Struggling readers and grade-level readers need instruction and practice with nonfiction text/informational text. Using informational text in an intervention reading program increases engagement, helps students understand the genre structure and elements, and supports an inquiry approach to content knowledge. Explicit instruction and multiple opportunities to interact with informational text are particularly useful for students struggling with reading comprehension. 

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“…it has become evident that the use of paired informational text provides significant benefit in supporting literacy development for all students, but may particularly assist at-risk students, English language learners and students with special needs…..”   UNC Learning Center.

 

Paired Informational Text Articles 

After students have read a fiction story and learned the vocabulary, structure and skills, they read a short informational text article on a topic introduced in the story. For example, after reading "North Meets South", a fictional story about two boys meeting in the Civil War, they read a short nonfiction passage about Civil War soldiers. 

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This pairing allows students to examine the differences in the text structures, learn common vocabulary, and differentiate factual information from story elements.  As with the narrative stories, explicit instruction is provided with student practice. Students learn and practice skills in the nonfiction articles include predicting, fact recall, making inferences, determining main ideas. summarizing, cause/effect, compare/contrast, and sequencing of events. 

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Graphic organizers

Timelines and Venn diagrams are provided as supports to learn these critical skills. These specially developed articles are also decodable, so students continue to read and practice the skills they have learned at each level.