Analyzing Informational Texts
Purpose
This module was designed to help teachers teach students to analyze the China Odyssey reports and to use this analysis when generating comments to the reports. Students should also begin to learn how point of view can influence our writing. This lesson is meant to extend informational text skills developed in the "Reading Informational Texts" module necessary for meeting further goals in the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts, as well as the American Association of School Librarians' Standards for the 21st Century Learner.
Objectives
As a result of this lesson, students should develop skills related to:
- Determine whether the author's reasoning makes sense given their evidence
- Examine whether the author acknowledge or responds to conflicting viewpoints
- Using text analysis to:
- Determine whether the author's reasoning makes sense given their evidence
- Examine whether the author acknowledge or responds to conflicting viewpoints
- Comparing and contrasting texts using evidence from close reading, including using this comparison to begin understanding how culture can influence an author's writing
- Developing their own responses to texts using the results of their analysis
Materials
The plan here is designed using the same two articles from the "Reading Informational Texts" module, and were chosen to supplement students' experiences with the China Odyssey project.
The first article, "Why Chinese students enjoy playing truant?" from China Daily (a state-run Chinese newspaper), discusses why Chinese university students may be skipping class. The second article, "Schools Use Celebrity Wake-Up Calls to Battle Truancy" from the New York Times, examines a program in New York City which is using motivational messages from celebrities to decrease truancy rates in high-risk K-12 schools.
Instructors may also want access to a whiteboard, flip-chart, or projector to write down students' responses to questions or to use during direct instruction.
The first article, "Why Chinese students enjoy playing truant?" from China Daily (a state-run Chinese newspaper), discusses why Chinese university students may be skipping class. The second article, "Schools Use Celebrity Wake-Up Calls to Battle Truancy" from the New York Times, examines a program in New York City which is using motivational messages from celebrities to decrease truancy rates in high-risk K-12 schools.
Instructors may also want access to a whiteboard, flip-chart, or projector to write down students' responses to questions or to use during direct instruction.
Anticipatory Set: The "Hook"
If your class did not complete the "Reading Information Texts" module, you may wish to use the "hook" from that lesson in which students discuss their opinions about truancy.
Since the focus of this lesson will be to consider each author's point of view and how that may affect their writing, you can build on the previous discussion of truancy by asking students to consider the issue from angles. For instance:
Since the focus of this lesson will be to consider each author's point of view and how that may affect their writing, you can build on the previous discussion of truancy by asking students to consider the issue from angles. For instance:
- What do you think makes someone qualified to decide if students must go to school? (Examples might include: age, title, authority, etc).
- How do you think someone's parents would react to their student skipping school? Why do parents want students to go to school?
- Why do you think it might be important to teachers for their students to come to school?
- Why would someone who is not a student, teacher, or parent (e.g. law makers or voters) care if students have high truancy rates?
Input: Direct Instruction
Using the article, "Why Chinese students enjoy playing truant," begin showing students how to analyze an informational text. Instructor modeling should show students the questions to ask of a text in order to identify the author's point of view, evidence (or lack their of) for the author's claims, and biases that may be present.
The "5 W's" and Point of View
After students have completed the close reading exercises from "Reading Informational Texts" they should understand what the article is about and what the author's main ideas are. Re-cap this information by asking students to identify the "5 W's" of the article: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. Follow-up questions should help student understand why each "W" is important and what they can tell us about point of view: how the author views an issue or situation, including potential biases. This graphic organizer may also be used to help students organize their answers.
Ask students: How do each of these "W's" reflect the author's point of view?
Analyzing the Evidence
Students should now be ready to use the information they gathered from close reading and discussing the "5 W's" to decide if the author supports their claims with evidence. Once again, use the China Daily, "Why Chinese students enjoy playing truant," article.
In their close read, students were asked to underline main ideas or topic sentences. They were also asked to draw arrows between related ideas or evidence which supports an author's claim. Using these markings, along with the previous discussion of the "5 W's," students should be able to identify individual claims the author makes, as well as the evidence the author uses to support these claims.
The "5 W's" and Point of View
After students have completed the close reading exercises from "Reading Informational Texts" they should understand what the article is about and what the author's main ideas are. Re-cap this information by asking students to identify the "5 W's" of the article: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. Follow-up questions should help student understand why each "W" is important and what they can tell us about point of view: how the author views an issue or situation, including potential biases. This graphic organizer may also be used to help students organize their answers.
Ask students: How do each of these "W's" reflect the author's point of view?
- Who? Unidentified author from the China Daily newspaper.
- What? An opinion article.
- Where? The China Daily, a state-run Chinese newspaper
- When? October 24th, 2011
- Why? In this article, the author is writing to explain why Chinese university students skip school. The author says that poor teaching is one of the main reasons Chinese students are truant, and says that universities and teachers need to improve the quality of education. The author also says that students will regret skipping class if they do so simply because they fail to see how it will benefit them in the short-term
Analyzing the Evidence
Students should now be ready to use the information they gathered from close reading and discussing the "5 W's" to decide if the author supports their claims with evidence. Once again, use the China Daily, "Why Chinese students enjoy playing truant," article.
In their close read, students were asked to underline main ideas or topic sentences. They were also asked to draw arrows between related ideas or evidence which supports an author's claim. Using these markings, along with the previous discussion of the "5 W's," students should be able to identify individual claims the author makes, as well as the evidence the author uses to support these claims.
