1. Chapter 15: Informational Reading
Courtney Fisher

2. What? Informational text is…
Expository Text that communicates facts about the natural or social world; (Duke 2006)
Found in many types and format;
Organized to steer readers to understanding and identifying key information and make connections among ideas;
Ranges from Cookbooks to magazines; textbooks to internet websites;
More of a challenge for the reader;
Lastly, uses diverse ranges of reading strategies to understand.
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

3. Informational Text Structure and Signal Words
What? Text Structure
Informational Text Structure and Signal Words
Text Structure
Signal Words or Phrases
Description
Explains, defines, illustrates a concept or topic
For example, for instance, main parts, such as, this particular
Compare-Contrast
Presents similarities & differences between two or more objects, places, events, or ideas
Compare: like, alike, just as, similar, both, also, too
Contrast: unlike, differ, but, in contrast, on the other hand, however
Cause-Effect
Presents the reason an event happened and its results
Because, due to, since, therefore, so, as a result, consequently, lead to , this is why, the reason, result in, consequences
Problem/Solution
Poses a problem and suggests ;possible solutions
Problem: problem, question, the trouble
Solution: solution, answer, in response
Time Ordered (Sequence)
Groups ideas by order or time
First, next, then afterward, later, last finally, not, after, before, stages, steps
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

4. What? Graphic Organizers
Graphic Organizers can aid in Informational reading by helping students to:
Record information about underlying text structures;
See how concepts fit within text structures;
Focus on the most important ideas;
Examine relationships among text concepts;
Recall key text information;
&, write well organized summaries.
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

5. What? Considerate Texts
Ideas for choosing Informational Text
Structural Clues
Text Structure apparent to reader
Aspects of text that suggest, indicate, or emphasize its structure
Coherence
Clarity of writing…does it make sense?
Features:
Main ideas are easy to find and clearly stated
Information supports the main idea
Events and ideas are in logical order
Signal words are used to illuminate relationships between events and ideas
Precise wording is used
Transitions are smooth between topics
Audience Appropriateness
Builds on the word knowledge students already have
New concept introduction is appropriate for word knowledge of student
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

6. What? Comprehension Strategies
Strategy Application
All comprehension strategies apply.
Text that is close to the content-area shows greater build in comprehension strategies.
Students learning informational reading strategies are more likely to utilize the different skills when techniques are valuable and can be used in new learning situations.
Students can avoid this situation by understanding text structures…
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

7. What? Recognition of Structure
Text structure allows students to locate and organize information being presented.
Using clues such as:
Signal words,
Physical features,
Headings
Boldface type
Tables
& Graphic organizers
Students will be able to “see” the text structure for understanding and comprehension.
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

8. What? Monitoring Comprehension
Students need to understand if the text is making sense and know how to handle comprehension issues when they come up.
Tools such as searching, scanning and skimming are helpful to build understanding.
Text Search Model is one tool for understanding text.
See Chart page 688
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

9. What? Connecting to Word Knowledge
Information is learned by creating connections with information learned in the past.
Word knowledge shapes a readers perception of text.
Teacher guidance helps encourage understanding when new information does not link to previous word knowledge.
K-W-L charts are often used to stimulate word knowledge of a topic. For example see page 689.
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

10. What? Word Knowledge Tools
Predicting:
Making an informed guess of what the content contains.
Asking Questions:
Elaborative Interrogation= students create hypotheses as a way to remember facts.
Useful in Math and Science
Answering Questions:
Question-Answer Relationships Framework is a tool for students and teachers to use when answering questions based on a text. See chart page 691.
Constructing Mental Images:
Mental images are created as the reading is done, thus creating a visual mental image that can change as the content becomes more intricate.
Summarizing:
Students use one of three strategies to come the main idea of a text. Dependent upon the strategy being taught, students may use a series of steps of techniques to come the main idea of the text.
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

11. What? Multiple-Strategy Instruction Program
Collaborative Strategic Reading= creates students that use self monitoring comprehension strategies that support their understanding of informational text.
Reader Response utilizes two techniques to create understanding.
Discussion-Oriented Instruction focuses the student on content by engaging them through questioning.
Writing for Content-Area Learning utilizes students ability to respond to informational texts through their own written response, review of text, improving text, as well as producing their own informational text.
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

