Annie Goodwin
Content-Chapter 1
Ensuring All Students Read,
Write, and Think
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Challenges to Reading Effectively
for Info.
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69% of 8th grade
students failed to
score proficient at
reading on the
National Assessment
of Educational
Progress (NAEP)
By age of 17, only 1 in
17 students can read
and understand
information such as
that found in science
section of local
newspaper.
At university level,
45.2% of upcoming
first-year students
require remedial
English courses
Wise teachers
remember to activate
the background
knowledge with
students.
Informational texts are
more difficult for most
students to read than
other texts.
Lack of instruction
using informational
texts contributes to
lower levels of reading
comprehension when
reading this type of
text.
Students must recognize
complex literary devices
such as mood, tone,
allegory, paradox, and
So much information shows that
the reading achievement of
middle and high school youth is
influenced by quality instruction.
The statistics show just how
illiterate Americans are.
If we emphasize more on the
quality instruction, we can better
prepare students for their
reading in the future and help
them to better comprehend.
symbolism.
Common Types of Informational
Texts
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What are the Characteristics of
Informational Texts?
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Trade books are books Teachers need to be open to all
kinds of texts
that are produced for
the public market.
Photo-essays are a
unified collection of
photographs that
explore some aspect
of the human
experience.
As technology
continues to increase,
we as teachers need to
consider how students
will use a variety of
texts in the classroom.
Informational texts
differ from narrative
texts in tone, style,
structure, features,
and authority.
“Authority” is one of
the most
distinguishing
attributes between
information and
narrative texts.
Exemplification text
describes people,
places, or phenomena.
Compare/ contrast
text structures also
rely on descriptive
text, but instead
explain how two or
more people, places,
or phenomena are
similar or different.
Cause/ effect text
structures, which show
the casual
relationships between
It’s important for students to use
informational texts because it
will help them grasp what’s
going on.
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Common Expository Text
Structures
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Text Features
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Common Text Styles
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phenomena, can be
deceptively similar to
compare/ contrast,
but their signal words
give them away.
Problem/ solution text
is that it’s subtler than
some of the others
and may develop over
the course of several
sentences or
paragraphs.
”Exemplification” text
describes people,
places, or phenomena.
Signal words for
exemplification texts
include adjectives,
adverbs, and phrases.
“Temporal” structures
use chronology or a
sequence of events to
inform the reader.
Each is beneficial to the student
in comprehending the material.
Text features are
structural items that
are used to organize
content.
Examples of text
features are headings,
bulleted items, index,
etc.
Text structures expand
reader comprehension
of content.
Text features help organize the
information in the textbooks
which helps the students
understand more clearly. It is
important for students to know
how to use text features.
Teachers can help
students understand
fiction by providing
ideas as to how
different types of
genres are structured.
Cause and effect is the
Students need to know how to
analyze information on their
own and grasp the concepts.
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Critical Literacy and Its Relation
to Reading for Information
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Supporting Reading for
Information
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Developing Reading
Comprehension
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most common type of
text structure used in
a text such as a
science book.
“Critical literacy” is the
ability to move beyond
simple extraction of
information.
“Disrupting the
commonplace” is an
aspect that invites
students to look at
their everyday world
in a different way.
“Teaching is not a
neutral form of social
practice.”
Teachers should help
students develop an
understanding of their
world, question it, and
take action.
We need to teach students how
to read for information so that
they can ask questions to better
understand things.
Content area teachers We as teachers need to
understand the text in order to
who are
offer more support.
knowledgeable about
how text is understood
are able to offer better
support and
instruction in using
content area texts.
It is important not to
teach reading
comprehension
strategies in isolation
from one another.
“Metacognition” is the
awareness of how one
learns.
Comprehension occurs Students need a plan so that
they can understand what they
with the use of
read.
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The Benefits for English
Language Learners
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Conclusion
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activities that are
designed to teach
students what good
readers do.
Readers use
metacognitive skills in
reading when they
develop a plan of
action,
maintain/monitor the
plan, and evaluate the
plan.
Teaching students
what to do before,
during, and after they
read is essential for
reading
comprehension.
Integrating language
and content is
important for effective
teaching for English
learners.
English learners need
instruction in
text structures, text
features, and
comprehension
strategies.
English learners also
need instruction in
fluency, vocabulary,
and grammar.
Students must learn to
read for information,
no matter how old
they are.
Guiding readers
through texts in order
to understand content
is an essential
responsibility of every
They too need instruction like
beginning readers and have the
ability to be successful.
I feel like I need to drive my
students to be successful readers
and teach them how to read so
they may be successful learners.
teacher.
Summary:
Overall, students need to learn how to organize and comprehend what they read so that they can grasp
the information and understand it. When the information is grasped, students can become successful
readers.