- On the board, draw a chart with two columns. On the left, help students list each claim the author makes. On the right, help students list the evidence the author uses to support each claim; some claims may not be supported with evidence. A partial chart is completed below:
Claim
- Some classes at Chinese universities are not of a very good quality.
- Universities should try to improve teaching quality
3. Teachers need to be more committed towards their work.
4. ....
Evidence
- Chinese students say they truant because they get bored or they fall asleep in class.
- The author says "there is much to be desired when it comes to the quality of teachers and their teaching methods," but does not provide concrete evidence
- There have been instances of plagiarism amongst university professors.
- ...
Does the Evidence Support the Author's Claims?
Once students have identified the author's claims and the evidence used to support these claims (or lack their of) they should be ready to decide whether or not they agree with the author based on the evidence provided. Give students a few minutes to write their answer to the question:
Do you agree with the author's conclusion? Why or why not?
If students struggle with how to show support for their opinions, encourage them to fill in the following:
"I believe [CLAIM] because [EVIDENCE]."
Follow-up questions for students to consider when answering the previous question include:
- What is the author's conclusion about student truancy?
- What evidence does the author provide to support their opinion? Does the evidence convince you of the author's conclusion?
- Does the author mention conflicting opinions or evidence? If so, how does the author address or disprove these opinions?
- If you had to re-write this article to be more convincing, what would you change? What would you take out? What would you want to add in?
Guided Practice
After analyzing the China Daily article as a class, students should go through the same process for the New York Times article, "Schools Use Celebrity Wake-Up Calls to Battle Truancy."
- In small groups, they should first go through the "5 W's" of the article: Who, What, Where, When, Why. Then, they should write down what each of the "W's" tells them about the author's point of view.
- Also in groups, ask them to gather all claims the author makes and evidence for those claims. Students can organize their data using this graphic organizer.
Independent Practice
After students have analyzed the two news articles in this module, they should be ready to apply the skills to reading the China Odyssey reports.
During the week following the in-class exercises for close reading, give each student a printed copy of the week's first China Odyssey report. For homework:
After students have completed a close read and analyzed the article, they should practice generating a response to the report using this information. Give students clear guidelines for commenting on the China Odyssey report. Suggestions for commenting may include:
Allow students time in class to debrief about their comments for the week, discussing with each other whether they agreed or disagreed with the author and how each of them applied the material to their own life.
During the week following the in-class exercises for close reading, give each student a printed copy of the week's first China Odyssey report. For homework:
- Ask students to complete a close read of the text, just as they did for the lesson on "Reading Informational Texts."
- Then, students should identify the "5 W's" and how each "W" helps them understand the author's point of view.
- Students should also keep track of the claims the author makes and how they support those claims with evidence, as well as evidence for how the author's culture (as an American) is reflected in the way they approach their experiences in China.
After students have completed a close read and analyzed the article, they should practice generating a response to the report using this information. Give students clear guidelines for commenting on the China Odyssey report. Suggestions for commenting may include:
- Recap the author's main idea. Summarize what the article is about.
- Discuss whether you agree or disagree with the author's viewpoint, making sure to identify which parts of the author's evidence you think allows you to support or reject their claims.
- Identify one idea from the article that reminds you of your day-to-day life. How does the author's writing make you think differently about your own experiences?
Allow students time in class to debrief about their comments for the week, discussing with each other whether they agreed or disagreed with the author and how each of them applied the material to their own life.
Follow-up Discussion: Comparing Texts
After students have analyzed and responded to both the China Daily article and the New York Times article, they should be prepared to start comparing the texts, understanding the similarities and differences between what each other has to say about student truancy and what possible solutions are.
Facilitate a discussion in which students explore the similarities and differences in the ways each of the article's authors discuss issues related to truancy. Students can use a Venn Diagram to organize ideas from the conversation (you can create a custom Venn Diagram worksheet or use this online Interactive Venn Diagram).
Discussion questions may include:
You can also encourage students to use their knowledge of each culture to discuss how our own backgrounds and experiences can affect our writing and arguments.
Facilitate a discussion in which students explore the similarities and differences in the ways each of the article's authors discuss issues related to truancy. Students can use a Venn Diagram to organize ideas from the conversation (you can create a custom Venn Diagram worksheet or use this online Interactive Venn Diagram).
Discussion questions may include:
- What does each article suggest causes truancy? How are they similar and how are they different?
- What solution does each article suggest? How are they similar and how are they different?
- How do the authors differ in their approach to the issue? What factors (cultural, student age, etc.) might influence the author's differing opinions?
- The China Daily article is an editorial, while the New York Times is a traditional news report. What kinds of differences do you see between the two pieces?
You can also encourage students to use their knowledge of each culture to discuss how our own backgrounds and experiences can affect our writing and arguments.
Additional Resources
Want to read more about teaching students to analyze informational texts? Here are the sources which were used to create this module.
- 6 Q's About the News - This site from the New York Times features photographs and accompanying New York Times articles which can be used to help students answer basic questions about the news.
- The Big Bad Wolf: Analyzing Point of View in Texts - This lesson from Read Write Think is designed to help 6-8 grade students learn to analyze text through reading two versions of the fairy tale, The Three Little Pigs and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf,