Informational Texts
In the Classroom
Informational Text? Stories?
Barbara Moss
- Does research on informational text in the classroom
- Used to teach middle school and saw many struggling readers
- Found that many readers were more interested in things in the real world than stories
What is Informational Text?
- Nonfiction books that are like stories (Me...Jane, picture books about rocks, astronauts, frogs, etc.)
- Persuasive Texts
- How-to Texts
- Newspaper/Magazine Articles
- Primary Source Text
- Textbooks
- Encyclopedias
- Much More!!
Information text helps students be successful on standardized tests and in the work place
What can we do?
- Provide students with wide range text in general
- Provide opportunities for students to read informational text
- Supplement basal readers with other text
- Find what students are interested in and supply them with appropriate informational text
- Also, principals and policy makers need to be aware of this research
Next Step
- Researching how much informational text is the optimal amount? 50/50?
- Why teachers are or are not using this type of text?
Emphasis in Common Core Standards
“The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.”
One of the most significant “instructional shifts” in these standards is the demand that schools teach more nonfiction or “informational text” across subject areas. Because most of what students will read in college and in the workplace is not fiction, but texts that are “informational in structure,” the standards say that that by fourth grade, half of what students read should be informational text, while by 12th grade, students should be reading nonfiction 70 percent of the time.Resource: http://www.corestandards.org/