Using Text Structures to Support Independence with Comprehension

1. Using Text Structures to Support Independence with Comprehension Nonfiction

2. Essential Questions • How do the visual and multimedia elements contribute to your overall understanding and appreciation of texts? • How does participating in reading discussions with others contribute to your understanding and appreciation of texts?

4. Materials • Shared reading selection - An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy. • Excerpt from shared reading selection for students to use in Guided Practice.

5. Connection We have learned how visual elements in narrative nonfiction contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text.

6. Teaching Point Today we will learn how to think critically while reading to identify an area in text that would benefit with the addition of a visual element.

7. Teaching • We have learned that authors include text features and visual elements to help the reader better understand and appreciate the text. • By analyzing photographs, maps, and diagrams, and reading captions we are able to make connections with information in the text. By doing so, we have a better understanding of what we read. • We can also analyze text to determine if the addition of a photograph, map, diagram, or other visual element would contribute to our overall understanding of text. This can be done by asking ourselves a few questions: • Do I understand what I am reading? • Is there anything confusing about what I read? • Would a visual element help me better understand this information?

8. I am going to model this process by reading a short section (page 62) from the text, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy and asking myself the questions listed above.

9. The first question I ask is do I understand what I am reading? • I understand that there was controversy in the methods that Dr. Rush used to treat yellow fever. • Dr. Rush thought his methods were successful, but other doctors deemed them dangerous and opted for milder methods. • Dr. Rush saw improvements in patients that he treated. • Is there anything confusing about what I read? • The text does not mention whether or not the other doctors saw improvements in the patients they treated.

10. Would a visual element help me better understand this information? • I think that if a chart, table, or graph were included to compare the number of patients who improved using Dr. Rush’s methods versus the methods of the other doctors I would be better able to determine if Dr. Rush’s methods were effective or dangerous. • However, the text noted that few doctors kept accurate records on recovery rates during the yellow fever plague. • Therefore, maybe if the author included a diary entry or a letter written by a doctor who used milder methods that showed whether or not he noted any improvements with his methods I would know if those methods were effective.

11. Taking time to think about your understanding of text and what elements would improve your understanding helps you to think critically about what you are reading.

12. Link • Today we learned how to think critically while reading to identify an area in text that would benefit with the addition of a visual element. • As you read, take time to think about how visual elements and text work together to contribute to your overall understanding of what you read.