Text Level Knowledge: Scaffolding Learning From 5.75

• Indicators of Progress
• Teaching Strategies for Non Fiction (Persuasive) Texts
• Teaching Strategies for Non Fiction (Factual) Texts

Indicators of Progress

• Students describe their reading plan for these types of texts, mentioning explicitly the activities in level 5.
• Students skim and scan the text by using the strategies developed from levels 4–5.5 and modified to include selecting the main ideas in more complex informational text, and note the use of symbolic language, and historical and sociocultural perspectives in conceptually dense or extended text.
• Students identify how a text is organised, and in addition to noting the decisions about how a text is organised, as developed in levels 4–5.5, distinguish symbolic text from other types of text, where it is referenced in time and place, and what this means for what they might know having read a particular type of text.
• Students read the text independently, either silently or aloud as appropriate; they may switch from one mode to the other if necessary for comprehension or other communication purposes.
• Students use vocabulary enhancement strategies to work out the subject-specific meanings of unfamiliar topic words by using the word meaning strategies developed in levels 4–5.5 to link the meaning with either more general or more specific concepts mentioned in the text.
• Students use sentence strategies described in levels 4–5.5, and in addition, they recognise symbolic ideas in sentences and use the appropriate strategies for comprehending these (for example, using analogy and constructing a literal interpretation) and for comprehending cultural influences in the text.
• Students use paragraph comprehending strategies described in levels 4–5.5 and modified for more complex text; they link global issues and specific events represented in a paragraph.
• Students use paragraph synthesis strategies described in levels 4–5.5 and identify the theme and sub-themes in a chapter of fiction across two or more chapters in a longer fictional text and integrate these into a summary of each chapter and use these to compare the chapters.
• Students use various strategies for recording key ideas in the text they read: they use note taking to record and compare the main ideas in different texts using concept and semantic mapping procedures.
• Students consolidate and review what they read in a range of ways; they (1) construct or select a summary of a text read; and (2) implement the set of actions described in a text.
• Students show literal comprehension; in addition to the outcomes in level 5.5; they (1) read several texts that address an issue and identify the perspective of each and the information used to support it; and (2) compare and evaluate, using various criteria, two action sequences described in texts.
• Students show inferential comprehension in a range of ways; in addition to the outcomes in level 5.5, they analyse the ideas in two or more articles that debate an issue and (1) evaluate the argument in each; (2) interpret texts both subjectively and in more objective and critical ways to identify multiple perspectives; and (3) explain the ways in which a text could change if set in a different social, cultural, historical or industrial context.
• Students suggest the author’s purpose for writing the text, and infer the author’s point of view or attitudes and how well the text achieves its purpose; they infer the purposes of two or three texts targeting the same topic and identify the dispositions and attitudes of each author.
• Students describe the characteristics of texts and how these influence how well the texts achieve their purposes; they (1) analyse and explain similarities and differences between texts and discuss how the ideas in a text are determined by the context, time or culture in which they are based; and (2) identify the language used to present points of view from particular social, political or cultural perspectives (for example, how different groups would construct conservation in text).
• Students talk about the actions they use to comprehend the texts at this level, for example: (1) to pursue the argument presented by a writer; (2) to identify cultural or historical influences on the ideas presented; and (3) while reading to learn.
• Students describe how reading helps them and is a useful activity, for example, to discover what other people are thinking, and to teach new ideas efficiently.

Teaching Strategies for Non Fiction (Persuasive) Texts

During Reading: Tuning in to the text

The persuasive text used for the learning and teaching sequence is an article from The Age April 15, 2006, headlined Australia leader in trashing refugee rights.

Australia Leader in Trashing Refugee Rights, Mark Baker, The Age, 15/04/2006 

Synthesising and creating impressions from the text

Groups of students put together a synthesis of the paragraphs, for example:

Australia’s policy of becoming a more open society is changing.  While in the 1950s it led the world in policy for taking care of refugees, it is now leading the world to reverse these policies. Pacific Solution 1 stopped refugees from getting to Australia. Pacific solution 2 sends all illegal boat immigrants off shore, stopping them from getting legal assistance even if they are refugees. 

The government needs to prevent illegal entry, but its recent change in policy over West Papua isn’t necessary.  At the time of Tampa, refugees were paying to be smuggled into Australia; many to escape governments that Australia helped remove from office.  This time the refugees are from Papua, where the military treats the population very badly.  There are not thousands of Papuans trying to get to Australia;  only one other boat has been reported.

