Content area and textual arrangments

Running head: CONTENT AREA AND TEXUAL ARRANGEMENTS 1
Content Area and Textual Arrangements
Taniesha Blake
Walden University
Kim Lytle
EDUC - 6707R – 3 The Developing Reader, Grades 4-6
July 21, 2013

CONTENT AREA AND TEXTUAL ARRANGEMENTS
Content Area and Textual Arrangements
It is critical and essential that I review the fourth grade curriculum in order to select
appropriate texts in order to design effective instructions. It is also very important to analyze text
and arrange it so that it meets the thematic requirements, the interest and needs of all students.
This week, I will be working on the theme the American Revolution. This theme is derived from
the social studies content text American Revolution Unit. This unit was designed for fourth grade
to meet the Georgia Performance Standards. Thus, my goal is not only to meet these standards
but also, help students in their literacy development as well as develop an understanding of
American history. As a result, I have also decided to allow students to use Fourth Grade
Integrating with Technology as one of the additional sources of information.
This week I will continue to use the Complementary arrangement. The media segment
Textual Arrangements states, this is when you pull together texts that kind of fit together nicely,
and they make good music together. (Laureate Education Inc. 2010 n.p) I chose this type of
arrangement because the students I am working with are fourth grade English Language Learners
and based on previous assessments, I realize that they are at the transitional stage. In addition, I
want them to get the opportunity to develop the skill of using multiple sources to get information.
I want students to recognize that they do not have to limit themselves to a single text. With the
theme American Revolution, I want them to be exposed to multiple sources to identify people,
places and events that have happened in the past and how it is linked to what is happening in
today’s society. Hartman & Hartman, (1997) states, “arranging opportunities for students to think
about how ideas, people, places, events and themes are related, connected and linked between as
well as multiple texts requires more than a series of prescribed steps”. (p. 3).
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The complementary arrangement of the texts American Revolution Unit, Fourth Grade
Integrating Technology with Social Studies and Kids and Families reveal information that students
could connect and learn more about American Revolution. I chose these texts because I think they
seemed to “make music together”. The English Language Learners expressed that they liked
reading texts online thus, I think the Integrating Technology with Social Studies would assist
those students who have little or no experience with technology to gain new insights of the
sequence of events as it relates to American Revolution and its connection with technology. In
other words they can learn how to research, create spreadsheets with data and learn new
information about the world they live in as it relates to the American Revolution.
English Language Learners, students with special needs and struggling students benefit
from the online resource Kids and Families. In one of the tasks American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html students get to explore millions of items they can link
to the American Revolution. In addition for those students who may be hearing impaired, they can
read and participate in conversations in the student blogs and activities they are unable to in the
physical classroom.
The complementary textual arrangement of the texts American Revolution Unit and
Fourth Grade Integrating Technology with Social Studies would fall on the Narrative to
Informational. Media Segment Analyzing and Selecting Text states, you can look at the genre it
will make sense to place it in the middle or more toward one end or the other. (Laureate
Education Inc 2010 n.p) Thus, I think it would be safe to say on the continuum they are moving
more towards the Linguistic. One of the passages from the American Revolution outlined a
review of the Declaration of Independence; ‘We hold these truths to be self evident that all men
are created equal’. The disadvantage of this is if sufficient information is available to answer
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questions at the end of the text. Next, the demand of this text is to respond to questions given by
me or from the text. In the text Fourth Grade Integrating Technology with Social Studies one of
the passages, ‘unlike ancestors long ago they still live throughout the United States and Canada
and attend school, wear clothes such as jeans and sweatshirts, live in apartments and houses and
watch the same television shows and films that children throughout the Unites States do’.
http://www.lenapelifeways.org/lenape4.htm. This passage and outline will help students connect
to the meaning of the Declaration of Independence surrounds. I believe this text would fall under
to continuum linguistic to semiotic and leaned closer to semiotic. The disadvantage of this is if
students are unable to open links given to read and search for information. The demands of this
text is to open web pages, read passages and respond to questions.
In this week’s learning resources I realized that from the ‘one computer classroom’,
Library congress, Kids and Families students were able to find information that connect with the
texts the used for the theme The American Revolution. One of the passages read, ‘our divisions
and distractions produce weakness, and weakness invites insult and aggression’.
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ABT7278.0001.001/248?rgn=full+text;view=image.
After predominantly, selecting and arranging texts I posted several questions to infer the
purpose, their own experiences and the relation of texts. Based on the text The American
Revolution, the Intra-textual question would be, why the colonist wanted independence from the
British in the first place and how does it relate to the declaration of independence? The inter-
textual related question would be, what are some of the causes, events and outcomes of the
American Revolution? The extra-textual question would be, what changes have occurred since
the American Revolution? How can I use a variety of resources to gain information about an
individual? These student can better understand texts in relation to other texts and their own
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experience based on the fact that they help students get a better understanding of places, events
and how it affects their role and identity in society today. Lahiri, (2010) states, “Texts explore
many aspects of belonging including the potential of the individual to enrich or to challenge a
community or group”. (p. 1).
On Tuesday July, 16 2013 I shared my textual arrangements with four colleges at my
school and they gave positive feedback on the implications and advantages of using not just the
textbooks as the sole source of gathering information. They all reported that using the Fourth
Grade Integrating Technology with Social Studies was a very smart move. They also explained
various ways of how they use textual arrangements in their classroom. Two stated, very often
they use the synoptic because it fits the uniqueness of their students. The media segment Textual
Arrangements states, synoptic that’s where the texts fit together to form an overall story that’s
coherent, so one text may provide a piece the next piece when you put them together you have
this larger narrative that really works. (Laureate Education Inc. 2010 n.p) The other two teachers
shared that they also use complementary arrangement. They explained that using complimentary
arrangement help the students in their classroom see how texts work together harmoniously. It
helps them develop the skill of using multiple sources to find information. One teacher said, “My
students like to think of searching for information as hunting for the truth”. She says, “It is like a
game for her students”. Another colleague reported that her students challenge themselves to see
who can find the most credible information from various sources.
This week’s resources were quite insightful. It is not just selecting the appropriate text to
motivate and meet the interest of student. It is also how these texts are arranged in order to help
students make connections and develop the skill of using more than one text to get information.
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Thus, it is my job to provide opportunities for students to the appropriate arrangement to
accommodate the identity of my students.
References
Hartman, J., A., & Hartman K., A., Arranging Multi-text Reading experiences that Expand The
Readers Role. (p. 3) Retrieved from:
https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/17586/ctrstreadtechrepv01994i0060
4_opt.pdf?sequence=1
Lahiri, J., (2010) Annotations of Texts Prescribed for the First Time (p. 1)
Laureate Education Inc (Producer) (a) (2010) Analyzing and Selecting [Video Webcast]
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Retrieved from: https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?
tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher
%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3398499_1%26url%3D
Laureate Education Inc (Producer) (b) (2010) Textual Arrangements {Video Webcast] Retrieved
from: https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?
tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher
%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3398499_1%26url%3D
Library of Congress (n.d) Kids of Families Retrieved December 23, 2010 from:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ABT7278.0001.001/248?rgn=full+text;view=image
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CONTENT AREA AND TEXTUAL ARRANGEMENTS 8

Content area and textual arrangments

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