Since I’ve been working on resources for teaching text structures, I thought I would also check out blog posts for more ideas about teaching these reading skills. Here are some that I liked.  These are from a variety of blogs, and they offer interesting choices of text structure lessons for middle school or upper elementary reading and language arts classes.

 

Text Structure Posts

• This one, from The Owl Teacher, uses think-alouds and sorting activities, both whole class and individual, to teach text structures.

https://theowlteacher.com/spicing-up-text-structure/

 

• This lesson, from Teaching with a Mountain View, uses a carousel activity and a foldable.

http://www.teachingwithamountainview.com/2014/01/informational-text-structures.html?m=1

 

• Here, The Classroom Key discusses ways to incorporate text structure practice into close reading lessons.

https://www.theclassroomkey.com/2014/03/nonfiction-text-structures.html

 

• This Reading Mama stresses the value of teaching text structures to improve overall reading comprehension. Her post includes graphic organizers for both fiction and non-fiction structures.

https://thisreadingmama.com/teaching-text-structure-to-readers/

 

• This post, from The Teacher Next Door, includes a list of mentor texts that includes each of five text structures.

https://the-teacher-next-door.com/my-blog/reading/mentor-texts-for-informational-text-structures

 

• This Scholastic text structure lesson  provides an introduction to text structures with clues to identifying each one.

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/teaching-nonfiction-text-structures/

 

• Cult of Pedagogy  writes about the importance of teaching text structures and includes a video of teaching ideas and links to more resources.

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/text-structures/

 

• This lessons from NEA includes a helpful chart with descriptions, examples, and signal words for each structure.

http://www.nea.org/tools/using-text-structure.html

 

• Here are some ideas for using movie clips to teach text structures, from Literacy for Big Kids.

https://www.literacyforbigkids.com/blog/using-movie-clips-to-teach-nonfiction-text-structures

 

• This post from my blog, Classroom in the Middle, describes each of my text structure resources, including task cards and slide presentations for five text structures.

 

 

• This one from my blog is about teaching the chronological order text structure.

 

 

• This one, also mine, is about teaching the cause and effect text structure.

 

 

• And this is my post about teaching the compare and contrast text structure.

 

 

I hope that you’ve found some ideas that you might be able to use here, or maybe a new twist on a teaching idea that you already use in your lessons.  If you have blog posts with a ideas to share, you are welcome to add the links in the comment section below.  I would love to read them.

 

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