How to Teach Nonfiction Text Features in Middle School ELA

Teaching nonfiction can sometimes feel a little less exciting than diving into a great short story or novel. But nonfiction texts are everywhere, and helping students understand how those texts are organized is one of the most useful reading skills we can teach.

One of the best places to start is with nonfiction text features.

Headings, captions, diagrams, charts, bold words, photographs, and other text features aren’t just decorations. They help readers locate information, understand complicated ideas, preview what they are about to read, and make sense of unfamiliar topics.

The challenge is helping students move beyond simply identifying a text feature to actually understanding why the author included it and how it helps the reader.

Here are some simple and engaging ways to teach nonfiction text features in your middle school ELA classroom.

What Are Nonfiction Text Features?

Nonfiction text features are elements authors use to organize information and help readers understand a text.

Some common nonfiction text features include:

• Titles
• Headings
• Subheadings
• Bold or italicized words
• Photographs
• Captions
• Illustrations
• Diagrams
• Maps
• Charts and graphs
• Tables
• Timelines
• Sidebars
• Bulleted lists
• Glossaries
• Indexes
• Tables of contents

Students may already recognize many of these features, but they don’t always understand how to use them strategically while reading.

That is where instruction should begin.

Start With the Purpose of Text Features

Instead of asking students only:

“What text feature is this?”

start asking:

“How does this text feature help the reader?”

That small change makes the lesson much more meaningful.

For example, students might identify a photograph easily. But they should also be able to explain that the photograph helps the reader visualize a person, place, object, or event discussed in the text.

A heading doesn’t simply divide the page. It tells the reader what the next section will be about.

A chart isn’t just additional information. It may make complicated statistics easier to understand or compare.

Helping students focus on purpose turns text features into reading tools instead of vocabulary words they simply memorize.

Create a Nonfiction Text Feature Anchor Chart

An anchor chart gives students a visual reference they can return to throughout the unit.

Create three columns:

Text Feature	What It Looks Like	How It Helps the Reader
Heading	Large or bold words above a section	Tells what the section will be about
Caption	Words underneath a picture	Explains the picture
Diagram	Labeled drawing	Shows how something works or is organized
Map	Visual representation of a location	Helps readers understand where something happened
Timeline	Events placed in chronological order	Shows when events happened
Graph	Visual representation of data	Helps readers compare information
Bold Words	Darker or thicker print	Draws attention to important vocabulary
Sidebar	Additional information beside the main text	Provides extra facts or background information

Keep the chart displayed while students work with informational texts.

You can also have students create a smaller version in their reading notebooks.

Use Real-World Nonfiction Texts

Students often understand text features better when they see them in authentic texts rather than isolated worksheets.

Bring in:

• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Science textbooks
• Social studies textbooks
• Travel brochures
• Instruction manuals
• Cookbooks
• Websites
• Encyclopedias
• Informational books

Give students a few minutes to explore the materials and locate as many nonfiction text features as possible.

Students can record the feature, where they found it, and what information it provided.

This activity also helps students recognize that nonfiction text features appear far beyond the ELA classroom.

Try a Text Feature Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt is an easy way to add movement and competition to your lesson.

Provide students with an informational text, textbook, magazine, or collection of nonfiction passages.

Ask them to find examples of different text features.

For example:

Find a text feature that:

• Helps you locate information quickly.
• Gives you additional information about a photograph.
• Explains an unfamiliar word.
• Shows information visually.
• Organizes information into categories.
• Helps you understand where something happened.
• Shows events in chronological order.

Notice that these questions focus on the function of the feature instead of simply asking students to find a caption or heading.

That extra level of thinking is important.

Teach Students to Preview Before Reading

One of the most valuable nonfiction reading habits students can develop is previewing a text before actually reading it.

Give students a nonfiction passage and tell them not to read the main paragraphs yet.

Instead, have them examine:

• The title
• Headings
• Subheadings
• Pictures
• Captions
• Bold vocabulary
• Charts
• Maps
• Diagrams

Then ask:

What do you think this article will be about?

What information do you expect to learn?

What questions do you already have?

Students quickly realize that text features provide a surprising amount of information before they even begin reading.

