Changing Our Thinking: Prompting Kids with "You Know This!"

There are many practices from long ago that we need to rethink as teachers. This series looks to bring up those practices and offer alternate ideas that are more relevant in today’s classroom. Today we’re discussing using the prompt, “you know this” when a child gets stuck.

Why Do We Prompt?

We give kids several prompts in a day. I would say most of the prompts I give students throughout the day are not academic prompts. Most of my prompts are for shoelaces that are untied, pencils that are on the floor, or behaviors that need to be changed. When we prompt students we want them to recall a very specific set of information and change something. When I say, “step out of line and tie your shoe” to a child he or she knows what to do. It helps him to recall a system of steps to go through in situations like the one he is in. Eventually, I would want to see him look down and step out of line to tie his shoe all by himself. We prompt kids to help them remember and help them create an internal dialogue for situations they might encounter in future. The goal is always independence.

Teach, Prompt, Reinforce

Many times teachers begin prompts with the phrase “remember…” This assumes that students have already been taught the prompt. Before I can expect a student to step out of line and tie his shoe I have to show him what I mean. It might seem simple but we must explicitly teach what we mean by a prompt before it can be used by a student. During the first week of school when a child’s shoes are untied, I prompt them and show them what to do. After they catch on I can simply prompt. After a while, my words become the voice in their head. Now, when they notice a shoe is untied they simply step out of line and tie it. First I teach the prompt, then I can prompt, then I reinforce if needed. I do, we do, you do.

Using “You Know This”

If we prompt a child by saying, “come on, you know this” or “we just did this yesterday” or even “think back and remember” when they don’t know we aren’t helping them recall any information. All we are telling them is that they should know. Guess what, if they knew they would do it. If they remembered from yesterday you wouldn’t need to give the prompt today. They would just do it. This prompt doesn’t help them it only frustrates them and it frustrates you. When we prompt with our classroom we want it to guide students to the right choice and help create an internal dialogue for them.

Do This Instead

Instead of prompting with you know this, go through the steps: teach, prompt, reinforce. If a student gets stuck on a word, saying “we read that word yesterday” isn’t helpful. Instead, try this:

Teach:

The first few times teach the child the prompt. I have just selected a simple prompt and a simple situation to see what it might look like.

When I see a word I don’t know I look at the first letter and get my mouth ready to say the sound. I notice this word starts with a d. I know a d makes the sound d. Here I told the child the situation they might find themselves in- I see a word I don’t know. I next told them what to do- I look at the first letter and get my mouth ready to say the sound. Then I showed them what I meant and said the d sound. Prompts need to be short and they need to be direct. First name the situation then tell what to do.

Prompt:

Once you have gone through the teach a few times, prompt the child to have them go through the steps on their own. “When you see a word you don’t know, look at the first letter and get your mouth ready to say the sound.” This reminds the child of what they can do at an unknown word and sets them up for success. This prompts should also have the child recall all the times that you showed him how to do this as a reader. Again the prompt is short it names the situation and it tells what to do. Soon this prompt will become the voice inside their head when they approach an unknown word.

Reinforce:

After a while, the student won’t need this prompt anymore. Your prompting voice will now be the internal voice inside guiding them in this situation. They should now be able to notice what situation they are in and recall what to do. Every once in a while you will need to go back and reinforce their knowledge but they should be able to do it on their own the majority of the time. Independence is always the goal.