RM Winter 2017

learn to focus appropriately on the graphics in persuasive text (e.g., Duke & Martin, 2015; Duffy, 2014; Haria & Midgette, 2014; Romance & Vitale, 2012; Williams et al., 2005). Authentic Literacy Activities Authentic literacy activities involve “reading and writing of textual types, or genres, that occur outside of a learning-to-read- and-write context and purpose” and “for the purposes for which they are read or written outside of a learning-to-read-and-write context and purpose” (Purcell-Gates et al., 2007, p. 14). Authentic literacy activities support students’motivation and learning, by providing a need-to-know and clarifying when and how to use what is being learned to read texts on their own. Recently, we have been collaborating with local elementary teachers to include authentic literacy activities in lessons intended to help students to focus appropriately on graphics in persuasive text. We have found three categories of tasks to be especially useful: Classroom or school infomercials and advertisements. Infomercials and advertisements are useful because they often communicate key reasons and evidence through graphics. Examples of tasks in this category include (a) advertising and applying for classroom jobs, (b) selling and buying items in the classroom or school store, (c) searching for and stocking the classroom with new supplies, and (d) convincing future students to enroll in favorite classes or classrooms. Student-created infomercials and advertisements such as Come and Teach at Our School (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O2b8Cj1RIU) and Kindergarten Round Up! (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=U3ojMPGmoP8) may be included in K-5 lessons. Student reviews and editorials. Among the most common persuasive texts encountered outside of school, product reviews and editorials offer opportunities for students to share their experiences and opinions with peers. Examples of tasks in this category include (a) convincing peers to select books to read for pleasure, (b) helping classmates to decide whether to buy or bring lunch tomorrow, (c) encouraging administrators to buy (and students to choose) apps or games for use in the classroom, (d) sharing and learning about peer reactions to events, and (e) formulating opinions about “hot” issues. Persuasive texts which could be used in K-5 lessons might include newspaper editorials and columns and online texts such as KidsVuz ( https://www.kidzvuz.com ), SlimeKids Book Reviews ( http:// www.slimekids.com/book-reviews ), or Spaghetti Book Club Book Reviews for Kids ( http://www.spaghettibookclub.org ). Content area units of study: White papers, speeches, and public service announcements. White papers, speeches, and public service announcements [PSAs] frequently feature curricular topics, enabling students to simultaneously learn to focus appropriately on graphics and address content area standards. Examples of tasks in this category include (a) understanding and responding to current events and scientific issues (e.g., genetic engineering of food, immigration); (b) electing students to classroom offices; (c) resolving school issues (e.g., uniforms, bullying); and (d) making classroom decisions. Student-created persuasive texts

Focusing on Comprehending Persuasive Text

Our work has helped us to see that graphics in persuasive text is an especially important focus for K-5 lessons. When students ignore graphics in persuasive text, they run the risk of missing out on key parts of writers’ arguments. Persuasive text may not always include graphics, but, when it does, graphics most often supplement the written text by offering additional explanations or introducing new evidence. Also, graphics may include direct appeals, or “tools used to get a particular audience on your side” (Duke, Caughlan, Juzwik, & Martin, 2011, p. 149), not featured in the written text. One of the books we used in our work, Save Our Earth , included a graphic of a large quantity of dead fish floating on the top of a lake, with the caption, “These fish died from pollution in Lake Trafford, Florida, United States” (Stewart, 2005, p. 15). The graphic was designed to supplement ideas in the written text, by showing a consequence of pollution and evoking horror at the high number of deaths. Ignoring the graphic undermines the writer’s attempt to convince students that polluting fresh water may be harmful and needs to be avoided. For the last five years, we have been striving to understand what elementary students remember when they read persuasive text on their own and how students’ memory for persuasive text changes with increased reading experience. In our research, we have asked second through fifth graders who were identified as on-grade-level readers by their teachers to read aloud and orally recall stand-alone chapters in trade books. We were interested in their unassisted memory for persuasive text. Rather than asking specific questions about the chapter, we encouraged students to continue recalling ideas until they indicated they were finished. Michael’s recall at the opening of this article is one example of what students remembered. We have learned from Michael and his peers that attention to graphics is a surprising gap in elementary readers’ comprehension of persuasive text (Martin & Myers, 2016). The students in our study devoted uneven attention to graphics when reading and recalling persuasive text. They seemed to pay progressively less attention to graphics from second to fifth grade. Also, those who recalled the fewest ideas attended disproportionately to texts’ graphics. They tended to devote too little or too much attention to graphics. The second through fifth graders taught us that they need help learning to focus appropriately on graphics in persuasive text. Teaching Students to Focus Appropriately on Graphics in Persuasive Text Michael and his peers’ uneven attention to graphics suggests that teaching elementary students about the role of graphics in persuasive text and how to integrate graphics with ideas in written text may hold promise for increasing their comprehension of persuasive text. Lessons which include authentic literacy activities, read alouds, discussions, and comprehension strategy instruction may help students

Reading Matters Teaching Matters

Reading Matters | Volume 17 • Winter 2017 | scira.org | scira.org | 51 |

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