Reading Comprehension for High School: Analyzing Text Structure

Reading Comprehension for High School: Analyzing Text Structure is an on-going class that meets twice a week to help foster student's analytical reading skills. Students will read fiction and non-fiction texts in class to analyze it for meaning. 

Students will receive direct instruction, guided practice and independent practice. Students will increase their critical thinking skills by learning how to analyze text structure to increase comprehension. Students will be working with the teacher in a small group, instructional setting. Students will collaborate with the teacher and their classmates in breakout sessions to complete learning activities. 

Students will meet two times a week. Learners may join and leave at anytime. Each week we will discuss a different element of analyzing a text structure.
 
Lesson Topics will include:

1. Students will read and analyze the the structure of a fiction short story and engage in a think-pair-share discussion in response to multiple-choice comprehension questions. They answer the questions, discuss their answers with a partner, and come to an agreement on the answers.

2. Students will work in mixed-ability groups to discuss how the article is structured or organized, paying particular attention to the headers. They  will also focus on finding keywords that signal " cause and effect" and diagram the causes and effects.

3. Students will read a non-fiction article and record cause and effect on sticky notes, selecting relevant text-based details from the article. Students will work with the teacher and classmates to ensure details are placed in the appropriate columns. We will construct a class-size graphic organizer. 

4. Students will read a fiction short story and analyze the elements of plot in a narrative. As a class, we will discuss the plot structure. We will focus on: point of view, exposition, conflict, characterizations, etc.) We will add digital annotations to the text to help sharpen students' skills of analysis.

5. Students will construct short and long answer responses to the texts read in class. There will be an emphasis on going in-depth in the written analysis. Students will practice citing text evidence and giving a thorough explanation of text details.