1. Unlocking Informational Text Structure
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2. Text Structure and the Common Core
Level of Examination
Analysis
Common Core Learning Framework
Craft and Structure
Identifying and defining key terms
Determining the main idea
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3. Framing the Session
Why are history texts often difficult for students to comprehend?
What skills and strategies do students need to become expert readers of history?
What can history teachers do to help struggling readers in their classrooms?
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4. What factors affect the readability of history texts?
Lack of prior knowledge
Unfamiliar text structure or schema
Difficulty identifying important material from less important material
Academic vocabulary and abstract concepts (“isms”)
Level of analysis and synthesis
Role of visuals, such as maps, graphs and charts, as sources of information
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5. What are the keys to reading in history?
Effective readers of history have a variety of comprehension strategies that they bring to reading a text. These strategies can be grouped in three categories:
Before reading or activation of background or prior knowledge
During reading or active engagement with the content
Continuous or metacognition
Effective readers of history are in charge of the process, monitoring how they read and adjusting to ensure success.
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6. Why is informational text a challenge for students?
Informational text makes up 90% of adult reading.
Yet, students in elementary school spend an average of 4 minutes per day with informational text.
As a result, students are most familiar with narrative text, and are unprepared to be effective readers of informational text.
Students need to know how informational texts work, how to prepare to read them, and what to do once they begin reading.
The strategies for reading informational text are often not modeled for students.
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7. How do narrative and informational text differ?
Narrative and informational text differ in their organizational pattern, language and purpose.
Narrative text typically follows one structure or story grammar.
Narrative text includes such elements as theme, plot, conflict, resolution, characters and setting.
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8. Informational text explains something and reflects a variety of structures or organizational patterns: definition, cause-effect, sequence, categorization, comparison/contrast, enumeration, process, problem-solution, and description
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9. The main purpose of narrative text is to tell a story.
Narrative texts have a beginning, middle and end.
Students read narrative text for enjoyment, to analyze story grammar, and appreciate the author’s writing style.
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10. The purpose of informational text is to inform or describe and often reflects research on a topic.
Students read informational text to gain factual information, identify main ideas and trends, and analyze divergent viewpoints on a topic, individual or event.
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11. Narrative and Informational Text: A Comparison
Reader’s Purpose
Enjoyment
Interpret character
Appreciate style
Analyze plot
Identify story grammar
Critically evaluate
Informational
Reader’s Purpose
Identify main ideas
Determine trends
Consider implications
Identify viewpoints
Interpret visuals
Critically evaluate
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12. Expressive and emotive Action, humor and style Informational
Narrative
Typical Language
Personal and informal
Diverse vocabulary
Dialogue
Expressive and emotive
Action, humor and style
Informational
Typical Language
Formal prose
Descriptive
Technical terms and concept words
Visual supports
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13. So…how can we help students unlock informational text structure?
Understanding how a piece of text is organized helps students make sense of their reading.
Each organizational structure presents distinct features and suggests questions that effective readers consider before, during and after reading.
Understanding the features and elements of text supports students in their ability to navigate through the text and increases their understanding of the relationship between the concepts presented and the structure of the text.
The more opportunities students have to discover and become familiar with the features of informational text, the greater their ability to become effective readers.
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14. Comparing Narrative and Informational Text Structures
Understanding the differences between narrative and informational text begins with a comparison of the two.
Select two passages on the same historical topic: one narrative and one informational.
Have students read each passage and consider a set of questions based on the three elements of text structure:
Purpose: Why did the author write this passage?
Vocabulary: What kinds of vocabulary/language does the author use?
Structure: How is the text organized?
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15. Modeling the Strategy
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16. Modeling the Strategy Narrative Text
Read “The O’Connor Family Comes to New York”.
Answer each of the following questions:
Purpose: Why did the author write this piece?
Vocabulary: What kinds of vocabulary/language does the author use?
Structure: How is the text organized?
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17. Checking for Understanding
Purpose: Why did the author write this piece?
To tell the story of the O’Connor family
To tell the story through Bridget’s eyes
To introduce us to the members of the family
To describe the way the family lived
To explain why the family left Ireland
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18. Vocabulary: What kinds of vocabulary words or language does the author use?
Dialogue
Words that made us feel sad
Words that made us understand the emotions of the characters
Some “Irish” language words
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19. Structure: How is the piece organized? It tells a story
It has a beginning, middle and end
It has characters, setting and plot
It has a conflict that is resolved.
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20. Modeling the Strategy Informational Text
Read “The Irish Potato Famine”.
Answer each of the following questions:
Purpose: Why did the author write this piece?
Vocabulary: What kinds of vocabulary/language does the author use?
Structure: How is the text organized?
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21. Checking for Understanding
Purpose: Why did the author write this piece?
To give information on the Irish Potato Famine
To describe the diseases that people or potatoes got
To talk about Britain
To tell us how many people died
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22. Words you find in a textbook
Vocabulary: What kinds of vocabulary words or language did the author use?
Hard ones
Science words
Words you find in a textbook
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23. Structure: How is the piece organized? It has paragraphs
It has quotations
It has statistics
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24. Bridging the Gap: Historical Fiction and Picture Books
Historical fiction and quality content picture books combine the elements of narrative and informational text.
Each can be used to support students in understanding the differences between the two types of text.
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26. Adapting Unlocking Informational Text to the Classroom
How might you use the strategy of comparing narrative and expository text in your social studies classroom?
What adaptations can you make?
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27. Next Steps
Depending on the goal of the reading, teachers can help students better understand how expository texts work and read them more effectively by teaching them how to:
identify the text elements of a paragraph.
recognize the transitional words that signal important information or a shift in focus.
establish the genre---e.g., cause-effect, definition, persuasive.
organize the information within an expository text into an outline for subsequent analysis.
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28. identify the main ideas throughout the text.
use available information such as subheadings to orient and focus their reading.
identify the main ideas throughout the text.
develop their own questions and apply them to the text.
take effective notes for subsequent discussions or writing assignments.
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29. Final Thoughts
Understanding how a piece of text is organized helps students make sense of their reading.
Students need explicit instruction in understanding the differences in purpose, vocabulary and structure between narrative and informational text.
Understanding the features and elements of text supports students in their ability to navigate through the text and increases their understanding of the relationship between the concepts presented and the structure of the text.
The more opportunities students have to discover and become familiar with the features of informational text, the greater their ability to become effective readers of history.
© 2012 CICERO Systems™