Text sets are an excellent way to promote equity and provide high-quality instructional materials for all students. These collections of text and media on a focused topic help students build background knowledge and develop vocabulary. Text sets not only help students grow as readers, they also bridge the gap between reading instruction in the science and social studies classrooms. 

INFOhio Text Sets were created using quality digital content from premium licensed resources. INFOhio’s text and media is authentic, written for real world purposes such as to inform, entertain, persuade, or explain. The text sets use the Quad Text Set Framework. This framework begins with three specifically selected texts, charts, graphics, or videos that lead up to a more challenging target text. The texts build scaffolds, motivating students by developing background knowledge and vocabulary to understand the topic and tackle the target text. Each text set is aligned to Ohio's Learning Standards.

The INFOhio Text Sets are

• Kindergarten: The Flag of the United States
• First Grade: Emotions and Empathy
• Second Grade: Fossils
• Third Grade: Soil and Soil Scientists
• Fourth Grade: Interactions with American Indians, Including Tecumseh
• Fifth Grade: Early Civilizations
• Sixth Grade: Perseverance
• Grades 6-8: Financial Responsibility and Decision Making
• Biology (9-12): Cellular Genetics
• Social Studies (9-12): The Federalist Papers

Tips to Get Started

Teacher Guide

The INFOhio Text Sets: Teacher Guide contains resources to support using the text sets in instruction. Review the teacher guide to become familiar with tools and resources it includes for support.

The first section of the teacher guide is the Text Sets Directory, a linked index to each of the INFOhio Text Sets. Be sure to browse each, taking note of the types of texts and media used. Not only will this help you use the text set for each grade or subject area, it will also support you in creating your own. 

Take a complete tour of the teacher guide first, but be sure to use the Table of Contents which is bookmarked to the main sections of the document for ease of use. The main sections of the teacher guide are

• Get Started
• Suggested Vocabulary Activities
• Suggested Before, During, and After Reading Activities
• Suggested Writing Activities
• Suggested Discussion Activities
• Support for Striving Readers
• INFOhio's Digital Resources for Creating Text Sets
• Sharing Links to INFOhio's Digital Content

Additional blog posts about INFOhio Text Sets will look more closely at the Suggested Activities, Support for Striving Readers, INFOhio's Digital Resources for Creating Text Sets, and Sharing Links to INFOhio's Digital Content. This post outlines resources in the Get Started section of the INFOhio Text Sets: Teacher Guide and recommends several to read or watch before using text sets in the classroom. Be sure to open the teacher guide to view the resources via hyperlinks. 

Get Started

If you have limited time, here are the two Get Started resources from the INFOhio Text Sets: Teacher Guide that are most helpful:

• Equity Through Rigorous Texts for All Students
  • From the linked Padlet, choose the Presentation Recording under Handouts and Recording. Watch the video of State Support Team Literacy Specialists Michele Elia's and Carolyn Turner's presentation on text sets.

• Text Sets: Quad Text Set Framework
  • Read the what, why, and how of the framework INFOhio used to create the INFOhio Text Sets.

If you have more time, add these Get Started Resources to your list of must read or watch:

• Explicit Instruction
  • Anita Archer's Explicit Instruction model is an essential part of INFOhio Text Sets for primary students. Watch the videos to learn more.
• Text Set Project: Building Knowledge and Vocabulary
  • Achieve the Core provides professional development on the why and how of text sets in the presentation and downloadable document. Sample text sets are helpful for further understanding of these instructional resources.

• Best Practices for Digital Reading
  • INFOhio's best practices for reading text online are based on research and educator feedback and will be helpful when using digital text and media for teaching and learning.

Remaining resources will meet the needs of certain educators.

• Guidance for Educators Using a Balanced Literacy Program
  • Achieve the Core's document provides strategies to support K-5 literacy instruction using a research-based approach instead of balanced literacy.

• Reading Like a Historian
  • This video from the Stanford History Education Group shows text sets in action to scaffold reading when using challenging primary source documents. 

Get started today and learn more about INFOhio Text Sets. Share how #INFOhioWorks for you on social media. Be sure to watch for additional blog posts with insight on how to use these in the classroom. 

INFOhio is here to support you. If you have questions or specific needs, don't hesitate to reach out to us at support.infohio.org.