Many teachers agonize when there is no time to share varieties of rich text. They also worry that students might not grasp essential concepts through conventional classroom instruction. Micro-texts might be your solution.
In education, micro-texts refer to small, targeted, and carefully selected bits of a book (fiction or nonfiction), essay, poem, newspaper, online publication, or any other text. A micro-text can be a single phrase, sentence, or paragraph. Micro-text is everywhere; in textbooks, signs, brochures, novels, and picture books. Its selection for teaching writing depends not only on brevity, but also on content.
We Are All Still Learning...
In my research for this article, I was unable to identify the researcher or educator who coined the use of the phrase “micro-text” in reference to student literacy. If any of you know that source, please email me at cpmiller@educationworld.com and I will pass it along in a future article.
To use micro-texts:
Review writing standards, curriculum, or lesson plans (and informal assessments of students’ writing), and ask “What do I need to teach?” Pinpoint what is most important for the next two weeks of instruction.
Select several micro-texts that match those instructional goals. Aim for short, highly illustrative text. Hold your next department meeting in the library and use 15 minutes for everyone to find potential micro-texts in the books around them or on the Internet. The closing words in Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are -- “and it was still hot” -- can teach inference and strong word choice. Even poorly worded sentences in a textbook can work. Have students critique someone else’s writing to practice revision or editing. Record those examples in a notebook or computer file along with their connections to standards, so your teaching team can refer to them year after year.
Give students time to explore, discuss, and practice the concept or skill you introduce with the micro-text. Students might search out their own examples and bring them to class. Encourage them to use what they have learned in their next writing assignment for extra credit.
Micro-texts appeal to new English language learners, those with special needs, and struggling readers because of their limited size and focus. They grab other students because they often mirror the size text they see outside of school. Most of all, micro-texts allow teachers to teach specific skills and expand students’ exposure to varieties of text all at the same time.
Using Micro-Texts in Any Classroom
Micro-texts work well with 8- or 18-year-olds. For example, excerpts from Karma Wilson’s Bear Snores On (for younger students) or Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray or Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities (for older students), are perfect tools to teach word choice and/or sentence fluency.
After reading the micro-text, discuss with students the images or feelings the words evoke. Have students listen for what my friend, author John H. Ritter, calls “the musicality of language” by reading a portion aloud. Follow up by pondering with students: “How did the author accomplish that? What specifically did he/she do with words?”
About the Author
Known as the "Literacy Ambassador," Cathy Puett Miller uses her library science degree from Florida State University as the foundation of her work. With more than ten years experience as an independent literacy consultant working with teachers, parents, librarians, and non-profit family-friendly organizations, she has conducted research initiatives and best practice studies in the areas of beginning reading instruction, emergent literacy and volunteer tutoring. She currently is listed on the U.S. Department of Education's What Works Clearinghouse Registry of Outcome Evaluators.
Cathy's freelance writing appears in such print publications as Atlanta Our Kids, Omaha Family, and Georgia Journal of Reading, and online at Literacy Connections, Parenthood.com, Education World, Family Network, the Reading Tub, The National Education Association, and BabyZone. She also reviews children's books at Children's Literature Comprehensive Database. Her signature is her passion for connecting children and families to positive, powerful experiences with reading; she believes there is a book for every child.
Cathy lives with her husband, Chuck, eighteen-year-old son, Charlie, and lots of friendly, ferociously read books in Huntsville, Alabama. Visit Cathy's Web site at The Literacy Ambassador.
Clearinghouse Registry of Outcome Evaluators.
