Teaching How to Read Informational Texts

Trinkle, C. (2007). Teaching the Use of Informational Text is Informational Literacy. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 24 (3), 37. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=27400691&site=ehost-live

Trinkle’s (2007) claim in “Teaching the Use of Informational Text is Informational Literacy” is that” there is a tremendous need for informational texts as read-alouds and as replacements for weak basal readers that do not have the vocabulary or content area knowledge so vital to students.” Trinkle (2007) thinks “[i]t is surprising that the emphasis in primary grades is on fiction when it is informational texts that can help struggling students the most.” Trinkle (2007) addresses four components of reading instruction—phonemic awareness/phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension—through informational texts. Although Trinkle’s position is a K-4 library media specialist, the suggestions in this article are important for secondary students, as well. For phonemic awareness/ phonics, the teacher-librarian can choose books “rich in sounds and sound-letter relationships.” Reading information texts aloud has many benefits for fluency—they are “high-interest,” expand “vocabulary not found in fictional works,” and “enrich knowledge of the sciences, history, and cultures.” Read-alouds also improve student oral reading practice. Read-alouds provide students with a “rich vocabulary and world knowledge.” For reading comprehension, the teacher-librarian “can play a vital role in teaching a child how to read to learn” new information. Trinkle (2007) also suggests that it is important for the teacher-librarian to “be equipped with lesson plans that use informational texts” and collaborate with the classroom teacher. Trinkle (2007) includes ten valuable strategies/best practices for teaching text and three useful sources for informational texts in her article. I particularly like the first strategy the best which is the “use of interactive read-louds,” which suggests that the teacher-librarian “stop reading frequently to ask questions, make observations, answer student questions, make connections (text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world)”; “use Bloom’s Taxonomy to pose both lower and higher order questions”; and “pull unfamiliar words from the text to discuss in advance of reading and post on … a Word Wall.” Because students are used to fictional texts in the primary grades, it is important not to assume that students know how to read informational texts; the secondary teacher-librarian must “teach students how to access, evaluate, and, … use information,” as “it is a waste of time to help students access and evaluate information if the student is unable to use the information at hand in research projects.” Using strategies suggested by Trinkle (2007) will definitely help students in the research process. Two strategies that I learned and will definitely incorporate into my lessons are: “booktalk[ing] informational texts for students” and staff and “copy[ing] the cover and table of contents of new informational texts that match the curriculum and place them in teacher mailboxes.” There are many useful strategies using informational resources provided by Trinkle (2007).