With all the high-stakes testing and implement collaborative

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A Niche for Library Media Specialists:
Teaching Students How to Read Informational Texts
With all the high-stakes testing
required by state mandates and
No Child Left Behind (NCLB),
improving reading scores is a top
priority for many K–12 educators.
What is the role of the library media
specialist? We teach students how
to read informational texts.
Recently I was given the opportunity
to serve on the Planning Committee
for the 2009 revision of the National
Assessment of Educational Progress
<http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/>
in reading, part of “the Nation’s
report card.” I helped to draft the
test framework and specifications.
One of the questions the committee
discussed was “Who is responsible
for teaching students how to read
informational texts at the middle
and high school level?” English
courses tend to emphasize reading
literature. Moreover, teaching
students how to read science,
social studies, and math belongs in
those content area classrooms. But
teachers in those fields frequently
lack the background in reading
instruction to accomplish this task.
Here is the perfect niche for library
media specialists. We teach skills for
reading informational texts as part
of the research process, and we do it
by collaborating with teachers.
How can we build the case that
library media specialists teach
students how to read informational
texts? We need to “talk the talk and
walk the walk.” We can
n
adopt and use the vocabulary of
reading specialists,
n
study the scientifically-based
research on
reading, and
select the
best practices
in reading to
integrate into
our instruction.
n
By Marilyn Z. Joyce
With this
knowledge,
we can design
36 LIBRARY MEDIA CONNECTION APRIL/MAY 2006
and implement collaborative
research units with strong reading
components and demonstrate our
role in teaching students how to
read informational texts.
Scientifically-Based Research
NCLB legislation calls for using
teaching practices supported by
scientifically-based research or
“research that involves the application
of rigorous, systematic, and objective
procedures to obtain reliable and
valid knowledge relevant to education
activities and programs” (2001).
This is also known as evidencebased research. The Partnership
for Education <www.nifl.gov/
partnershipforreading> is an excellent
place for accessing publications for
teachers and parents on the current,
evidence-based research and practice
on reading. It is a collaborative
effort of the National Institute
for Literacy (NIFL), the National
Institute of Child Health and Human
Development (NICHD), and the U.S.
Department of Education. Much
of the scientifically-based research
on this Web site comes from the
findings of the National Reading Panel
<www.nationalreadingpanel.org/>, a
committee convened by Congress to
evaluate the effectiveness of different
approaches of teaching reading.
I highly recommend the readerfriendly pamphlet, Put Reading
First: The Research Building Blocks
for Teaching Children to Read
<www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/
publications/k-3.html>. Although
earmarked for grades K–3, Put
Reading First reviews effective
areas of reading instruction that
apply to a range of grade levels. The
five essential areas of instruction
are phonemic awareness, phonics,
fluency, vocabulary, and text
comprehension.
Text comprehension has the
greatest connection to the research
process. Instruction in effective
comprehension strategies helps
students understand and remember
what they read. It contributes to
their ability to apply information
as they solve problems and make
decisions. In the age of high-stakes
testing, it also leads to improvement
in test scores.
Strategies for Reading
Informational Texts
The scientifically-based research
reveals a number of effective strategies
for improving reading comprehension.
As teachers of information literacy,
we already incorporate many of these
strategies into our instruction. A
review of the research supports our
case that we teach students how to
read informational texts and gives us
a common vocabulary for discussing
reading instruction with other
educators.
The scientifically-based research
confirms five major strategies for
improving text comprehension:
monitoring comprehension, using
graphic and semantic organizers,
answering and generating questions,
recognizing story structure, and
summarizing. Integrating these
strategies into research-process
instruction strengthens students’
reading and information literacy skills.
The first strategy, monitoring
comprehension, tracks
understanding of text. Students who
monitor their comprehension are
aware of what they understand and
do not understand. When they have
trouble making meaning of text,
they know how to apply a number
of “fix-up” strategies. For example,
successful readers reread confusing
text, consult a dictionary when
confronted with an unfamiliar word,
and try to restate difficult passages
in their own words.
The second strategy, using graphic
organizers and semantic organizers,
helps students visualize the
relationships among key concepts
and terms in informational texts.
Webbing diagrams, concept maps,
flowcharts, matrices, and other
visual aids assist students in
K-5 6-8 9-12
Of special interest to grades...
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understanding the content and
structure of informational texts.
The use of graphic organizers and
semantic maps increases students’
ability to learn when reading
science, social studies, and other
content area texts.
The third strategy focuses on
answering and generating
questions. A teacher or library
media specialist asks students
questions to monitor their
understanding. These questions also
provide students with a purpose
for reading and help them focus
on what they need to learn. In
addition, students can generate
their own questions using a variety
of questioning strategies that range
from 5W+H (who, what, when,
where, why, and how) to Bloom’s
Taxonomy to McTighe and Wiggins’
Six Facets of Understanding. (For
an excellent review of questioning
strategy models, see Jill B.
Slack, Questioning Strategies to
Improve Student Thinking and
Comprehension <www.sedl.org/
secac/rsn/quest.pdf>.)
The fourth strategy is recognizing
story structure. This strategy applies
to reading fiction, but comparable
strategies exist for informational
texts. Students need to recognize
the structure of informational
texts. This includes understanding
different organizational patterns
(e.g., compare and contrast,
cause and effect, problem and
solution) and using graphic features
(e.g., headings and subheadings,
italics and bold type, photos and
illustrations, charts and tables) to
locate information within texts.
The final strategy is summarizing.
Summarizing is an effective strategy
because it requires the synthesis of
information. In order to condense
information, students must
understand main ideas, determine
the supporting details, and state
them in their own words.
