Article by Moss

This article brings to light the growing concern over student's ability and opportunity to read and become familiar with informational text. The author asserts that changing trends in education such as stadards- based education, the emphasis that has been placed on standardized tests, and the growth and implementation of technology has called for more effective content area literacy instruction.

I thought it was an interesting point that the ability to read informational text should be addressed at all levels. The article states that the issue is even being addressed as far down as kindergarten. I believe that this is absolutely necessary. This gives the students more opportunities for independence.

I was surprised to see that such little attention has been paid to the matter. I found the "fourth grade slump" extremely surprising. Especially in that one of the explanations was that some reading difficulties may have been deemed "unimportant." What stumbling block is ever unimportant when education is concerned?

I completely agree with the statement that early exposure to informational and exposition is necessary. I also found educator's previous assumptions that students were incapable of understanding informational text appalling. Is it just me, or is this a serious understatement of children's abilities. If they do struggle in the matter, as teachers shouldn't the answer to be to provide more support for the skill?

This makes me think of our instructors constantly harping on us to use a wide variety of text in our classroom to broaden the students' horizons. Before reading this article, I had a basic understanding of the necessity for students to be able to read and comprehend informational text. However, I was not aware of all of the benefits. It enhances domain knowledge, and helps students become more strategic readers of informational text. It offers inquiry based experiences. These texts can also be tools for teachers in building background experiences for students.

This article caused me to reflecto on my own past experiences. I cannot remember that much emphasis being placed on informational text. In fact, many teachers would read the text to us so that we could understand. This article made me more aware of student's abilities, and caused me to think about how I could incorporate more informational text other than text books into my classroom setting. It also made me aware of the benefits of making this knowledge available to the students.