Whats the Fuss About Informational Text IT

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Whats the Fuss About Informational Text (IT)?

• Principals Literacy Institute
• September 2009
• Dr. Reed F. Spencer

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Why the fuss about Informational Text (IT)?

• 86 of what adults read are IT
• 50 to 85 of all passages in tests are IT
• However, only
• 9.8 of books found in classrooms are IT
• 16-20 of passages in basals are IT

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Why IT (cont.)?

• IT has significantly fewer cultural and language
  barriers (more on this later).
• IT is more motivating to some students who may
  otherwise not be motivated to read.
• IT always has the opportunity of two
  instructional goals content AND reading.
• IT is much more dense in vocabulary and concept
  development than fiction.

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Why IT (cont.)?

• Listening to IT is not like listening to fiction
  or narrative.
• Reading IT, each different kind, is not like
  reading fiction or narrative.
• Writing IT is not like writing fiction or
  narrative.

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Reading Development is Genre Specific

• The research of Nell Duke, Michigan State
  University, suggests that we understand that
  reading development is genre specific. Reading
  fiction will not necessarily help you be better
  at reading a cookbook, directions, or a computer
  manual. (p. 39)

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Use the term informational text, rather than
non-fiction, with students

• Informational text communicates more clearly
  the purpose of the text to gain information,
  rather than to be entertained.
• Also, saying non-fiction tells what it is NOT,
  rather than what it is.

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Selections fromMake It Real

• Strategies for Success with Informational Texts
• By Linda Hoyt, Heinemann

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• In this Information Age, the importance of
  being able to read and write informational texts
  critically and well cannot be overstated.
  Informational literacy is central to success, and
  even survival, in schooling, the workplace and
  the community.
• -Nell Duke

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Read Aloudswith Informational Text

• Reading aloud to students is about several
  important things, including
• First and foremost, it is about modeling
• comprehension strategies.
• 2. Providing comprehensible input
• 3. Motivation and enjoyment

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BEFORE Read Aloud

• 50 fiction and 50 non-fiction
• Make a plan to read many kinds of IT
• - book reviews - sections of texts
• - magazines - model use features
• - newspapers - TV Guides
• - recipes - menus
• - directions - travel brochures
• - dictionaries - web navigation

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DURING Read Aloud

• Model thinking in terms of information rather
  than entertainment.
• Model strategies of dipping in and out,
  searching, referencing of text rather than
  start-to-finish reading.
• Model the difference in the speed with which you
  read IT
• Make connections (text-to-text, text-to-self,
  text-to-world)
• Model your thinking metacognition
• Model use of IT text and layout features

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Teach and use specific strategies that can be
used for read alouds, shared reading,
guided reading, and independent
reading.
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Strategy Stop and Retell

• Students are told in advance that they will be
  retelling a piece of the text. When directed,
  they turn to a partner and retell the passage in
  their own words.

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Strategy I Remember!

• Encourage students to listen carefully as you
  read.
• Tell them they need to remember something that
  they think is interesting or important.
• Tell them that each you stop reading they will
  share I Remember information with their
  partner.
• Students learn that recalling facts and
  information is different than keeping track of a
  story line in fiction.

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Strategy Say Something!

• This works the same as I Remember! except that
  students begin making connections to the text and
  discussing those connections. The discussion
  gets much broader than a simple retell or
  restatement of facts.

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Model use of text and layout features

• Title Captions near pictures
• Table of Contents Labels on pictures
• Photographs Different kinds of print (bold,
  italic)
• Drawings Drawings that compare things
• Lists Diagrams
• Descriptions Cross-section drawings
• Directions Glossary
• Headings Questions/answers
• Index Bullets
• Charts Info about the authors research
• Maps Insets

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AFTER Read Aloud

• Chart on the wall the kinds of texts you are
  reading aloud.

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Shared Reading

• Shared reading experiences provide an
  opportunity to model language and fluency as in
  read alouds, but with a higher level of
  intensity. Because the students can actually see
  the text, strategies for using picture clues,
  boldface headings, titles, captions, and other
  textual features become visible.
• (p. 19)

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Shared and Guided Reading Strategies with IT

• Use the strategies you taught in read alouds
• Stop and Retell
• I Remember!
• Say Something!
• Create Wall Stories

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Big Books and Overheads

• Use a big book or make an overhead of a page
  from an IT book. Focus on your lesson objective
  (layout feature).
• What has the author done to support our
  understanding of the text?
• If we were to make a plan for reading this
  page, what would that be? What would we do
  first? Next?

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Headings

• Cover the text and have students predict what
  will be in it from the heading.
• Cover the heading, read the text, and then have
  students write a heading for the section.

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Independent Reading with IT

• Provide students a log to record books read
• and genres of each. Color code the genres (red
  for fiction, green for poetry, blue for How-to
  books, yellow for books about animals, etc.)

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Independent Reading with IT

• Provide students a form on which they
• track IT layout features.

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Independent Reading with IT

• Conference with another student after independent
  reading. Share
• Something I remember
• How I used a reading strategy
• What text feature was in my book and how it
  helped me understand.

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Supporting English Language Learners with IT

• IT offers more supportmore comprehensible
  inputto English Language Learners than narrative
  fiction.
• How?
• IT crosses cultural boundaries better than
  narrative fiction.
• Why?

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Strategies for Using IT with ELL

• Use small groups more often. BE sure not to
  structure the group to take the talking away from
  the ELL student.
• It is even more important that you use guided
  reading settings daily.
• Reading with partners.
• Jigsaw groups are marvelous ELL strategies! IT
  books are a natural for jigsaw activities.

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Strategies for Using IT with ELL

• Label pictures more than the author has.
• Learn to draw while you talk.
• Provide frequent opportunities for retell.
• Use graphic organizers often.
• Remember to stop often when reading.
• Use wordless IT books to have ELL students
  dictate or write responses.
• Review visual information before reading text.

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Strategies for Using IT with ELL

• Engage in planned repeated reading of IT so ELL
  students can connect text to photographs, charts,
  etc. First time for main idea, second time for
  specific detail, next for specific vocabulary
  words, etc.
• Tell the book first, page by page! Then go back
  and read the text. This helps ELL students to be
  more able to connect.

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Strategies for Using IT with ELL

• Deliberately teach the vocabulary of IT, e.g.
  First, second, third, then, next, finally, also,
  in addition to, on the other hand, however,
  because, as a result of,
• Create cloze activities with well-known texts.
• But all s________ have eight l_______
• and two body p________.

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Some books
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