The Reading-Research Connection
Search library literature or the
Internet and you can find numerous
examples of research units that
feature effective strategies for
helping students make meaning of
informational texts. Here are some
of my favorite tools recommended
by reading specialists for improving
students’ reading comprehension
and research skills.
Students need a purpose for reading
and research. That is why prereading and pre-search are critical
phases of their related processes;
they prepare students for the work
that lies ahead. An effective tool
for facilitating both pre-writing and
pre-search is a variation of the KW-L chart. K-W-L, when applied to
reading an informational text, is a
chart with three columns: “What
I Know, What I Want to Learn,
and What I Learned.” When used
for research, a variation has the
following columns: “What I Know,
What I Don’t Know, What I Want to
Learn through My Research.”
K-W-L incorporates effective
strategies for monitoring
comprehension and developing
questions. The “What I Know”
component asks students to activate
their prior knowledge, and the
“What I Don’t Know” component
helps them recognize gaps in
that knowledge. Activating prior
knowledge helps students connect
new information to past learning
and facilitates memory of new
material. Identifying gaps in prior
knowledge is a valuable “fix-up”
strategy. Students understand that
they need to do some background
reading or find the definitions of
unfamiliar vocabulary words to
better understand a challenging
text. K-W-L also facilitates question
generation. When combined with
background reading, students
can use a variety of questioning
strategies to brainstorm a list of
questions for the “What I Don’t
Know” column. Then students
can select three or four related
questions for the “What I Want
to Learn through My Research”
column. These focus questions
guide their research and provide a
purpose for reading.
“Think-aloud” is an excellent tool
for modeling how a good reader uses
text structure and features to make
LIBRARY MEDIA CONNECTION APRIL/MAY 2006 37
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meaning of text. During a “thinkaloud,” library media specialists and
partner teachers can verbalize how
they use text structure and features
to preview a text, determine key
words and concepts, and predict
main ideas and supporting details.
Then they can ask students to
verbalize their thinking through
conferences or a “pair-share” activity
with another student.
partner teacher monitor students’
comprehension and content
learning. During conferences with
students, teachers can reinforce valid
interpretations of text and intervene
when the students encounter
problems.
Learning logs are powerful tools
for reflecting on both content
and process. Reading specialists
frequently use learning logs as
library literature or the Internet and we
“Search
find numerous examples of research units that
feature effective strategies for helping students
make meaning of informational texts.
”
Double-entry journals are effective
tools for improving comprehension
and taking notes. Students create
a chart with two columns: one for
content and one for response. In
the content column, students can
summarize important parts of the
text, note answers to their questions,
and pinpoint unfamiliar words and
confusing passages. In the response
column, they can discuss the
significance of information in the
content column. This might include
n a
paraphrase of a complex segment
of text,
n a
possible explanation of confusing
material,
n a
main idea from the resource and
why it is important,
n a
strong positive or negative
reaction and an explanation of that
reaction,
n a
reason for agreeing or disagreeing
with the author,
n a
comparison or contrast of a
passage with another resource or
with prior knowledge,
n a
prediction based on evidence
from the resource, or
n a
question generated as a result
of reading.
Double-entry journals help the
library media specialist and
38 LIBRARY MEDIA CONNECTION APRIL/MAY 2006
a metacognitive tool to help
students think about their thinking
throughout the reading process.
They use learning logs to monitor
comprehension, a critical part of
metacognition. In their learning
logs, students can summarize text,
compare and contrast text from
different resources, and discuss their
“fix-up” strategies. Library media
specialists and partner teachers can
use learning logs, as well as doubleentry journals, to track students’
understanding of both reading and
content learning and can intervene
when students need assistance.
Moreover, double-entry journals and
learning logs serve as deterrents to
plagiarism. When students make
their own meaning of text, they do
not resort to cutting and pasting
from resources. Students learn
content when they write in their own
words.
K-W-L charts, “think-alouds,”
double-entry journals, and learning
logs are only a few examples of tools
that connect the scientifically-based
research to the research process.
Teaching students how to read
informational texts is not an addition
to our curriculum but an integral
part of what we already teach.
Components of Reading Instruction
According to the scientificallybased research, effective reading
instruction is “explicit” or direct.
It includes four key components to
incorporate into our research units.
nP
rovide direct explanations of
how a strategy works and why the
strategy helps readers understand.
nU
se “think-alouds” to explain
the process or model how we, as
good readers, make meaning of
informational texts.
nA
llow for guided practice where
students have the opportunity to
practice effective reading strategies
with our support.
nG
ive students the opportunity to
apply the strategy until they have
mastered how to use it.
Library media specialists have the
unique opportunity, through their
collaboration with content area
teachers, to provide the explicit
instruction that leads to reading
achievement.
The Next Steps
So many times reading instruction
in the content areas is done in
a hit-and-miss fashion. Content
area teachers, when they do
incorporate reading instruction
into their lessons, tend to use
different strategies. Frequently
there is no common vision within a
school. With little consistency and
reinforcement across the disciplines,
students receive mixed messages
about how to read informational
texts. Library media specialists can
solve that problem by consistently
applying the best practices as we
collaborate with teachers.
Imagine a school where students
have the opportunity to learn,
practice, and perfect their reading
skills in a consistent, focused
fashion through all subject areas.
Think of the improvement in
reading achievement. Library media
specialists have the power to create
such a school. n
Marilyn Z. Joyce is a library media specialist
at Brewer (Maine) High School and can be
reached at mjoyce@breweredu.org.
K-5 6-8 9-12
Of special interest to grades...