Informational Text Reader’s Workshop

Informational Text Reader’s Workshop Day 1 Teaching Point : Readers of Informational Texts read with their minds; they look at titles and subtitles to see what the article is mostly about. They take notes on the important “stuff” to help them recollect what they have learned. Active Engagement: Write a journal entry using the sentence, “I think this article is mostly about . . .” and then, “it will also tell . . .” based on the article that we will look at together. Independent Practice: Read the article I gave you, take notes, then turn and talk to your neighbor about what you just learned. “Although great informational text readers are very different one from another, today I want to teach you that even before we shift into ‘go’ and read a sentence or a paragraph of the text, we read the title and subtitles, look over chunks of the text, and think, ‘I think this article is mostly about . . .’ and then it will also tell . . . Show “How Nuclear Power Works” on Document Camera and discuss the titles and subtitles as a class – notes should be taken in journal. 1B“Another way readers can hold on to what we are learning is that when we come to the end of a chunk of text—we can pause and say to ourselves, ‘What did I just read?’ Then we can come up with small summaries of the important stuff, we then write this down as notes. This helps us to recollect what we’ve learned and use it at a later date. Divide class in to six groups and distribute one section of “How Nuclear Power Works” to each group, have them take notes on the “important stuff” in the article. Each group to report out to class as to what they discovered. If time remains in class period allow students to read.

Informational Text Reader’s Workshop Day 2 Teaching Point: Readers of Informational Text understand that texts have multiple purposes (i.e. to inform, to entertain, to offer help or advice, to persuade, to involve,) and they identify the purpose(s) in order to understand the author’s intent. Active Engagement: Video on Point of view – Point of View Independent Practice: Look at the article on fracking to see how it is biased. https://student.societyforscience.org/article/fracking-waste-and-quakes

Informational Text Reader’s Workshop Day 3 Teaching Point: Readers of Informational Text create larger categories to sort the new information they are learning. Active Engagement: Listen to the piece I am about to read. Under your teaching point in your journal, write down what you think the headings for each section would be. Now, watch the video and write down headings for the main topics. Independent Practice: Read the National Geographic article and create an outline of what you read using the example given. Session III: Grasping Main Ideas in Nonfiction Texts: “Reading nonfiction is like taking a course in which a person is told a whole lot of new and detailed information. Instead of trying to memorize all that information, it helps to create larger categories to organize that information. That way, as we read, we sort the little bits of information under bigger points, creating a boxes- and-bullets outline that matches the text. It is almost as if as we read, we write headings for the texts that don’t have any.” Discuss and show article to see if they were right. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1028_041028_alternative_energy.html A video on alternative energy: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/energy-environment/alternative-energy/ Provide “How to Outline Informational Text”

Informational Text Reader’s Workshop Day 4 Teaching Point: Readers of Informational Text become experts and teach others from nonfiction texts. Active Engagement: When we read nonfiction books on a topic, we become experts on that topic, teaching others what we know. To teach someone, we need to know the main ideas and the supporting details. Independent Practice: Read an article and take notes with your partner. Then, “teach” what you learned to another set of partners. -Handout 4 different articles, then have different groups share.

Informational Text Reader’s Workshop Day 5 Teaching Point: Readers of informational texts think critically about what they read in order to form questions and determine what needs further exploration. They discuss these questions with their peers to gain a deeper understanding about what is really important. Active Engagement: Watch this video and take notes on the information presented. Independent Practice: Turn and talk about your notes on the video with your elbow partner. Did they write down anything that you missed? What “Whether we are reading nonfiction texts or viewing an informational video, it is equally important to use all your information gathering skills. We also should talk about those texts or videos with each other, saying, ‘Isn’t it weird how . . .’ and ‘I wonder why . . .’ and ‘Did you notice that . . . .’ Researchers read or view media differently because we’re going to be in conversations later. We read and take notes with the idea of holding conversations in our minds.” Video on bio fuels http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/06/130626-drop-in-biofuels-making-gasoline-from-plants/