RICA Reflection
Competency 15: Comprehension: Instruction and Assessment- Expository/ Informational Texts and Study Skills
Introduction
RICA Competency number fifteen address how to have instructional strategies and assessments that are appropriate for expository or informational text.
Personal Connection/Evidence
There are a many ways that I have engaged with this competency.
In a text structure with problem and solution and sequence I have seen both of these used in the classroom. For problem and solution, we read a book entitled Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. In this book, it is a great picture story about a girl mouse that is teased about her name and how she overcomes it; as a class we discussed ways to overcome these challenges. Sequencing we used when I read the story Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore by David McPhail, we organized the story into parts that were most important. 
For comparison/contrast, in my fifth grade class we compared and contrasted the differences in substances during science. They have to compare the glue and water and then their final solution of putty. The students have to write a few sentences down after they had put the information into a Venn diagram. This helped the students really see the differences between the substances.
Oral and written activities for expository texts in the first grade classroom we were showing the students how to read several different articles all about fruit and have them decide which is their favorite fruit and why supported by textual evidence. Together we found the similarities and differences between tests on the same topic and highlighted key information that would help them come to a decision. It was interesting to see what they chose based on the article.
Meeting the Needs of All Learners
Struggling readers and students with reading disabilities will need access to textbooks at their levels. A few ways to help facilitate the struggling readers is by allowing them to listen to the chapter on tape before they are asked to read the chapter, the teacher can read aloud portions of the chapter, and the students are given key vocabulary lessons before the chapter is being read. The teacher may need to scaffold the lesson so that the child has some knowledge before hand or they can take notes and give them to the student. Showing visuals such as real objects, illustrations, and diagrams will be helpful to the struggling student.
Here is a link to 8 Strategies for Teaching Academic Language.
English Language Learners or speakers of nonstandard English will need to have explicit modeling of gathering information from an encyclopedia. A teacher can do a think-aloud, and model how to read and share the text with the class. Using oral language and writing activities to support content-area knowledge will help the English learners acquire the key concepts presented in expository texts. Oral activities can be a follow-up to ensure understanding. Building background knowledge with students native language resources will increase background knowledge for the student. If they have a understanding in their native language then the student will be able to connect to new material better.
Advanced learners will need to have the pace or complexity increased and extending the depth and breadth of instruction.
Assessment
Checking if the students are able to identify and understand the text structure is good way to check for understanding. The teacher provides the students with a prompt with words missing the students should be able to identify what is missing just based on structure. Multilevel questions and a simple test to check for understanding especially when using the science or social studies textbook. Allow the students to answer the questions where they can look through the text to help find the answers. Readability is a measure of the difficulty of a text. A teacher should do this to ensure that the student will be able to read a specific book. He/she can calculate the word length, number of syllables in each word, and see how many words are in each sentence, this will determine if the book is at the right level for the student.
There are also entry-level, progress-monitoring, and summative assessments. Entry-level, progress-monitoring, and summative assessments are assessments that the teacher will administer when needed to check progress along the way. If the student is below grade level the teacher will need to figure out why. The teacher may have to go back to kindergarten levels to recheck the students skill level and move on from there to see where the problem is.
Text-to-Text Connections
“When teachers judge instructional content area materials, they frequently assess readability. Readability formulas can help estimate text difficulty, but they are not intended to be precise indicators.” (RLTR, p. 398)
“Expository informational books do not contain story; they contain information that typically follow specific text structures such as the description, sequence, cause-and-effect, comparison and contrast, and problem solving.” (RLTR, p. 408)
TPE Connections
TPE 2: Monitoring Student Learning During Instruction
TPE 3: Interpretation and Use of Assessments
TPE 4: Making Content Accessible
TPE 5: Student Engagement
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