Comprehend information from multiple representations (Inclusive Big Idea #7)

Reading Informational Text

Grade 3: English Language Arts

Inclusive Big Idea #7: Comprehend information from multiple representations

Standard: Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur). RI.3.7

• T-Chart Graphic Organizer: Provide a digital or paper version of the T-chart graphic organizer. With a high-interest topic or topic of student’s choice, model how to fill in a T-chart graphic organizer. Record and caption a video of you making a T-chart for students who want to watch multiple times and hear your thinking. For example, you could show how you record text information about the topic on the left. On the right, show how you record ideas to the following critical thinking questions:
  • What is the most important information and why?
  • What are the most important facts?
  • Why did the author want the reader to learn these?
• See this TIP Sheet for more information on how to make graphic organizers more accessible and engaging for all.
• Sort-to-Understand: Use examples and non-examples to highlight how to gain information from illustrations in texts. Provide cards with text and cards with different types of illustrations (e.g., map, diagram, photograph, graphic). These can be paper-based or digital. Model how to sort examples of text from examples of illustrations. Provide answers so students can check their work and collaborate with peers on this process.
• Discuss to Understand: Provide students with an informational text that contains illustrations such as maps, photographs, or other graphics. These can be high-interest texts or ones students choose. Model how to highlight illustrations within the informational text and discuss how the illustrations differ from the actual text. Record and caption a video of you doing this for students who want to watch it multiple times and hear your thinking. Review each type of illustration in the text. You can use a chart or graphic organizer with each type of illustration and develop examples of each. Prompt students to discuss different types of illustrations and which they would use to answer specific questions about the text. See this TIP Sheet for more information on Whole Group Discussions. For example:
  • Which illustration would you use to answer the question, In what year did Abraham Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address? (timeline)
• Question-Answer Relationship (QAR): Model the four types of questions. Make these questions available on handouts or with prompts students can return to, so the information is presented in more than one way (i.e., not just verbally). Record and caption a video of you modeling the four types of questions for students who want to watch it multiple times and hear your thinking.
  • Right There: Pose a question to the class that may be answered by looking in more than one location of the text, noting which representation provided students with the information they needed.
  • Think and Search: Ask a question that may be answered by looking in more than one location of the text or in multiple texts. Note which representation provided students with the information they needed.
  • Author and Me: Pose a question that requires “reading” the multiple texts and using knowledge that is in your head. Ask students to note which representation provided students with the information they needed.
  • On My Own: Ask a related question that can be answered without having to read the text. These are usually higher-level thinking questions but have students tie their thinking to information presented in each of the representations.
• Think Aloud: The purpose of asking students questions about texts is to get them into the habit of self-questioning as they read. To model this, read aloud a high-interest informational text. Periodically, model how to stop and ask questions. Provide space for students to record ideas and offer prompts to help them self-question. For this particular think-aloud, identify a photo/graphic/diagram and model how you distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text. See this TIP Sheet for more information on how to model using a Think Aloud.

For example, one possible barrier is the amount of information that a student needs to hold in mind.

Ideas to reduce this barrier could include:

• be aware of how much sensory input occurs at once, perhaps offer the option to use headphones
• show examples and provide answers to check along the way
• provide templates or graphic organizers
• allow use of spell checks and other tools 

Use these Inclusive Strategies to help reduce barriers.

• The Big Idea: Comprehend information from multiple representations
• Tell me more about… Multiple Representations of Information
  • Visuals used in informational text may include charts, graphs, tables, timelines, or diagrams. Students are constantly gathering information from a variety of media. It is important for them to develop the ability to determine the source of information so they can critically evaluate the credibility of the information and determine what is factual from what is shaped by their opinion or the opinion of the author.

Common Student Misconceptions

• Visuals: Students may overlook visuals in instruction. Remember that comprehension can be supported by visuals. Explicitly teach ways that visuals support reader understanding of text rather than being superfluous to the content.

Links Across Content Areas

• Social Studies: Students can use illustrations, including maps and graphs, to describe the text
• Science/Math: Students can use illustrations, including charts, graphs, and diagrams, to better understand the text.

Everyday Connections

• In the News: Have students review news stories on TV or online. Have them discuss what information is taken in from the text/spoken words and what is gathered from the pictures/video.

Second Grade: Comprehend information from multiple representations (RI 7)

Third Grade: Comprehend information from multiple representations (RL 7)

Fourth Grade: Explain how information from multiple representations of a topic contributes to an understanding of a topic (RI 7)