LINK (List, Inquire, Note, and Know)

  • Effective with upper elementary through high school students
    • Develop/activate prior knowledge
    • Reinforce questioning skills
    • Writing skills
    • Summarize information

Strategy steps:

  1. Select a key word that is critical to the comprehension of the text the students will be reading.
  2. Write the key word on the board, draw a box around it, and have the students say/sign and fingerspell it.
  3. Allow about three minutes for the students to List what they know about the word or associations they have for the key word.
  4. Students read one idea or association they have written and record it on the board.
    • After everyone has contributed one item, let each one add more ideas and associations.
    • Teacher writes them on the board.
    • This step is a “brainstorming” step so there should be no comments or responses to the students’ contributions at this time.
  5. Students Inquire about the items that are now on the board.
  6. Students interact with each other to share and extend their understandings of the key word or concept
    • They can as for clarification, elaboration, examples, or definitions or they may challenge some of the items.
    • These comments and questions are addressed to the students who offered the items and not to the teacher.
  7. Ground rules for this kind of discussion should be established so that students learn to be respectful of others and sensitive to their feelings.
  8. When students have finished the inquiry step, cover the information on the board.
  9. Each students Notes what they now Know about the key word.
    • They may use information from their prior knowledge and from their class discussion.
    • Students share their “notes” with other class members.
  10. Students participate in the “during reading” or other content area instruction.
  11. They return to their notes and write any new information about the key concept they learned during the instruction.
  12. New information is shared with classmates.
  13. Summarize by writing sentences explaining the meaning of the key word.
    • The class can write a summary together.
    • Each student can write a summary.