Narrative and Expository Text

Instruction

Nancy Szilagyi, Michaela Boyle, Christina Pereira, and Elena Alex

Theoretical Foundations of Narrative Text Instruction

• Narrative texts are often described as telling a story or past events (Reutzel and Cooter p.316).

• Narrative texts entertain the audience. (Reutzel and Cooter p.316).

• Examples of such texts are Cinderella, Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Goldilocks and The Three Bears to name a few.

• Narrative texts are found in a variety of story genres such as fables, myths, folktales, mysteries, epics, short stories, etc.

Theoretical Foundations of Narrative Text Cont.

• Text Structure– Orientation: introduces

characters and setting– Complication: describes

the rising crisis and how characters relate

– Resolution: describes how the crisis is solved

• Story Grammar (Reutzel and Cooter p.316)– Setting: time and place– Problem: crisis that arises– Goals: how the problem

will be solved– Events: events/actions

leading to resolution– Resolution: how the crisis

is solved

Theoretical Foundations of Expository Text

• Expository texts provide information and contain facts, descriptions, procedures, and details that are essential to the understanding of concepts (Reutzel and Cooter p.316).

• Expository texts inform the audience (Reutzel and Cooter p.316).

• There are a variety of expository texts genres including biographies, informational texts, reference texts, instruction or how-to books, encyclopedias, newspaper articles and more (Reutzel and Cooter p.316).

Theoretical Foundations of Expository Text Cont.

• Text Structure or Organization Pattern (Reutzel and Cooter 316-317)– Simple Listings (list form)– Comparisons (similarities

and differences among concepts)

– Time Order (chronological sequence)

– Descriptions– Cause and Effect

– Problem and Solution

Identifying Text Structure• Narrative Text

– Developing a sense of the text structure increases the students ability to make predictions about what will come next and recall story elements (Reutzel and Cooter p.316).

– Research indicates that students are more receptive to narrative texts, however, teachers must teach students to internal the story’s text (Reutzel and Cooter p.316).

• Expository Text– Students recall more information from expository texts when they have

developed the skills to identify the text structure or organizational pattern (Reutzel and Cooter p.317).

– Teachers must again provide their students with the skills and strategies to tackle expository texts in order to increase comprehension (Reutzel and Cooter p.317).

Evidence Based Techniques for Narrative and Expository Text

Instruction• The National Reading Panel, in 2000, selected the following instruction

techniques as effective evidence based instruction techniques:– Comprehension monitoring – Use of graphic and semantic organizers – Question answering – Question generation – Story structure

– Summarization

Evidence Based Techniques for Narrative and Expository Text

Instruction

• In Caldwell and Leslie (2009), graphic organizers are presented as an effective way to develop comprehension with narrative and expository texts.

• For Narrative texts, Caldwell and Leslie suggest using:– Story Maps, Character

Perspective Charts, and increased exposure to stories.

• For Expository texts, Caldwell and Leslie suggest using:– Expectation grids, and

Expository idea maps for expository text signal words such as cause-effect and sequence.

Instructional Demonstration for Narrative Text Instruction - Character

Perspective Charting

• The perspectives of different characters are all explored in this technique. In this activity, we are able to look at characters, setting, problems and solutions from at least two different viewpoints.

• The student is able to explore, in a more complex way, relationships in a given story.

Instructional Demonstration for Narrative Text Instruction - Character

Perspective Charting• Before the Activity

– We will discuss how people see events in different ways– We will generate some examples as a class– If the class is unable to come up with any, I will begin the

discussion with the example:• A young girl sees a little boy in the market steal an apple

from a vendor. From the girls point of view, she saw someone breaking the law. From the boys perspective, he is the son of the vendor and he was grabbing an apple for his brother.

• Situations can look very different from the view point of the people involved

Instructional Demonstration for Narrative Text Instruction - Character

Perspective Charting

• During the Reading– I will read King Bidgood’s

in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood to the class

– This is a text we have read before and all of the students love reading along during certain parts

– As I am reading, I will occasionally stop to remind the students to try and think like some of the characters

Instructional Demonstration for Narrative Text Instruction - Character

Perspective Charting• After the Reading, the Activity can Begin

– We will begin to make a chart as a group to discuss the view points of the Page versus the view point of the King

– In the chart, we will explore the characters, setting, problem, events and solution of the story

King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub

• Who are the main characters?– The Page

• Where does the story take place?– The King’s bathroom and all over

the castle• What does the Page want?

– The king to get out of the tub• What is the problem?

– The King refuses to get out of the tub and every one the Page asks to help can’t seem to get the King out of the tub either

• What are the events?– The page has to clean up after a

tub battle, a tub feast, a tub fishing expedition, and a club masquerade

• What was the resolution?– The Page pulls the plug on the

tub!

• Who are the main characters?– The king and members of his court

• Where does the story take place?– In the King’s bathroom, more

specifically, his tub• What does the King want?

– To stay in his tub and have fun all night• What is the problem?

– Members of the King’s court keep trying to lure him out to do different things

• What are the events?– The King invites the Knight in for a royal

bathtub battle. He invites the Queen in for lunch in the tub. He invites the Duke in to go fishing. He invites party guests in to have a ball in the tub

• What was the resolution?– The King was able to get each person

who wanted to get him out of the tub, into the tub so he would never have to get out

– In the end, the Page wins though

Instructional Demonstration for Narrative Text Instruction - Character

Perspective Charting• To follow up, we will explore the world of

different perspectives as we read other books throughout the year

References

• Caldwell, J.S., & Lesley. L. (2009) Intervention strategies to follow informal reading inventory assessment. York: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.

• Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B. (2002). Strategies for reading assessment and instruction: Helping every child succeed. New York: Prentice Hall.

• Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, S. (1997). Character Perspective Charting: Helping children to develop a more complete conception of story. The Reading Teacher, 50, 668-677.

• Images retrieved from Envelopments.com

The End