Purpose
This strategy is designed to have students work closely with a text. It creates opportunities for students to read and reread meaningfully, order and sequence chunks of a text, identify key language patterns and features and make generalisations about the real-life purposes of the text. Procedural texts are particularly suitable for this activity but the technique can be readily adapted to other text types.
Teaching Points
- Select a suitable text to be the focus of the activity.
- Ensure that students have read the text together and are familiar with it.
- Segment meaningful chunks of text and re-order the text out of sequence. Photocopy for partner/small group work.
- Distribute copies of the mixed-up text to students to reorganise.
- Students will need to cut up, read, reread and sequence the text based on the information they have gleaned from both inside and outside the text itself.
- Monitor group progress by reading aloud together, alerting students to key text features, recalling prior knowledge, encouraging rereading for meaning and asking questions which require justifications for the choices made.
- On completion of the task hold a whole-class discussion about the model text. Guide students towards the identification of key text features, particularly those which helped them work out the order. For example, in a procedural text, words which indicate temporal sequence, such as next, now, and the pattern of verbs which indicate action, such as prepare, put, show should be identified.
More information
PEN 114: Davidson, C. Sequencing activities. Primary English Teaching Association, Newtown.
Creenaune, T & Rowles, L (1996) What’s your purpose? Reading strategies for non-fiction texts. Primary English Teaching Association, Newtown.