Non-Fiction Digital Articles

How to Use Informational Text in Your Classroom

Informational text is a tool teachers can use to focus on close reading, teach vocabulary in context, and introduce students to a variety of rich and complex subjects through reading. Using this type of non-fiction literature as the introduction to critical thinking and discussion in your classroom is a great way to get your students ready for deeper understanding of topics.

• Ask students to use information from text documents to support their arguments when discussing or collaborating.
• Provide opportunities for other students to build on each other’s observations and insights gathered from text.
• Provide tools and resources for students to build on what they’ve learned from text, such as in-classroom experiments and activities that demonstrate what they’ve learned.
• Ask students to use the vocabulary they learned in text in their discussions and collaborations.
• Take students beyond the basics provided by text and dig into smaller details of what they’ve learned through additional activities.
• Ensure that the text provides new information and insight and is at the students’ reading level.

Informational text can be a great resource and jumping point to introduce your students to more complex and nuanced topics.