Text Sets
Text Sets
Read a range of texts with a adeep but narrow focus
- Read multiple texts linked by a topic or theme
- Read widely around that topic to build word and world knowledge
- Read selected passages to learn close reading skills and build specifixc knowledge
- Engage in deep talk about texts with peers and teacher
- Synthesise to make knowledge transfer
How do authors create mood?
Why multiple texts？
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Why multiple texts? |
More reading mileage |
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Enhanced opportunities for vocabulary development |
More exposure to more text types |
More learning requiring synthesis and comparison |
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Simpler texts can act as scaffolds that “boot-strap” students’ background knowledge (Stanovich, 1986) |
Engaging with the same underlying concept in different texts and contexts facilitates deeper understanding and better transfer (Bransford, 2005) |
Competing texts require students to resolve disagreements and make judgements (cognitively challenging; particularly important in a digital world) |
Windows and Mirrors
How many texts in a text set?
Different ways to group texts:
- A range of texts where each text receives roughly the same amount of attention
- A main text (e.g. a longer story) which is supplemented by other texts
- An extended text study where (mainly) the different texts are shorter extracts from that text
Other Options
- Evocation of mood and atmosphere might be enough of a unifying focus for the unit
- Another possibility is to connect that focus with another e.g. a genre focus (e.g. (age-appropriate) horror/scary stories)
