Text Structure: Which Pattern Does This Paragraph Use?
Six short paragraphs on school subjects; for each, the student picks the text structure it follows from five choices.
Settlers cut down the forest to build farms. As a result the soil washed into the river. Fish in the river began to disappear. Which structure is this?
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Read each paragraph aloud, or let the student read it, then ask them to choose. Before revealing the answer, ask which words or ideas told them: as a result, both, first, then, finally, made up of. For problem and solution, ask the student to name the problem and the fix in their own words. Close by drawing a quick graphic organiser for one paragraph.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- Signal wordPoint to the signal word and ask what job it does in the text.Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two structures, the right one not always second, and ask which fits.Log as cued
- ModelThink aloud about how the word links the ideas, then the student names the structure and says why.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use two or three structures at a time, starting with sequence and cause and effect.
Ask the student to write a sentence of their own that uses the same structure.
Matching IEP goal
Given grade-level expository text, Student will identify the text structure of a paragraph and name the words that signal it in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Six short paragraphs drawn from the kinds of topics high school students meet in science, history and civics: soil washing into a river, a town replacing its water pipes, how bees and wasps differ, how a bill becomes law, what a coral reef is made of, and a cafeteria donating leftovers. For each, the student chooses the text structure from the same five options. Seeing the structure of a whole paragraph is the step between sorting signal words and taking notes from a chapter.
What to listen for
Watch the soil and river paragraph and the cafeteria paragraph, because both have a problem and a result and are easy to swap. A student who reads as a result and stops there may miss that no one solves anything. Notice whether the student can name the clue or only the answer.
Carrying it home
Pick one paragraph from a textbook your teen is using this week and ask which pattern it follows. If they can sketch a quick organiser, such as a timeline for sequence or a T-chart for compare and contrast, that is the skill transferring.
What's in this activity
- Settlers cut down the forest to build farms. As a result the soil washed into the river. Fish in the river began to disappear. Which structure is this?
- Cause and effect
- Sequence
- Description
- Compare and contrast
- Problem and solution
- The town's water pipes were over a century old and leaking. To solve this leaders voted to replace them over five years. Which structure is this?
- Cause and effect
- Problem and solution
- Description
- Sequence
- Compare and contrast
- Bees and wasps both sting. Bees are fuzzy and collect pollen. Wasps are smooth and hunt other insects. Which structure is this?
- Problem and solution
- Sequence
- Compare and contrast
- Cause and effect
- Description
- First the bill is written. Then it is debated and voted on. Finally it is signed into law. Which structure is this?
- Description
- Cause and effect
- Problem and solution
- Sequence
- Compare and contrast
- A coral reef is made up of tiny animals called polyps. It has bright colors and many hiding places for fish. Which structure is this?
- Sequence
- Compare and contrast
- Cause and effect
- Problem and solution
- Description
- The school cafeteria threw away food every day. Students started a program to donate leftovers to a shelter. Which structure is this?
- Problem and solution
- Description
- Sequence
- Compare and contrast
- Cause and effect
Questions
- Who is this for?
- Students in grades 9 through 12 working on expository reading comprehension, text structure and note-taking.
- Why do all six questions have the same five choices?
- Because in real reading the student has to consider every structure, not pick from a convenient pair.
- Is it free?
- Yes. It plays free in the browser with no login. An account adds session data, goal scoring and assignment to a student.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.