Guess+and+Adjust

Guess and Adjust
Guess and Adjust allows students to build background knowledge as they prepare to read a new work. It also lets them use word parts to predict meaning and figure out words using context.

I would give students a graphic organizer to fill out. (As an example, we could start with "unfathomable," a word from the first chapter of //The Outsiders//.)

Here's a template from Jeff Zwiers' //Building Reading Comprehension Habits in Grades 6-12//, published by the International Reading Association. Copying for classroom use is permitted: