Helping students make sense of their textbooks: Deconstruction

Purpose: To help students easily locate information and discern the importance of information.  Useful to help summarise/make notes.  It is not an automatic skill to be able to use textbook information effectively.  It is our job to teach the skill.

Resources:

·         A photocopy of a double-page spread from your subject textbook – one per student (make sure the page you use have many layout elements on them)

·         Each student needs different coloured pencils x 6 or 7

·         Student worksheet

Process:

Begin at the beginning of the textbook page and work your way through the layout elements, in order.  Project onto screen.  You might choose to cover IDENTIFY all elements first, then do DESCRIBE features of each element next, then EXPLAIN the purpose of each element, or do a bit of a mix, as I’ve done below.

1.       IDENTIFY the layout elements and DESCRIBE their features:

a)      Note the first layout element on the page (usually the TOPIC HEADING).  Discuss what features make it different to any of the other headings on the page (eg. larger font, diff colour, diff style). Have students search the remainder of the page, and then further into their textbook, to find headings at the similar heading-hierarchy level.  If on the page, they can colour all appearances of it in eg.BLUE.

b)      Note the next layout element on the page (often a bolded paragraph – a BLURB or SUMMARY of the topic).  Discuss its distinctive features (eg. bold, larger font, a couple of sentences).  Have students search the remainder of the page, and then further into their textbook, to find similar blurbs.  If on the page, they can colour all appearances of it in eg. RED.

c)       Note the next layout element on the page (often a SUB-HEADING).  Continue as above, using different pencil colours to colour different elements.

d)      Continue as above for all layout features of the page.

Typical features include:

·         Unit Headings

·         Blurbs/context/background paragraph

·         Topic Headings

·         Sub-Headings

·         Paragraphs of text

·         Photographs

·         Diagrams

·         Tables of information

·         Captions

·         Cartoons

·         Callouts (little ‘factoid’ pieces)

·         Keywords

·         Symbols (based on a legend provided at the beginning of the textbook – eg. in a music textbook a little picture of a musical note¯with p.54 next to it might mean there’s an associated musical score to play on p.54)

2.       At this point, you could give students a little test – eg. give them a different photocopied page, work in groups to complete a list of instructions in the fastest time, like:

“In blue pencil, colour in all of the sub-headings.  In green pencil colour all of the captions.  Draw an arrow pointing to a key word….”

Students should be able to identify and locate the key elements that divide up information on a textbook page.  Next, they need to know which type of element will give them which type of information:

3.       UNDERSTAND and EXPLAIN the purpose of the different elements on a textbook page.

a)      Go back to the first element (eg.TOPIC HEADING).  Discuss what type of information it gives you (eg. it tells you what this whole section/chapter will be about).

b)      Do the same for the next element, and so on.

4.       Have students complete notes on everything they have learned. SEE SAMPLE BELOW:

Layout element	Features	Example from page	What does it do?  What can I use it for?
Main subject heading	Largest font.  Different colour.	Plate Tectonics	It tells me what this section of the textbook is about.
Context paragraph	Different font to rest of text. In a box.	Paragraph beginning: “If you look at a map of the world…”	It gives me a brief overview of information relevant to the subject.  I could use it to help me focus on what ideas are most important on the page.
Sub-headings	Bold font. Larger font than normal text but smaller than page heading.	Continents that move!	Sub-headings break up the information on the page into smaller topics.  They can help me choose which part of the page I can look on to find specified information.  They can also point to the main idea covered.
Paragraphs of text	The majority of the page – in a small font.  A series of paragraphs.	Paragraph beginning: “In 1915 Alfred Wegener proposed…”	The majority of information about the topic will be included in these paragraphs.  Each paragraph should contain one main idea, and if I want to know what idea is covered, I should look at the first two sentences.
Bolded words	Bold text within the paragraphs.	supercontinent	These words are often KEY WORDS – they are important words to know if I want to understand the topic.  I can most likely look up their meaning in the Glossary.
Illustrations	Pictures in text boxes.	A map of the world showing matching mountain ranges.	Illustrations are used to illustrate (give an example) the information that is already provided in the written text.  I probably won’t get new information here, but it can be useful to look at the illustrations to give me a better understanding of the information.
Callout/ Factoid	A little textbox separate to the main text.  Contains short, sharp detail.	Science Focus	This information is usually only for interest purposes.  It probably won’t help me understand the topic, but it may be interesting.