Informational Text as a teaching tool.

In the dynamic world we live in, content and technology exponentially grow and become more and more complex. To prepare our students to effectively function in the world and be efficient global citizens, educators re-evaluate their teaching instructions and come up with new educational strategies. 

Daily reading of current events and informational texts develop not only student language skills but prepare them to be informed, think critically, solve real world problems, and be able to communicate their ideas to others. In other words, students are learning to become active members of society.

Resources:

There are a great number of web sites where informational texts can be found. Some of them are pinned on a Pinterest Nonfiction Reading board. 

Check a Pinterest collection of News Sites 
and News Sites in Spanish.

Paraphrasing, Summarising and Quoting

Paraphrasing, summarising and quoting are the three ways of presenting someone's ideas and phrases that Middle School students are often struggle with. To help students grasp the difference, Humanities teacher Mr. Sullivan and I, library media specialist conduct a purpose-built class activity.

Before we start a lesson on paraphrasing, summarising and quoting, six grade students are divided by groups. They brainstorm and  share their understanding in front of the class. Other students listen carefully, take notes and ask questions when the presentation is over.

Building an even clarer differentiation between the tools through a dialogue is the next step of student discovery. Students are paired to develop each concept through a conversation. We guide  student discussions by asking open questions.

Below are the results of the class discussions.

Quoting:

What? Quoting is an exact reproduction of spoken or written words. It's usually a short message that

supports and not replaces students' own ideas.
Why? Writers use quoting when the exact wording is the best way to convey a message.
How? The message should not be altered. Quotation marks are used in the beginning and at the end of the message.

Paraphrasing:

What? Paraphrasing is a way to express the original ideas in ones own way by using different words.
Why? It is done to support students' original ideas and/or provide evidence.

How? Paraphrasing doesn't make the original text shorter.
A correct way to paraphrase is

• to read the original text carefully and understand it. 
• Then, identify key words and main ideas and relationships between them as well as the author's attitude toward information you are paraphrasing. 
• When paraphrasing, change the grammar and sentence structure but keywords, main ideas and relationships between them keep the same. 
• Express the attitude the author has to treat the original text, that is confidence, doubt, criticism, or other.

Summarising
What? Summarising is a way to convey main ideas of the original text.
Why? Summarising is used to support main ideas of student writing or provide evidence to prove student thoughts.
How?

• To summarise, read the text, take notes and outline the main ideas. 
• Leave out details and examples.
• Close the text and rewrite notes in your own words.

New Resource helps teach 21Century Skills

Social Studies: Integration of 21st Century Skills into Social Study Curriculum - eSchool News by Laura Devaney
View the 21 Century Skills map

English: English teachers now have a new free source to help them integrate 21st Century Skills into their curriculum (read more in eSchool News by Meris Stansbury).
View the 21st Century Skills map and English(Designed in cooperation with NCTE).

Foreign Languages in a global society - Foreign Languages in 2020 published by Converge magazine highlights the necessity of being bilingual or multilingual to succeed in new economy.