Reference no: EM133711194
Assignment: Teachers Values- Working with Expository Texts
Objective: Learners will identify the eight types of expository texts and graphic organizers that could help students comprehend difficult texts.
A teacher needs to make sure that students know how information is structured and presented in various texts.
The two major text structures, narrative and expository, place different demands on readers' comprehension.
Students tend to be more familiar with narrative text structures. They have early experiences with narrative text from storybooks and basal reader selections. However, in the typical content area classroom, teachers use textbooks as the basis for their instruction, and textbooks most often use expository structures.
Without understanding text structure, students often have difficulty getting meaning from their content area reading materials. Research has established a strong relationship between students' understanding of text structure and reading comprehension. So, teachers need to facilitate learning and TEACH strategies to identify important information within the text.
Expository materials contain special organizational features, such as text headings and subheadings, chapter and section previews, and summaries. Most also contain a table of contents, indices, and glossaries. They may use extensive graphics such as tables, charts, diagrams, figures, photographs, and illustrations, each with explanatory captions.
Effective teachers incorporate these techniques daily:
A. Identify and use the various structures found in an expository text, and encourage students to incorporate these structures into their writing.
B. Identify and use special text features such as headings and subheadings, previews, summaries, photographs and illustrations, and the captions that accompany them
C. Recognize and make use of words that signal a particular type of text structure, including causal indicators and words that indicate time, order, sequences, or comparisons
D. Use information in the table of contents, indices, and glossaries
E. Interpret text graphics such as charts, tables, and figures, and construct their own graphics.
For additional information about text structure and instruction, see Comprehension Instruction, published by Texas Education Agency, 2002.