Rachel Doran

Text/Material Analysis

Directions: For your selected material (trade book, textbook chapter, video, or other), there are
these tasks: (1) identify the text’s key ideas, concepts or events, (2) reflect on experiences or
knowledge that would help students connect these to their lives, (3) identify potential barriers to
student understanding (particularly language use and culture); (4) determine which aspects of
text content and structure are most likely to interfere with comprehension. USE COURSE
RESOURCES whenever possible to answer the questions, and cite or quote those resources
when possible.

Identify the material in APA format (visit the Purdue OWL or the Resources module on
Canvas for help): Haley-James, S., & Stewig, J. W. (1998). Real and make-believe. In English:
Teacher’s edition. Level K (pp. 106-120). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

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Task 1: Key concept identification

A. List major concepts, ideas, and/or events from the material.

In this chapter, the following main ideas were introduced:
 Real or make-believe- The main idea of the chapter.
 Literature- This chapter is about real and make-believe so throughout the chapter there
are many activities that allow students to determine if a piece of literature is real or make-
believe.
 Listening- There are many oral readings throughout the chapter. Students demonstrate
their listening skills during the readings and then show their comprehension of the story
during activities.
 Speaking- Students can show their speaking skills through responding to a story with
their peers or with the class, and are able to retell the story.
 Thinking- Throughout this chapter, there are many activities that ask students to problem
solve and discuss why they believe it’s true.
 Writing- Since this is a kindergarten level, the students are starting the writing process.
They are learning about beginning, middle, and end and are creating their own stories by
first drawing a picture and then describing what they wrote, or they are determining an
ending and writing about it.
 Grammar- Throughout this chapter they are learning about describing words and how to
use them, they learn about how to describe smells and taste through activities and how
things sound and feel through activities.
 Vocabulary- The students are learning about beginning, middle and end, but also top,
middle and bottom throughout this chapter. There is review from past chapters and
vocabulary learned but through the activities the students are learning to build and use the
new vocabulary as well.
 Study Skills- The students are still practicing their letters and sounds, so there are
additional resources like worksheets that allow students to identify a letter, and trace the

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upper case and lowercase letter. This helps them in the writing process because they will
correctly know how to draw and identify letters.

B. List supporting concepts, ideas, and/or events.

 Art- The chapter allows a creative outlet to help the students understand the concepts.
Some examples are activity worksheets where they draw and explain, or drawing a story.
 Theater- Since the chapter is about real and make believe there are activities that allow
the students to dress up and act out a real or make-believe scene.

Task 2: Experience and knowledge

A. List three experiences that would help your students connect key concepts to their lives.
Three experiences that would help my students connect key concepts to their lives are:
 Role Play: This allows students to be able to get creative but also understand the topic by
determining if they are a real person, or a make-believe character. Another activity could
be making puppets because they are making their own character while understanding the
difference between real and make-believe
 Working in pairs: This allows the students to get comfortable working with their peers as
well as can help their thinking, and speaking skills. When students work in pairs they can
collaborate and it can also help the students relate to more than just things in their own
life, but their partner’s life as well.
 Speaking in front of the class: This can be sharing their thoughts about a reading passage
or their findings during an activity. This allows the student to start feeling comfortable
with their speaking skills and their presenting skills. They can relate this back to their
own daily lives because it can help when talking to family members or in their future
classes.

B. List 3 pieces of knowledge that would help your students connect key concepts to their lives.
Three pieces of knowledge that would help my students connect key concepts to their
lives are:
 A basic understanding of describing words- this will allow the students to be able identify
such words in their daily lives
 Problem solving skills- When the students have some problem-solving skills up their
sleeve they can relate that back to their own life and conquer challenging problems that
may come up.
 An understanding of the vocabulary learned so far- the students are always building and
reviewing their vocabulary, if they take this knowledge they can start to connect to their
own lives by pointing out that vocabulary or using it in their daily lives.