The policy changed because the Indonesian government was angered by the government granting temporary protection visas to 42 Papuans.  The change shows that Australia responds to diplomatic blackmail and will not speak out against the worsening human rights in Papua.  Both countries need to work co-operatively.  This needs to be built on mutual respect.  By changing a 50 year old recognition of human rights to resolve a temporary diplomatic crisis, the Howard government may lose the respect of Indonesia, the region and the world.

Examining key concepts, characters and events

Students in small groups examine how key concepts, characters or events are described and suggest why they are described in these ways, for example,

In the first paragraph the writer describes Australia first as have ‘xenophobic beginnings’ and then changing to a ‘model of multicultural diversity’ and now becoming a ‘closed shop’.

Students in small groups suggest what might be alternative ways of describing the events, particularly from other sociocultural or political perspectives

Another way of saying this would be that Australia began as a reasonably homogeneous culture, became more multicultural and is now seeking to restrict immigration’.

The students evaluate the alternative descriptions.

After Reading: Consolidate and review the text

The persuasive text used for the learning and teaching sequence is an article from The Age April 15, 2006, headlined Australia leader in trashing refugee rights.

Australia Leader in Trashing Refugee Rights, Mark Baker, The Age, 15/04/2006 

Consolidating new knowledge

Readers ask themselves:

• What key new ideas have I learnt about how persuasive texts are written and how I can detect the different ways in which writers try to convince me to a point of view ?
• How does this fit with what I knew already ?

Integrating ideas across paragraphs

The ‘analysis grid’ shown below can be used by students to record the outcomes of their ‘deeper’ analysis of each article as they read it.  The grid below reminds them to note the purpose of each paragraph and the use of persuasive techniques.  The completed grid is shown for the first six paragraphs:

Para	Key idea of paragraph	Purpose of paragraph	Evidence of persuasive techniques
1	Our policy of becoming a more open society is now closing.	Topic sentence for article: Position on refugees.	‘Shed xenophobic beginnings’ versus changed its earlier position
2	What is causing this policy change?	Present the writer’s beliefs about the position; why it will be targeted in the article	‘however desperate their plight’ versus ‘regardless of their situation’ ‘damaging, unprincipled and needless’ versus ‘unnecessary’.
Versus 3	Changes over the last two decades	Description of the change in position as seen by the writer	‘shelter behind the picket fence’ – a metaphor
4	Why the latest move?	What the writer believes is the cause of the change in position	‘panicky manoeuvre to defuse’ versus ‘a way to deal with’
5	It won’t help in the long term.	What the writer believes to be likely outcome of the position	‘Arrogant and increasingly exclusive enclave’ versus a country
6	Recent examples of refugees being treated badly	Examples that are seen to support the position	‘Roll call of our shameful descent’ versus examples of how refugees are treated

The students integrate the key ideas of the six paragraphs,  evaluate how well the writer has argued and supported his point of view and examine the influence the metaphors have.

Teaching Strategies for Non Fiction (Factual) Texts

During Reading: Tuning in to the text

The factual text used for the learning and teaching sequence is Training methods in physical activities.

Training methods in physical activities (Word - 37Kb)

Reading, paraphrasing and summarising

The teacher guides the students to read, summarise and paraphrase each section heading:

• To improve your performance you need to train in different ways
• Seven key activities to perform at your best
• Train a bit at a time
• The Greeks were the first to give time to training for different goals
• Periodization of training is hard to research
• There is a lot of jargon in talk about periodization
• Different athletes have different needs
• Periodization training is like a wave

The teacher encourages students to identify the questions the text doesn’t answer.

After Reading: Consolidate and review the text

The factual text used for the learning and teaching sequence is Training methods in physical activities.

Training methods in physical activities (Word - 37Kb)

Consolidating their reading plan

Readers can be led to note how they learnt the new ideas from the section of the web-page, for example:

• It is good to skim and scan first, underline and discuss the main ideas and get an ‘overview’ of the information before you begin to deal with it in detail
• Work on each paragraph by reading each sentence aloud to the group and then discussing what it might mean.
• Visualise each main idea by imagining it being done in sports played by each group member.
• Summarise each aspect of information.

Identifying and storing new ideas learnt

Readers ask themselves, What key new ideas have I learnt about how to train? They:

• summarise the key ideas they have learned
• ask themselves: how has my knowledge changed, how do the new ideas fit with what I know already?
• identify the questions they can now answer
• list the key things they want to remember to teach to their peers.

Linking positive emotion with the text as a whole

Readers say how reading about periodization training in the small group situation has helped them improve what they knew.

They comment on how they liked the text and how it helped them. Were ideas useful /interesting?