Session 2: Text Structure

Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade Practice Guide:

Recommendation 2: Teach students to identify and use the text’s organizational structure to comprehend, learn, and remember content.

  • Explain how to identify and connect the parts of narrative texts.
  • Provide instruction on common structures of informational texts.

 

Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices:

Recommendation 2: Provide direct and explicit comprehension strategy instruction

  • Select carefully the text to use when beginning to teach a given strategy.
  • Show students how to apply the strategies they are learning to different texts.
  • Make sure that the text is appropriate for the reading level of students.
  • Use a direct and explicit instruction lesson plan for teaching students how to use comprehension strategies.
  • Provide the appropriate amount of guided practice depending on the difficulty level of the strategies that students are learning.
  • Talk about comprehension strategies while teaching them.

 

Materials

 

Define Session Goals

Before we discuss today’s session goals, let’s discuss the reflection questions from Activity 1.2: Reflect and Next Steps for Comprehension Strategies. Ask volunteers to share their reflections.

  1. Did you teach the think aloud as planned? If not, describe any adjustments you made and why you made them.
  2. How did your students respond to your instruction?
  3. How did you (or will you) determine if students can independently use the comprehension strategy you introduced through the think aloud?

Thank you for sharing your reflections. Now, let’s review today’s session goals.

  • Understand how to teach students how to identify and connect the parts of narrative texts.
  • Understand how to teach common structures of informational texts.

 

Learn About the Recommendation and How-to Steps

Recommendations from the practice guides for grades K-3 and adolescents are similar, and Recommendation 2 from the Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention practice guide support Recommendation 2 from the Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade. This session will address the “how-to” steps from the K-3 practice guide Recommendation 2. Activities apply to grades K-12. You may wish to review pages 16-20 of the Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices with teachers of older students.

1. Explain how to identify and connect the parts of narrative texts.

Text structure is the organizational pattern of text that authors use to present information. Understanding how text is structured, or how it is organized:

  • Helps readers comprehend because it allows the reader to understand the author’s purpose.
  • Helps writers compose text for a specific purpose.
  • Has research evidence that it improves reading comprehension.
  • Needs to be taught explicitly, using the gradual release of responsibility.

Think about the text structure of a recipe. The text structure of a recipe is a list of ingredients and a sequence of directions of how to put the ingredients together. If you understand the text structure of a recipe, you are better able to comprehend a recipe than a person who doesn’t understand this text structure.

Before we dive into teaching narrative text structure, let’s review the difference between narrative and expository text. The call-out box on page 17 defines each:

  • Narrative texts portray a story, or sequence of related fictional or nonfictional events involving individuals or fictional characters; in the elementary grades, narrative texts can include historical fiction, fables, and autobiographies.
  • Informational texts include expository writing, pieces that argue in favor of one position or another, and procedural texts and documents. In the elementary grades, informational texts can include news articles, speeches, and timelines.

Text structure can be introduced to young children. Let’s consider narrative text structure, since narrative text is often used in kindergarten. Although, even in kindergarten children should also be introduced to informational text structure.

A narrative text structure tells a story and usually includes a beginning, middle, and ending. Narrative text structure often includes story elements, referred to as story grammar, which are the characters, setting, problem, and solution. When students understand narrative text structure, they will recognize the structure, for example when you read them a new story, and begin to visualize the setting and characters and even think about what might happen in the middle or at the end of the story.

When first introducing narrative text structure, use texts with clear story grammar, like The Three Little Pigs. The story grammar elements in this narrative text (depending on the version you read), are more obvious than some stories. With the right prompts from you, students can identify the pigs and the wolf as the characters; the pig’s houses as the setting; the wolf blowing down the pig’s houses as the problem; and the pigs all living in the strongest house made of brick as the solution. When first introducing narrative text structure, use texts with obvious story grammar elements to help students more quickly identify the elements. (You may wish to reference the names of higher level texts if you have teachers of older students).

Take a few minutes to read about how to identify and connect the parts of a narrative text on page 18 and 19 of the practice guide. Allow 5 minutes for participants to read and then facilitate a discussion. Use a think-pair-share with a larger group. Use whole group discussion for a smaller group.

  • Describe how you currently teach narrative text structure.
  • Describe one take-away from today’s discussion and this section of the practice guide (p. 18-19).

2. Provide instruction on common structures of informational text.

Now, let’s discuss the common structures of informational text. Informational text is also called expository text. Informational text structures typically apply to paragraphs or passages. The entire text may include multiple text structures. When first introducing informational text structure, use familiar topics or ideas and texts that provide clear examples of the target text structure.

