THE PRACTICE: Understanding Text Structures
Content Presented By:
Center for Resource Management (CRM)
The Education Alliance at Brown University

Resources related to this practice:

• An Exploration of Text Sets
  http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=305

  A lesson plan that supports readers of a range of abilities and experience through the use of text sets. "A text set is a collection that focuses on one concept or topic and includes multiple genres such as books, charts and maps, informational pamphlets, poetry and songs, photographs, non-fiction books, almanacs or encyclopedias. In this lesson, the class community will put together a collection of text sets on topics of keen interest. They will then explore these texts using three key reading strategies: (1) graffiti boards, (2) browsing for key information, and (3) uninterrupted reading/focused freewriting."

• Darwin's "On The Origin of Species"
  http://talkorigins.org/faqs/origin.html

  This resource provides the complete text of Charles Darwin?s The Origin of the Species, integrating science and text structure, and is also valuable for illustrating the value of the scientific process to students (hypothesis, evidence etc.). Its student-friendly format allows students to click on individual chapter titles. The complete classic text would otherwise seem overwhelming to students.

• Finding Text Structures
  http://www.info.kochi-tech.ac.jp/lawrie/semantictextstr.htm

  An introduction to structure in writing and how to find text structures.

• Learning to Learn
  http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/resources/learnt
  olearn/demands.html

  This article that discusses the language demands of textbook reading and offers strategies teachers and students can use to help with textbook comprehension.

General resources related to this spotlight:

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This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu