While reading this article I began to think back to times I remember observing informational text being used in elementary schools I have visited, and I could not think of one time I have seen a teacher ask her students to read informational text. All too often teachers just present students with the information they need when lecturing, or they read the information to them. As the article discussed, the lack of contact with informational text can harm a child's development in many areas such as comprehension and subject area content. If teachers provide informational texts for students to read, they can easily teach across the curriculum.
As I read, I also thought about how limited my experiences with informational text were as an elementary student. I wonder if my limited experiences as a child correlate to the problems I have now with reading and comprehending information from textbooks. The importance of exposing young students to a variety of informational texts such as newspapers, computers, and tradebooks was also discussed in the article. This is very important, because it gives students who might not enjoy one type of informational text other ways to learn and become interested in a subject.
The information Barbara Moss presented lead me to ask these questions:
- If children were introduced to informational text at a younger age, how much smarter would our children be? Would the U.S. produce more scientists, mathematicians, historians, and more well rounded individuals in general?
- What are some ways present informational text to students just beginning to read?
Regarding your first question, haha I would like to think so. And your second question, one thing teachers can do is just read an informational book to students. We all know how enjoyable it is to be read to...so that's one thing teachers can do. Another thing we could do is let younger students look at the pictures in informational books and talk about what the pictures show.
ReplyDeleteJust thought I'd get you some examples.