ABSTRACT
Nonfiction text, the genre that most content area teachers use in their classrooms, requires background knowledge built around vocabulary and concepts. As students progress in their learning, each standard is predicated upon learning in previous grade levels. One of the most difficult aspects of background building is the time it takes to do it well. There are some basic ways to build background information that are used before, including videos and webquests. Wide reading is exactly what it sounds like—allowing a student to explore a topic through multiple texts. Accomplishing wide reading is gained by curating a set of materials that students can access during class time. The hardest part about wide reading is creating the text set. Background building strategies are not meant to be assessed. Building background information can be a great way to engage the students in the study of a topic.