Task 3: Barrier identification

 Answer these questions as specifically as possible:

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 Is the material presented in a register that students are familiar with, or is it more or less
formal than they are used to? Give examples.
The material presented is in a register that students who are in the kindergarten level
would be familiar with. The register is very simple and easy to understand. For example,
“today we will create make-believe stories of your own”. Another example is the stories
that are selected throughout the chapter. The stories are in a register that students can
understand without difficulty, “Mr. Bean searched all day. He tried all the big stores, then
the not so big stores”.

 With what specific language structures or grammar might students have difficulty? Use
the Andrews’ book to explain.
There are no specific language structures or grammar that students will have difficulty with, this
is because all the academic language used is geared toward the kindergarten level and the
instructions presented use words that are known. The only thing the students might have a hard
time grasping is the use of new vocabulary such as describing words that are learned later in the
chapter, or opposites that are also learned later in the chapter.

 From whose point of view is the material presented? What difference might this make to
comprehension?
The material is presented in a third person point of view. It uses language such as “they”
or “the student”. I don’t think that it makes a difference in comprehension because it is a
natural way of reading a text or material. If it were in first person or anything of that sort
it might be confusing to the students.

 What vocabulary in the materials might ELLs have trouble with? Why?

ELL’s might have trouble with the opposites unit in the chapter. This is because they can
sometimes be hard to point out or understand. A lot of ELL students in this level are
learning the basics of the language, and opposites can be hard to understand especially if
you do not understand the action or describing word to begin with.

 What cultural aspects of the book might ELLs find challenging? Why?

The ELL students might find some of the make-believe stories challenging because
they are not the same as they would be in their own culture. Another thing they might
have a challenge with is presenting their work or responding to a story because ELL
students can have a hard time being confident in their answers to share with the class.

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Task 4: Comprehension demands

A. Based on your answers to the previous tasks, describe what kind of student might succeed
in understanding this material.
All students would succeed in understanding this material. It is necessary
information that students need to learn but it is presented in a fun way through stories and
activities. There is no one type of student that would succeed more than another, this
material is meant for kindergarteners so anyone of that age would be subject to success.

B. Based on your answers to the previous tasks, describe what kind of student might fail in
understanding this material.
I think anyone younger than age 5 would have a hard time understanding because
they are not quite at the academic level to understand. Like mentioned before this
material is for kindergarteners so anyone who would have a hard time is students who are
younger or are just having a hard time understanding the difference between real or make
believe. Everything in this chapter is related and so if a student does not understand one
thing, they are not going to understand the future material. But there is no specific student
who does not have the ability to understand this material.

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Reflection:
What might you as the teacher do to help students who face challenges with the material you
selected? List at least 3 strategies that might help, who they might be helpful for, and how you
could tell (assess) whether they helped.

1. Create subject specific workshops: In this chapter, there are a lot of new vocabulary
or grammar subjects that are being related to the main overall topic, so if you notice
students having a hard time understanding opposites, for example, you could create a
mini lesson or workshop that is specific on that vocabulary to help further explain
those types of words and give the students more practice with those words. This
would help all the students in your class and you could assess if the mini lesson
helped through a worksheet at the end or a game to see if the students have a better
understanding of that subject.
2. One- on- one help: If the student is having a hard time with responding to the story
questions or anything of that sort, it would be best to pull those students out during a
work time or free time so they can get a little more help. You can create short stories
and questions that can help the students practice what is expected during those times.
This would be specific to students that you notice are having a hard time, you could
assess if this method is working during their answers to practice questions and when
the class is doing it as well. If the students are understanding the questions and what
is expected more they might be more confident and more willing to share their
answers with the class.
3. Send home practice problems: These don’t need to be graded, or they can if you are
trying to assess if they are working for your students. These worksheets can cover any
of the material that you are noticing the students are having a hard time with. With
extra practice that they can take home, it might be easier for them to get help from
their parents or not have the pressure to get it done in a selected time manner. This
would help all the students in the classroom, not just the ones struggling because
extra practice only benefits the students learning. Like mentioned before, you could
grade this worksheets at the end of the week to see if the students are starting to get a
better understanding of the material, or you can observe during class time if they are
helpful or not.