Using Expository Texts in the Classroom Every day in college I have read an expository text, or so it has seemed, and I don’t think that is very far off from the truth. These subject-centered pieces offer little in the way of dialogue and creativity, and are more about educating the reader on a specific subject. They present information based on facts and research and can be works such as textbooks, journal articles, anthologies, and non-fiction books (Grand Canyon University, 2010). Expository texts are very important to students to be able to disseminate and analyze and understand, and also they need to be able to write expository texts of their own. Expository texts come in many different forms including, but not limited to, compare-contrast pieces, cause-effect papers, descriptions, and problem-solutions works, all presented with the mind-set to instruct the reader in some way (Grand …show more content…
Specific strategies that are used to help students identify certain structures in the text and to help identify patterns in the material they are using is a great advantage to using expository text in the classroom (Grand Canyon University, 2010). These types of texts are a good tool to help the teacher supplement their teachings by giving a concrete text to read and reference. According to Lapp, Fisher, and Grant (2008), using expository text to gradually “release the responsibility” of learning on the students, it “enabled her students to take control of their learning” (pp. 372). As students progress through school, they will need to be able to learn independently and using certain strategies with expository text will help students reach that goal. Using these types of texts early on will only help students later in their schooling, as they will have to continually read and analyze them throughout
In English 1102, I was exposed to a variety of different genres, including, argumentative research paper, an annotated bibliography, an analytical paper, and a workplace specific piece. Entering this class the majority of papers I had written were all analytical, and in this class we went above and beyond the basic 5 paragraph essay. Though each paper had a different genre and style, I learned that each project was similar in composition.
Through these resources, activities, and strategies, students are able to make progress into distinguishing the main idea and supporting details in reading texts. Through this they are also able to organize thoughts to develop a topic sentence and moreover use supporting facts and details. Many of the resources and activities done in this lesson allowed the students to think for themselves and make educated guesses based on the information given. Moreover they were allowed multiple opportunities to share with one another about heir thought
For students to share responses and express a point of view they must have a deeper understanding of the literary experiences that the text delivers. This understanding and learning can be developed though a class discussion with key guiding questions. Marzaro states that a teachers role during a critical-input experience is to “ask students questions that require them to elaborate on the content, engage students in activities that require them to summarise and re-present the content, and engage students in activities that require them to reflect on their learning” (Marzaro, 2007, p. 184). Students learn best when engaged, therefore the multimodal text is the primary source of engagement, the hook of the lesson.
I asked Student A eight comprehension questions about the text once she was finished reading. She did not have a problem with any of the questions. For example, one of the questions was “How old is Jessie now?” she responded right away with the correct answer “thirteen.” She did not even have to look back to the story to find the sentence; “Now that she is thirteen, Jessie competes with adults.” Student A was able to answer the “right there” questions with ease. Being able to remember key details from a text is crucial to developing the ability to comprehend what she is reading. She is already at a great stage when it comes to text comprehension and this will only help with further development. She had a purpose when she read and was reading for the details as opposed to reading to finish the text. She understood what was happening and if she continues to do this in the future, she will be able to understand more difficult texts by putting all of the key details together. Since Student A is able to recall key information from text, it will allow her to summarize and retell a text with ease. This strength will help Student A as she continues to develop as a reader because as the readings increase in difficulty she will remember the basic key details that she read and recount the story based on the main
It would be foolish to claim that I have never overanalysed and disregarded conveying ideas and theories properly, in the interest of impressing my reader. Nevertheless, this aspiration indicates there is more to academic writing than simply passing information.
...t comprehension, it is important to analyze and view all aspects of the text, this will ensure the education you’re receiving, as well as the personal ties you make while reading.
