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Textmapping starts with a scroll. Scrolls are an ancient technology, but they offer clear advantages over books - advantages that are particularly useful in the context of classroom instruction. When you open a book, you can only see two facing pages at a time; when you roll out a scroll, you can see the entire text - the entire length of the scroll - all at once. Here's how it looks:

Open a book, and you see two facing pages...

...but unroll a scroll, and you see the entire text.

Scrolls give you a better handle on comprehension. They enable you and your students to see more information, such as the heading structure, illustrations, captions, key words, and other important pre-reading cues. On a scroll, all of this information is explicit - in the aggregate, in full context. In a book, this information can only be seen in pieces (two facing pages at a time) and must be assembled in the abstract from memory. Unlike books, scrolls enable you to visually comprehend the text as a whole; they make the notion of a whole text concrete and explicit; they set the scene for you to model - concretely and explicitly - the skills and strategies that are the foundation of comprehension.

Scrolls enable the eye to comprehend. The simple act of displaying a text in scroll-form reveals information which often otherwise goes unnoticed. This enriches discussion and understanding.

Unlike school-owned textbooks and library books, scrolls can be marked. Because you can mark them up, scrolls are an excellent medium for teaching and learning. Scrolls enable you to model the process of engaging a text - of actively pursuing meaning. It is not sufficient to describe this process. Students need to see it modeled concretely, explicitly, and repeatedly, on actual course content. Scrolls enable you to do this. Scrolls enable you to teach marking strategies directly on the texts that you are using in your classroom. This is an important advantage.
[Note: This sketch is just an illustration. Your scroll will be assembled from either standard-size or enlarged-size photocopied pages of an actual text, so the text will be real and the words will be readable.]
You can mark a scroll to suit specific instructional purposes to introduce a new chapter, teach active reading and study skills, clarify a key point, highlight key vocabulary, or review assigned readings and your students can mark their scrolls to suit specific reading goals, as well as to suit their individual learning needs and abilities.

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How and why to use paper scrolls and colored markers to teach reading comprehension skills and classroom content. Improve the clarity and effectiveness of reading comprehension skills instruction. Supports a high level of differentiated instruction and a wide range of learning styles. A new approach to graphic organizers. Workshops for teachers.

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I'm a big fan of textmapping (check out the site www.textmapping.org) which is the brain child of a Mr. Dave Middlebrook. The process is a lot of work and takes some time to set up, but it is SO worth it! I've used this technique to teach nonfiction features the past couple of years. Here's how the process works.

1. You photocopy a book (or at least a good part of the book). I like to shrink the text down to 60% so two pages of the book fit on one 8X11 sheet of paper. This also usually allows for a BIG margin where the kiddos can record their thinking, too.

2. If you haven't already, you introduce the concept of nonfiction features and of how you read nonfiction DIFFERENTLY than fiction, like eating an apple is different than eating an orange. (This SHOULD be a lesson by itself BEFORE the textmapping.)

3. You glue or tape the pages side by side creating one LONG text scroll. You can do this ahead of time, OR let the kiddos do it. My 5th graders worked in groups of 3 or 4 and LOVED putting their scrolls together with their glue sticks! (I kept hearing, "This is fun!" and "COOL!" and "Look how LONG the book is!")

4.Invite the students to go on a "treasure hunt" in search of those textfeatures. They should highlingt and label those features as they find them. One suggestion would be to use certain colored highlighters to tag certain features, like all headings would be yellow, all captions would be pink, all diagrams would be blue, etc.

5. After a given amount of time (about 5 -10 minutes), ask the students what they noticed about the book and make a list on either chart paper or on computer using projector to use as an anchor chart for the rest of the year.

There's so much more I wish I had time to say, but it's getting late this evening. Let's just say that these kiddos will definitely remember this activity longer than they could remember any worksheet covering those features. These kids were EXCITED to be learning about text features!

Remember, check out Dave Middlebrook's website if you want a much BETTER description. Also, you'll find photographs and descriptions of students of all ages working with scrolls there. You can also see a few more of my photos on my Flickr page.

It's just well worth your time!

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Textmapping: Worth the Work! (Teaching Nonfiction Text Features)

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I'm a big fan of textmapping (check out the site www.textmapping.org) which is the brain child of a Mr. Dave Middlebrook. The process is a lot of work and takes some time to set up, but it is SO worth it! I've used this technique to teach nonfiction features the past couple of years.

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Buffman, A., Mattos, M., & Weber, C. (2010).  The why behind RTI.  Educational Leadership. 68 (2), 10-16.

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Have other strategies proven as effective as text mapping and QARs under the same conditions as AARI (small group, 40+ min/day, 5 days/wk, 18 wks)?

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Buffman, A., Mattos, M. Weber, C. (2009). Pyramid response to intervention: RTI, professional learning communities, and how to respond when kids don't learn. Bloomington, IN.

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Heacox, D. (2009). Making differentiation a habit. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.

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How does group size impact intervention results? Length of a single intervention period? Frequency of lessons (days/week)? Duration of intervention (weeks)? What variables are crucial to success?

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McDougal, J.L.,Graney, S.B., Wright, J.A. , & Ardoin, S.P. (2010). RTI in practice: A practical guide to implementing effective evidence-based interventions in your school. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

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Chambliss, M. & Calfee, R. (1998) Textbooks for learning: Nurturing children's minds.