By Lauren Freedman, Western Michigan University
Don’t let school get in the way of a good education. Mark Twain
Ok! I introduced the books and ninety minutes later, I was physically taking books out of students’ hands and pushing them out the door. Let’s talk about getting more of these for other units. A teacher using text sets for the first time
While sometimes school can be irrelevant, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, school can provide the beginnings of a fabulous life exploration that takes children on adventure after adventure learning about the world in which they live while laying the foundation to preserve it and change it as needed. While books (and other print media) are often thought of as providing mirrors and/or windows, I contend that they provide living, breathing, breathtaking experiences (albeit vicariously). Let’s examine what text sets are and explore their advantages in classrooms prek-12 (and beyond). They can be used effectively in the core content areas of Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Mathematics as well as art, music, dance, PE, technology. Further, they easily support cross-curricular studies.
Text sets consist of books, print materials and websites organized around a theme, topic, or concept. These are generally trade books written to share information and ideas, experiences and life stories. They do not come with a curriculum guide that tells teachers to “Say this now.” Rather, they incorporate written pieces from a variety of authors, from a variety of places around the world in a variety of genres. Many text sets consist mostly of non-fiction material, but novels, short stories, and poetry are often included. The reasons for building a set primarily with non-fiction are two fold. One is that many students want to learn about the “real” world and the whys and wherefores of how that “real” world came to be and how it works. They want facts and theories. These are helpful when reading various forms of fiction. Another reason is that informational texts are useful for teaching core concepts, replacing sometimes boring, limited, and frequently out-of-date textbooks.
Text set materials are chosen by the students are not doled out or distributed by the teachers. Materials are displayed in the classroom in such a way that students can browse and choose the ones they want to read. Reading is not necessarily done cover-to-cover. Rather, the students use the books to assist them in meeting their learning goals. For some, this may mean reading the entire book; for others this means using the index and reading only the pages needed.
The purpose of using text sets rather than textbooks, worksheets, and lectures is to support an inquiry model that will:
Validate each student’s developmental level
Text sets include print materials that range in complexity levels from simple picture books to full print chapter books and reference books. I use the term complexity rather than reading level because the print an individual can navigate is more dependent upon the individual’s prior knowledge, interest, and purpose than the number of syllables and sentence length of the text. Readers who score well on standardized tests may want to start with simpler books when the content is new to them and readers who score less well may be able to read much more complex texts because they bring so much prior experience and/or interest to the text. This range allows students to activate their metacognition and choose materials that both reward and challenge them.
Spark interest, questions, and engagement
Text sets are almost magic in that even resistant students can’t completely ignore them. And in spite of themselves they often find themselves asking questions or sharing with their peers what they are reading and viewing. Several years ago a middle school science teacher new to text sets asked me to bring one in and she would see how the students responded. She planned for her students to engage with the books for 20 minutes out of her 90 minute block. I brought her a set on Space. When I returned the next day, she said, “Ok! I introduced the books and ninety minutes later, I was physically taking books out of students’ hands and pushing them out the door. Let’s talk about getting more of these for other units.”
Facilitate inter-textual connections
Text sets stir connections in students not only to their own experiences, but to things they have experienced through reading other texts. These connections strengthen not only content understandings, but also further interest and deepen students’ desire to know, understand, and own their learning.
Offer information from a variety of perspectives
Text sets because they are collections of print materials offer students multiple views of the same basic content concepts or ideas. This furthers critical thinking and pushes students to ask deeper, more analytical questions. It is through these multiple perspectives that students understand the usefulness of facts not as entities in and of themselves, but because they may strengthen or weaken one’s point of view.
Provide visual elements, which reinforce and deepen concept understandings
Within a Text set, there are many materials that offer pictures/illustrations in a variety of mediums, as well as graphs, charts, maps, diagrams, etc. All of these support, strengthen, and provide a starting point for engaging in a topic of study. Visual elements can build the bridge between prior knowledge and new understandings. They are often the first impetus for questions.
Lend themselves easily to the district curriculum as both primary texts and supplementary materials at the same time
Practically speaking text sets are cheaper to buy and certainly individual items are cheaper to replace then textbooks. More importantly, they expand the amount of information that students have access to on various elements within unit topics. This increases interest and connection, which supports deeper, lasting learning. These materials also build independence as students become adept at choosing just the right books and using them efficiently and purposefully. Students learn how to use an index, glossary, and table of contents. They also use the suggestions given in many of the books for further reading.
Reinforce the interrelatedness of reading, writing, speaking, listening, thinking
Text sets especially when used within an inquiry framework require students to use all of the language arts to accomplish their learning goals. The engagements with the books generate talk, keeping track of information requires writing, and questioning and problem posing requires thinking as students sort out the facts and concepts and organize these into a format that can be used to demonstrate what they have learned. Text set materials also provide models for students to use as they work on their own writing. Analyzing the texts for writing style and word usage, etc. can be a powerful source of inspiration for composing their own written pieces.
Provide avenues for authentic assessment and evaluation
The use of text sets moves assessment beyond objective testing of fact and provides students with multiple opportunities to share both what they are in the process of learning (formative) and what they have learned up to any given point in time (summative). Using text sets within an inquiry framework ensures that students will be working at the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy since they will need to have knowledge and comprehension to even begin to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate. Instead of merely telling, listing, locating, explaining, outlining, or comparing, students will be solving, classifying, investigating, composing, constructing, designing, judging, recommending. Students’ choices and voices lead to active, lasting learning that spawns further learning. Students see learning as never-ending. There is always another question, another wondering
Much of the current professional literature on education suggests using a variety of genres, more authentic texts, and shifting our focus from teaching to learning, from individuals working in isolation to collaborative groups, and from one opportunity to demonstrate learning to multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning. The goals of using text sets with our students are:
•To increase each student’s literacy development,
•To increase each student’s content understandings,
•To increase each student’s self-efficacy so that they have the confidence, independence, metacognition, and stamina needed to be proficient learners.
The next four blogs will include inquiry and text sets, teacher and student stories of using inquiry and text sets, how-to’s about developing text sets, and research that supports the use of text sets.
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- Themes: Lauren Freedman, text sets
- Descriptors: Student Connections, WOW Currents