A simple example is teaching the informational text structure, cause and effect using The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. In this book, it is clear that the caterpillar has a stomachache because he ate too much unhealthy food. So, the cause is eating unhealthy food and the effect is a stomachache. When teaching informational text structure, it is important to teach common clue words that can alert the reader to the text structure used. When teaching cause and effect text structure, common clue words to teach include: as a result; because; impact; if ___, then ___; therefore; since. (You may wish to reference the names of higher level texts if you have teachers of older students.)

Let’s review the common informational text structures in Table 6 on page 20. For each of the five text structures, the table includes a brief description, an example, common clue words, and sample activities. The structures of informational text are:

  • Description
  • Sequence
  • Problem and Solution
  • Cause and Effect
  • Compare and Contrast

Allow 3 minutes for participants to review Table 6.

These structures are often associated with informational text because they may be used more frequently in information text read or written, but they are also present and valuable in literary text. A text may contain more than one text structure and there may be times where students need to use each one to comprehend a difficult text or portion of a text. There may also be times when a student comprehends what he is reading and therefore, does not need to think explicitly about the text structure and how it supports comprehension. In other words, students need to know how to recognize and use each text structure to comprehend text, but they also need to recognize when they need to use text structure. This is part of the process of monitoring comprehension and understanding when there is a breakdown.

Reading instruction must equip English learners with strategies and knowledge to comprehend and analyze challenging narrative and expository texts. English learners and students who experience difficulties with language and literacy tasks may need more practice with scaffolding from you when learning about text structure. Graphic organizers, such as Venn diagrams and flow charts, are a way for students to organize information from expository text. Use explicit instruction when using graphic organizers as a support to teach informational text structure. Facilitate a discussion about Table 6. Use a think-pair-share with a larger group. Use whole group discussion for a smaller group.

Graphic organizers, such as Venn diagrams and flow charts, are a way for students to organize information from expository text. Use explicit instruction when using graphic organizers as a support to teach informational text structure. Facilitate a discussion about Table 6. Use a think-pair-share with a larger group. Use whole group discussion for a smaller group.

  • Describe how you teach one informational text structure.
  • Which informational text structure do you want to enhance in your instruction? What steps will you take to do so?

 

Collaborate

Let’s review Activity 2.1: Identifying Text Structure. Work with a partner to preview the texts you brought to today’s session. You can also use the texts and resources that I have provided. Refer to pages 19-21 of the practice guide as needed. Try to find an example of each text structure, record each title, and respond to the prompts:

  • Identify the purpose of the structure specific to the text.
  • List questions you asked yourself to identify the structure.
  • List clue words the author used.
  • Record example sentences in which the text structure is used.

Allow 25 minutes for this activity. Then, facilitate a discussion with the goal of hearing one example for each of the five text structures from a participant or pair of participants. Who would like to share with the whole group what they found for Description? Sequence? Problem and Solution? Cause and Effect? Compare and Contrast?

 

Reflect and Next Steps

To summarize, the overall goal of teaching text structure is for students to be able to use their knowledge of text structure to improve comprehension and writing. It’s important to teach common clue words with each text structure you teach. Graphic organizers can be used as an aid in reading and writing. Remember to teach one text structure at a time using the gradual release of responsibility and model and review it often. Finally, choose text carefully—when introducing a new text structure make sure the text has familiar content and clear examples of that structure. As students become familiar with the text structure, choose texts that increase in length and complexity and include multiple text structures that have already been taught.

Let’s review Activity 2.2: Reflect and Next Steps for Text Structure. You’ll complete 1-2 during our session and 3-6 after our session. We’ll discuss this activity at our next session.

  1. Select one of the text structures you identified in one of the texts you brought for Activity 2.1: Identifying Text Structure. Work with a partner to create a think aloud to teach the text structure, the clue words or questions to ask, and the meaning of the structure.
  2. When you teach this text structure to your students, what scaffolds will you provide for English language learners?
  3. Use the think aloud you created for #1 to teach your students the selected text structure.
  4. Did you teach the think aloud as planned? If not, describe any adjustments you made and why you made them.
  5. How did your students respond to your instruction? Which scaffolds were effective?
  6. How did you (or will you) determine if students can independently use the text structure you introduced through the think aloud?

Keep in mind that you will develop and deliver a series of lessons as a culminating project at the end of this course. Consider including what we have discussed today in your lessons. Your instruction will demonstrate the knowledge and skills gained from our PLC sessions.

Thank you for participating in today’s PLC session about text structure! Our next session will be about facilitating high quality discussions about the meaning of texts. Please bring a couple of texts that you use or plan to use with your students. It can be any text that you think will support deep discussion. The texts can be for a read aloud or texts read independently by the students.