K-W-L is a strategy that can be used with any text but is probably most effective with expository text. It can be used with individuals or groups of students who are at least 8 years old. Before starting the procedure, the teacher draws three columns on the board labeling each column as shown in the example below:
The procedure works as follows:
1. Introduce the topic of the reading selection.
2. Students list what they already know about the topic in the first column.
3. Students list what they want to know about the topic in the second column.
4. The students read, discuss, and study the assigned text.
5. Students list what they learned in the third column.
A modification that teachers frequently use with this strategy is the addition of a fourth column ("What I Still Want To Know"), in which students list any topic that they wanted to learn but still did not know at the end of their study and any new line of inquiry that was triggered by their reading and discussion. With the addition of this modification, the strategy is usually referred to as K-W-L plus.
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