12. What? Motivation and Engagement
“Engaged readers are strongly motivated to learn from what they are reading- taking satisfaction in successful reading, believing in their reading skills, and persisting in the face of difficulty.” (Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008)
Students who show understanding through comprehension subsequently show understanding in content area.
Engaged informational readers are:
Motivated,
Knowledge-driven,
Socially interactive,
& strategic in how they go about reading.
Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) employ five motivational practices of:
Relevance,
Choice,
Collaboration,
Success,
& Conceptual theme.
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

13. What? Web-Based Text Web-based text is:
Able to supply options for greater comprehension;
Engaging when carefully chosen;
Encompasses a vast majority of student use;
Challenging due to timing, navigation understanding, distractions from outside sources, and harder to judge for credibility;
& A tool requiring a strategies to be manipulated for the content.
Strategy Application Chart provides many ideas for the direct application of informational text reading strategies on the web. See page 697.
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

14. Why? Informational Reading
Informational reading helps young readers to:
Build content knowledge and vocabulary;
Profit from students interest, curiosities, and experiences;
Provide opportunities for students to develop areas of expertise;
Prepare students for the texts they will see and use frequently as adults;
Support students in finding answers and creating questions;
&, serve as a tool for both serving and posing problems. (Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008)

15. When? To Teach, Assess, & Intervene
Primary Grades
Assess:
Frequently
When misusing or not using strategy
Intervene:
Intervention of comprehension strategies can be practiced through re-teaching strategies.
Assessing comprehension of Informational Text requires the use of several formats.
Informational Text provides interest reading in the primary grades…even when being read to the student.
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

16. How? Question-Answer Relationships
Question-Answer Relationships (QAR)
Research Based
Helps students to understand text relationships
Text- what I read…
Personal- what I believe in my head…
In the Text
In my head
Right There
The answers to the questions is “right there” in one sentence; the question and answer have the same meaning.
On My Own
The answer to the question comes entirely from students’ world knowledge.
Think and Search
The answer to the question requires searching across the text; the question and answer have different wordings.
Author and Me
The answer to the question comes from understanding the text in the conjunction with students’ world knowledge.
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

17. How? Paragraph Shrinking
Paragraph shrinking allows students to make summaries for identifying information learned in order to synthesize and restate the concept objective.
Steps of Paragraph Shrinking
1.Identify who or what (person, animal, place or thing) a paragraph is mostly about.
2. Identify the most important information about the who or what.
3. Shrink all the information into one main-idea statement of 10 words or less.
See Page 712
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

18. How? Collaborative Strategic Reading
Combination of two instructive strategies:
Comprehension Strategy Instruction
Cooperative Learning
Teacher models each strategy in whole group setting.
See Page 720
Before Reading: Preview
Scan-Brainstorm What You Know-Predict What You Will Learn
During Reading:
Click and Clunk-Get the Gist
After Reading: Wrap Up
Ask and Answer Questions-Review What You Learned
Students eventually learn to collaboratively use the strategies where each student knows his/her role.
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

19. How? Questioning the Author
Focus on text content through teacher-directed discussions.
Ability to engage in discussions to tackle text meaning.
Ability to recognize the intentions , biases, and fallibility of authors.
Ability to recognize that poor comprehension may be due to poorly written text.
Works both in whole class and small group reading strategies.
See page 733 for sample plan
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

20. How? Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction
Science instruction is paired with the strategic reading of informational and narrative texts, supported through student writing. (Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008)
Objectives:
Increase students’ reading comprehension, science knowledge, and motivation to read independently.
Comprehension Strategies Include:
Activating Background Knowledge
Questioning
Organizing Graphically
Structuring Story
Summarizing
See
Page 739
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn 2008

21. Conclusion Informational Reading is:
Expository Text that communicates facts about the natural or social world.
Used to reach content areas generally found in more specific areas of Math and Science.
Best used when aspects such as reading level, word knowledge, and content area are clearly understood and structure is reviewed.
Found in many sources for student comprehension.
Taught through many different styles and strategies to increase comprehension strategies in whole group, small group and individual learning styles.

22. Bibliography
Honig, Diamond, Gutlohn (2008) Teaching Reading Sourcebook, 2nd Ed. California: Arena Press