Immigrants, natural disasters, child labor, invasive species...these are just some of the topics that I get to teach about in my classroom with the program that I use. The majority of the different workshops that are taught in my class throughout the year include three non-fiction, high-interest, ability appropriate readings, with plenty of supplemental texts and materials. In addition, the instructional software that my students participate in include all informational topics with a variety of segments. They are broken down into five major categories: People and Cultures, Science and Math, History and Geography, Literature and the Arts, and Your World and Beyond. They include more specific topics, like cool careers, extreme sports, innovative artists, interesting laws in America, and true adventure stories. On top of the readings I teach and the software my students work on, my classroom library is also filled with leveled books, at least half of them being non-fiction. There's books on everything from famous musical artists and athletes to the story of the Donner Party from 1846-1847. (If you don't know the story, check it out. It's crazy!) In my own personal experience, it isn't hard to get students excited about informational text when everything is tailored to them. I have been extremely lucky to have such a positive experience, where students show a desire to read and learn, and more importantly, get to have a choice in the matter! That, in itself, is appealing to them.
However, the experience for my struggling readers in science and social studies classes is the polar opposite. The texts and worksheets used are written on a seventh grade level, at which they are not currently reading. They also don't seem to be written to engage and wholly immerse students' in the information. I constantly have to convince my class to think of social studies as a story when they're reading about ancient cultures. Still, they find it uninteresting and difficult. However, if I read the sections aloud to them, they are much more engaged and retain much more of the information. The same thing happens with science class. If they have to learn information by reading and highlighting a worksheet on their own, one of two things happens; they don't do it, or they do it and lack any understanding of what it actually means. So often, I ask students who come to see me in the morning if they've completed their homework from the previous night, and if they reply yes, inevitably, the next sentence that follows is, "It was so hard!" or "I didn't understand it!" or "Why is science/social studies so confusing?" I have found that when I take time during 8th period study hall to read aloud and discuss the information, they grasp concepts much more solidly. However, this doesn't help when my students have to read and comprehend something on their own, without any assistance or discussion. PSSAs are coming up at the end of this month, and I dread this time for my students. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't have confidence in my teaching or my students...it's just that they start out 7th grade so far below grade level. As I've mentioned before, my students begin the year anywhere from a second grade to a fifth grade reading level. Even if they've closed the gap by a year and a half by March, they still won't be up to par. It's fighting a losing battle, and I can see why some of my students give up on the tests before they even begin.
On top of the discrepancy between grade level and ability with my caseload, generally speaking, my class has little to no idea how to actually read a textbook. While reading Duke's article, I found myself wondering how much of this is because they weren't exposed to it at a young age. I also questioned if they were exposed to it, were they taught to read it? Just yesterday, a student who was working on homework after school with me was reading his history textbook. On a page in the middle of a section was an insert about reading physical maps, with a information, a map of the elevation of Greece, and questions to practice this skill. The student turned to me and said, "Do I need to read this?" He didn't take the time to look at it before asking. He just knew it wasn't directly a part of the section that was for homework, so he took the opportunity to flip through it. I can imagine that his thought process was, "Great! One less page I have to read!"
While our history textbook seems to be pretty kid-friendly, and relatively easy to follow, the science textbook is another story. They have a ton of information, diagrams, and points written in the margins. Though the colors are bright, and the writing is not too difficult, the set-up of it is hard to follow. For a student with little experience with textbooks and how to read them, it must be confusing to know where to look first on a page! For my caseload of students, at least, I would have to call it an inconsiderate text, as Alexander and Jetton defined it. My students definitely expend too much cognitive effort trying to figure out where to start, and most likely end up just ignoring the pictures and diagrams, as well as the information in the margins.
As you can see, I have a completely mixed experience with informational text in my classroom. It is something I try to help my students through each and every day, teaching different strategies, as well as assisting them through it when necessary. I have certainly seen an improvement in their abilities and confidence working with non-fiction in my classroom, which is what I try to focus on.
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