Previewing non-fiction - THIEVES

This approach may be useful in giving students strategies for using non-fiction...

Developing Literacy & Numeracy Skills : Strategy for Previewing Textbooks (Manz 2002)

Manz, S.L. (2002). A strategy for previewing textbooks: Teaching readers to become THIEVES. The Reading Teacher, 55, 434–435.

Manz (2002) outlines a strategy for previewing textbooks called THIEVES, which is used to identify the elements of a text that need to be thoroughly surveyed and previewed in advance of actual reading. This method should enhance the use of prior knowledge, help provide a purpose for reading and stimulate metacognitive processing. The following steps are suggested :

• T - Title
  What do I really know about the topic? What does it have to do with the preceding chapter?
• H - Headings
  What do they let me know about what I will be reading? How can I turn each heading into a question?
• I - Introduction
  Does the first paragraph introduce the chapter? Do I know anything about this already?
• E - Every first sentence in a paragraph
  These are often the topic sentences and may help to decide whether this portion of the text is relevant.
• V - Visuals and vocabulary
  Are there photographs, drawings, maps, charts? What can I learn from them? Vocabulary may help identify the meaning of a chapter. Highlighted words may be keys to important concepts. Is there a key list of vocabulary terms? Do I know what they mean?
• E - End of chapter questions
  These study questions may flag important points and concepts. Questions that ask `why’ may be particularly informative. What do the questions ask? What information do I learn from the questions?
• S - Summary
  Encourage students to read the entire summary as part of the review, as it provides a frame of reference for the content of the chapter.

There is also a site with a lesson plan: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/using-thieves-preview-nonfiction-112.html

Thanks to Gail Cochrane for sharing this.