The authors of this article discuss using a strategy for writing called the open-mind portrait technique. Most commonly, this technique is used to help students as they begin to craft narrative text, but in this case, the authors recognize that this technique can be a used to improve student’s expository writing skills; skills which become increasingly critical through middle and high school and finally into higher education and in most careers. Students struggle with writing in an expository manner, in reporting facts and making connections without expressing their own emotions or opinions. Furthermore, expository writing is inherently linked with the ability to read and comprehend information in a text book, something with which students
... student from comprehending a text. How can a student understand a given text if the student does not understand a big portion of words in the text? Students enter school with vocabularies whether big or small and teachers need to nourish and build them up and comprehend harder and more complex texts.
Your purpose in reading source materials and then in drawing upon them to write your own material is often reflected in the wording of an assignment.
Strategies necessary to comprehend informational text are different from those needed to comprehend literature (source), and since adults primarily read informational texts, these skills will be beneficial as students grow older (Kane, 2008). Moreover, since prior knowledge is necessary to understand texts (source), each subject requires its own reading skills.
If the teacher gives the students the best text, the student can that the knowledge from the text and apply it to critical thinking. This is considered knowledge transformation (Hodges 2015). If the wrong kind of material is used to include Content Area Literacy in subjects, the students will be suck with knowledge retelling. This will show that the material was not completely grasped. When students are stuck in the retelling phase, they do not fully comprehend the materials and reason that the materials were given in general. When a text is broken down and explained in the best way, the students can go beyond the retelling stage and begin transforming the knowledge into deeper understanding of the content given and the subject areas as a
... for teachers to choose materials that will hook students and motivate them to engage in their own learning. Teachers should provide multiple learning opportunities in which stu¬dents can experience success and can begin to build confidence in their ability to read, write, and think at higher level. By connecting strategies for learning, such as searching, compre¬hending, interpreting, composing, and teaching content knowledge, students are given the opportunity to succeed in their education. These elements include: fundamental skills such as phonemic awareness, phonemic decoding, and other word analysis skills that support word reading accuracy; text reading fluency; strategies for building vocabulary; strategies for understanding and using the specific textual features that distinguish different genres; and self-regulated use of reading comprehension strategies.
As a writer, I struggled my first semester, which took a huge toll on my excitement for both English and writing. Although, I came to realize that with a little help, proofreading, and editing (several times), I was able to generate a well-written essay or at best an average one. Regardless of my poor start, I continued to appreciate my love of English language arts courses. I was blown away by all the juicy classical literature and landmark poems I was able to read and comprehend. I loved all of my classes in college, and I honestly enjoyed the readings! There is so much that can be learned from examining literature and research. Without having read and wrote countless assignments about various topics, novels, poems, and more, I do not believe I would still be motivated to become a high school English teacher and literature professor. My love of reading is a love that I hope will be contagious enough for my future students to capture and spread. In the meanwhile, my continuous love of the Brothers Grimm Tales has inspired a concentration in Children’s literature for my second master’s degree, and I am almost positive that I have conjured a snippet of my future dissertation as well from observations in select
It is important that when selecting complex text educators look for specific factors that would meet each reader’s needs. These factors include language proficiency, background knowledge and experiences, and level of motivation. Depending on the factors mentioned, the educators can differentiate the instruction to meet the needs of the students where they could read a text and apply strategies learned. It is important to understand the text complexity because we do want readers to read text which are not challenging enough or that are extremely challenge that would make their self-efficacy low. Therefore, when Fisher & Frey (2012) stated the factors to take into consideration when selecting a text are established, readers would interact with the text. Moreover, the use of comprehension strategies like question and answer relationships (Reutzel & Cooter, 2016) would help the readers comprehend the text as they read
The nonfiction genre allows the reader and writer to learn about a topic they particularly enjoy or one that they know nothing about. I learned that the nonfiction genre can become an enjoyable, hands-on experience. Our classroom environment opened my eyes to various ways to have a writer make nonfiction writing their own. Writer’s have the ability to find a topic they want to learn more about and it gives them an outlet to teach others. Student are able to use prior knowledge to develop an idea about a certain topic and create a piece with factual information. I learned that factual information can easily sound like it comes straight out of a textbook, but after learning about the different ways it relates