ERIC Number: EJ1477252
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1059-7107
EISSN: EISSN-1938-1611
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Using Text Clusters to Support Student Imagining, Wondering, Questioning, and Discovering
William P. Bintz
Current Issues in Middle Level Education, v29 n1 Article 2 2025
This article describes an unexpected playground experience that occurred between the author, a reading educator and former middle grades teacher, and his six-year-old granddaughter. The experience became the inspiration and impetus to provide an introduction to, and a rationale for, the concept of text clusters to middle grades teachers. The concept of developing and implementing text clusters in the classroom is driven by inquiry and based on one question: "How can middle school teachers develop and implement text clusters to help their students actively engage in imagining, wondering, questioning, and discovering?" It shares and illustrates examples of text clusters. It also shares samples of instructional strategies teachers can use with text clusters to actively engage students in imagining, wondering, questioning, and discovering. It ends with some concluding thoughts inspired by the picturebook "What We'll Build: Plans for Our Future Together" (Jeffers, 2020).
Descriptors: Cluster Grouping, Books, Reading Materials, Reading Instruction, Middle School Students, Inquiry, Learning Activities
National Association of Professors of Middle Level Education. Web site: https://www.napomle.com/cimle; Web site: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cimle/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A