Unlocking Expository Text

Teaching American History In Miami-Dade County

December 14, 2012

Fran Macko, Ph.D.fmacko@aihe.info

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?

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

Informational Text and the Common Core

• The Common Core State Standards require students to read, comprehend and analyze increasingly complex informational text.

• 70% of high school reading will be informational text.

• Informational text makes up 90% of adult reading.

Why do students struggle with informational text?

• 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.

• How do narrative and informational text differ?

• Turn and talk with a colleague.

• What is on your list?

How do narrative and informational text differ?

• Narrative and informational text differ in their organizational pattern, language and purpose.

• How do narrative and informational text differ in their organization al pattern, language and purpose?

• Turn and talk with a colleague and generate a list of differences.

Organizational Structure

• Narrative text typically follows one structure or story grammar.

• Narrative texts have a beginning, middle and end and are frequently chronological.

• Narrative text includes such elements as theme, plot, conflict, resolution, characters and setting.

• Informational text reflects a variety of structures or organizational patterns: definition, cause-effect, sequence, categorization, comparison/contrast, enumeration, process, problem-solution, and description.

The Seven Organizational Patterns of Informational Text

• 1 - Chronological sequence organizes information in the time sequence that the events occurred.

• 2- Compare and Contrast organizes information about two or more topics in terms of their similarities and differences.

• 3 - Concept/ Definition organizes information by beginning with a generalized idea or abstraction and then delineating its characteristics or attributes.

• 4 - Description organizes information around the characteristics of a specific person, place or event and does not reflect a particular order.

• 5 -Episode organizes a large body of information around specific times, places, people or sequence of events.

• 6 - Generalization/ Principle organizes information into general statements with supporting examples.

• 7 - Process/ Cause and Effect organizes information into a series of steps leading to a specific product, or into a causal sequence that leads to a specific outcome.

• All seven patterns can be found in informational text. Some texts reflect more than one organizational pattern.

Purpose

• The main purpose of narrative text is to tell a story.

• Students read narrative text for enjoyment, to analyze story grammar, and appreciate the author’s writing style.

• The purpose of informational text is to inform or describe.

• Informational text 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.

Language

• The language of narrative text is often personal and informal.

• Narrative texts uses dialogue and more emotional language.

Language

• The language of informational text is often formal.

• Informational text uses technical terms and academic vocabulary..

Narrative and Expository Text A Comparison

NarrativeReader’s Purpose

• Enjoyment• Interpret character• Appreciate style• Analyze plot• Identify story grammar• Critically evaluate

InformationalReader’s Purpose

• Identify main ideas• Determine trends• Consider implications• Identify viewpoints• Interpret visuals• Critically evaluate

NarrativeTypical Language

• Personal and informal• Diverse vocabulary• Dialogue• Expressive and emotive• Action, humor and style

InformationalTypical Language

• Formal prose• Descriptive• Technical terms and

concept words• Visual supports

NarrativeTypical Organization

• Narrative (tells a story)• Genre characteristics

(novel, short story, play, poem)

• Story grammar (setting, character, plot, climax, resolution)

InformationalTypical Organization

• Structured (sub-headings and case studies)

• Maps, charts and pictures

• Main ideas and details• Chronological sequence• Cause and effect

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.

Comparing Narrative and Informational

Text Structure

• 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?

Modeling the Strategy

Modeling the Strategy:Narrative Text

• Read the excerpt from Across Five Aprils.

• 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?

Checking for Understanding

• Purpose: Why did the author write this piece?– To tell the story of the

Creighton family– To tell the story through

Jethro’s eyes– To introduce us to the

members of the family– To describe the way the

family lived– To explain the impact of

the war on the family

• 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 regional language

• 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

Modeling the Strategy: Informational Text

• Read excerpt from: “The Mudsill Theory”, James Henry Hammond, 1858.

• 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? What cue words indicate the pattern?

Checking for Understanding

• Purpose: Why did the author write this piece?– To give a rationale for

slavery.– To argue for the

admission of Kansas as a slave state.

– To compare the working conditions of poor Northerners with Southern slaves.

• What challenges would students encounter with the purpose?

• Vocabulary: What kinds of vocabulary words or language did the author use?– Words you find in a

textbook– Foreign words– Hard words

• What challenges would students encounter with the language?

• Structure: How is the piece organized? – It has paragraphs– It has quotations– It has a main idea

and supporting details

• What is the main organizational pattern?

• What challenges would students encounter with the structure?

Comparing Narrative and Informational Text

• What themes/ ideas/ concepts do both pieces share?

• How does the author’s choice of language and organizational structure support his/her purpose?

• How can the comparison of narrative and expository text support student understanding of events in history?

• Turn and talk with a partner.

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 narrative and informational text.

Adapting Unlocking Informational Text Structure to Your Classroom

• How might you use the strategy of comparing narrative and informational text in your social studies classroom?

• What adaptations to the strategy might you make?

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 organizational pattern--e.g., cause-

effect, definition, persuasion– organize the information within informational text

into an outline for subsequent analysis.

– 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.

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 expository 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.