which is what good readers are anyway.

Download and Print:

• K - W - L Chart (shown below)
• K - W - L Chart (modified)

Can You Show Me What the Chart Would Look Like?