TEACHING STUDENTS TO BE BETTER READERS AND WRITERS

THROUGH TEACHING THEM COMMON NONFICTION TEXT

STRUCTURES

By Emily Delanty Aguilar

MY LIFE

Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on bilingual education

Bilingual classroom teacher for 6 years (1st grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade)

Bilingual Title 1 teacher for 4 years (Serving K-5th Grades)

Peace Corps Paraguay- Elementary Education Advisor- 2 ½ years

LET’S PLAY!

What can you take through the green glass doors?

CONTENTIONS

Students generally feel more comfortable reading narrative versus expository texts

Students need specific tools they can use to help them better read, understand and write nonfiction

When students make the switch from 2nd to 3rd grade, the literature they are reading shifts from mostly fiction to mostly nonfiction. Students need to be prepared for this shift.

We live in a mostly expository world. If students don’t know how nonfiction works, they will have a difficult time understanding the world around them (think Internet).

TURN AND TALK

How do we support the reading and writing of fiction in our classrooms?

How do we support the reading and writing of nonfiction with our students?

How much nonfiction/expository text do you use in your classroom? How frequently?

Do your students have difficulty reading or writing expository text?

RELATED RESEARCHStudents of all ages generally find reading expository text more difficult than reading narrative text (Langer, 1985)

Children have far less familiarity with expository texts and their underlying structures than with narrative (Chambliss, 1995; Goldman, 1997)

Children need more than exposure to informational texts; they need instruction that familiarizes them with its organization and structure (Moss, 2004)

Teaching common expository text structures such as description, sequence, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, and problem and solution facilitates reading and writing of exposition (Block, 1993; Goldman & Rakestraw, 2000; McGee & Richgels, 1985; Raphael, Kirschner, & Englert, 1988)

Students who learn to use the organization and structure of informational texts are better able to comprehend and retain the information found in them (Goldman & Rakestraw, 2000; Pearson & Duke, 2002)

If today’s students are to meet the literacy demands of the future, they need to engage in authentic literacy tasks with expository texts (Moss, 2004)

WHAT IS TEXT STRUCTURE?

The structure and organization of the text is the arrangement of ideas and the relationships among the ideas (Armbruster, 2004)

Readers [and writers] who are unaware of the text structures are at a disadvantage because they do not approach reading [or writing] with any type of reading [or writing] plan (Meyer, Brandt, & Bluth, 1980)

Macro-structure versus micro-stucture

WHAT ARE THE F IVE MOST COMMON NONFICTION TEXT

STRUCTURES?

Description:  Sensory and descriptive details help readers visualize information. It shares the who, what, where, when, why, and how of a topic/subject.

Sequence & Order: Sequence of Events: Chronological texts present events in a sequence from beginning to end. How-To: How-To texts organize the information in a series of directions.

Compare & Contrast: Authors use comparisons to describe ideas to readers. Similarities and differences are shared.

Cause & Effect: Informational texts often describe cause and effect relationships. The text describes events and identifies reasons (causes) for why the event happened.

Problem & Solution:The text introduces and describes a problem and presents one or more solutions.

3R D GRADE STANDARDS THAT THE APPROACH SUPPORTS

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.8 Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.9 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

4 T H GRADE STANDARDS THAT THE APPROACH SUPPORTS

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.5 Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. (Grades 5-12 state the same goal)

5 T H GRADE STANDARDS THAT SUPPORT THE APPROACH

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.5 Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts.

6 T H - 1 2 T H GRADE STANDARDS THAT SUPPORT THE APPROACH

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.5 Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the ideas.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.5 Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to the development of the ideas.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.5 Analyze in detail the structure of a specific paragraph in a text, including the role of particular sentences in developing and refining a key concept.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.5 Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.5 Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.2a Introduce a topic; organize ideas, concepts, and information, using strategies such as definition, classification, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. (Standard repeats in superieor grades; eventually wording changes to “organize complex ideas”)

ACTIVITY #1

Read through the paragraphs you have been given. Assign a structure type to each of the paragraphs. The common nonfiction structure types are listed below:

• Problem and Solution• Cause and Effect• Description• Sequence • Comparison and contrast

REFLECTION

How would students benefit from knowing the common nonfiction text structures?

What, if anything, would being familiar with the structures allow students to do that they may not have been able to do before?

ACTIVITY #2

You will now receive an excerpt from an advanced-level nonfiction book. Please read the excerpt and decide which of the nonfiction text structure the author tends to use. If the author used a combination of text structures, please make a note of which of the structures s/he used.

• Problem and Solution• Cause and Effect• Description• Sequence • Comparison and contrast

REFLECTION

What did you like/dislike about this activity?

How easy/difficult was it for you to identify a structure/structural pattern in the work you read?

How, if at all, did this activity change the way you think about reading/writing nonfiction text?

LAST ACTIVITY

Synthesize the information you read in your excerpt by writing a paragraph about it using one of the nonfiction text structures you learned about today. When you finish, try it again using a different type of text structure.

• Problem and Solution• Cause and Effect• Description• Sequence • Comparison and contrast

TEXT SYNTHESIS USING THE CAUSE AND EFFECT

STRUCTURE

El barco Titanic naufragó el 15 de abril del año 1914. El naufragio ocurrió por una combinación de factores. El factor determinante fue que la nave estaba navegando a una velocidad bastante alta para aquellas aguas peligrosas en dónde podían encontrarse con glaciares sin tomar la precaucion necesaria, debido a eso ocurrio el choque lo que causó el destrozo de la nave y el hundimiento del mismo. Otra razón fue que el tripulante encargado de inspeccionar las aguas no vio el glaciar a tiempo. Una vez que vieron el glaciar, fue demasiado tarde para esquivarlo. Si la tripulación del barco hubiese hecho su trabajo, el Titanic nunca hubiese naufragado .

REFLECTION

What kinds of mental exercises did this activity encourage you to do?

Do you think that you will use your knowledge of common nonfiction text structures to help you write expository pieces in the future? Why or why not?

HOW I TAUGHT THE STRUCTURES TO MY

STUDENTS

Since the students are familiar with the structure terms from their reading comprehension work, I introduced the students to them altogether. I handed each student a paragraph with a different structure type and asked them to stand next to the correct sign (I had posted signs naming each of the structure types around the room).

As a class, we went over the answers. I then had the students make posters describing their text structure, key words to indicate the structure and draw a visual representation of the structure.

The students then used the paragraphs they had read to fill in the visual representation they drew.

We had a carousel session where each group got to present/teach their structure types to the other groups.

I then had the students read self-selected fiction or nonfiction books throughout the school year. Using these books, they synthesized the information they had read according to one of the common text structures. They wrote their synthesis in paragraphs much like you are doing today.

I expected my students to write 2 paragraphs per week at the beginning of the year and 3 by the middle of the year. I gave them 2 thirty minute periods to work on either reading or writing in-class each week. Major foci: Clear structure and the use of examples from the books they were reading.

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS

We know that students need tools to be able to better read and write nonfiction text. How would you give them these tools?

What I’ve mentioned today is one of the specific tools that could be used to teach students about nonfiction. What other tools can you think of that would be useful to them when encountering nonfiction assignments?