Knowledge and Skills Statement
Have students work in small groups to read an informational text. Then engage students in a discussion regarding the central idea of the text. Provide a graphic organizer for students to use when identifying important ideas and supporting details. Review the graphic organizer and have students use that information to determine the central idea and supporting details of the text.
Further Explanation
In this example, students must understand that informational texts have distinguishing characteristics, such as the use of a central idea to guide the focus of the writing. Students will examine the important ideas and supporting details in the text to determine the central idea.
Research
1. Schugar, H. R., & Dreher, M. J. (2017). U. S. fourth graders' informational text comprehension: Indicators from NAEP. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education. 9(3), 523–552. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1134190.pdf
Summary: The study is focused on the reading of informational texts, based upon an international assessment that found that elementary school students in the U S. perform significantly lower on measures of informational reading than on measures of literary reading. Students who cannot read informational texts may face challenges with school tasks and in the workplace. A key finding supports classroom talk as a way to provide students with the academic vocabulary they need in order to comprehend informational texts.
2. Meyer, B. J., & Ray, M. N. (2011). Structure strategy interventions: increasing reading comprehension of expository text. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education,4(1), 127–152. Accessed online at https://eric.ed.gov/?q=expository+text&pr=on&ft=on&id=EJ1070453
Summary: In this literature review, researchers examine empirical studies designed to teach the structure strategy to increase reading comprehension of expository texts. Strategy interventions employ modeling, practice, and feedback to teach students how to use text structure strategically and eventually automatically. The analysis suggests that direct instruction, modeling, scaffolding, elaborated feedback, and adaptation of instruction to student performance are keys in teaching students to strategically use knowledge about text structure.