This also creates background knowledge and gives students a purpose for reading.

Use the “Cover the Text” Activity

This is one of my favorite activities for showing students just how powerful text features can be.

Take an informational article and cover the main body paragraphs.

Leave only the text features visible.

Students might see:

• The title
• Headings
• Photographs
• Captions
• Maps
• Charts
• Diagrams

Ask students to write down everything they can learn about the topic without reading the article itself.

Then uncover the text and read the article.

Discuss which predictions were correct and how the text features helped students understand the topic.

This activity makes the purpose of nonfiction text features incredibly clear.

Match the Feature to Its Purpose

Create cards with text feature names on one set and their purposes on another.

Students match them together.

For example:

Caption

matches with:

Explains a photograph or illustration.

Timeline

matches with:

Shows events in chronological order.

Glossary

matches with:

Defines important vocabulary from the text.

Once students master those basic matches, make the activity more challenging.

Give students short reading situations such as:

You are reading an article about hurricanes and want to see which parts of the United States experience the most hurricanes.

Students must decide which text feature would be most helpful.

Answer: a map.

This encourages students to think about text features as tools readers actively choose to use.

Analyze How Text Features Add Meaning

Middle school students should eventually move beyond identification and into analysis.

Ask students questions such as:

Why did the author include this diagram?

What information does the photograph provide that the paragraph does not?

How does the chart make the information easier to understand?

What would be more difficult to understand if this text feature were removed?

Which text feature is most helpful in this article? Why?

These questions require students to connect the feature directly to the author’s purpose and the meaning of the text.

Compare Two Text Features

Another great way to increase rigor is to have students compare different features.

For example, give students an article containing both a chart and a paragraph discussing the same information.

Ask:

What information can you learn from the chart?

What information can you learn from the paragraph?

Which one makes the information easier to understand? Why?

Students begin to recognize that different text features communicate information in different ways.

This skill also prepares them for analyzing multimedia and paired texts.

Let Students Create Their Own Nonfiction Page

Once students understand nonfiction text features, have them become the author.

Give students a topic they know well or allow them to choose one.

Their informational page must include several text features, such as:

• A title
• Two headings
• A photograph or illustration
• A caption
• Bold vocabulary
• One chart, diagram, timeline, or map

Students must also explain why they chose each feature.

For example:

I included a timeline because it helps readers understand the order in which the events happened.

Creating their own informational text helps students understand that authors make intentional decisions about how information is presented.

Use Short Daily Practice

You don’t need an entire class period every time you review nonfiction text features.

Try incorporating quick practice into bell ringers or warm-ups.

Display one text feature and ask:

What feature is this?

What information does it provide?

Why might the author have included it?

You can also show a photograph, chart, graph, diagram, or heading from a nonfiction article and ask students to make a prediction about the text.

A few minutes of repeated practice can make a big difference.

Have Students Rank the Most Helpful Text Features

After reading an informational article, ask students to rank the three most useful text features.

For example:

1. Diagram

2. Caption

3. Heading

Then students must justify their rankings with evidence.

This creates an easy discussion activity and requires students to evaluate how effectively the text features supported their understanding.

You could also have students compare rankings with a partner.

Don’t Stop at Identification

One of the biggest mistakes we can make when teaching nonfiction text features is stopping with identification.

Students may be able to point to a graph and say:

“That’s a graph.”

But the more important question is:

“What did the graph help you understand?”

Try moving students through three levels of thinking:

Level 1: Identify

What text feature is this?

Level 2: Explain

What is the purpose of this text feature?

Level 3: Analyze

How does this specific text feature contribute to your understanding of this text?

That progression helps students become much more thoughtful nonfiction readers.

An Easy Nonfiction Text Features Lesson

If you need a simple lesson you can use tomorrow, try this:

1. Introduce the features.
Review several common nonfiction text features using an anchor chart.

2. Model your thinking.
Project a nonfiction article and think aloud as you preview the title, headings, photographs, captions, and other features.

3. Practice together.
Have students help identify features and explain what each one teaches the reader.

4. Try a scavenger hunt.
Give students an informational text and have them locate specific features.

5. Analyze the purpose.
Students choose three features and explain how each contributes to their understanding.

6. Exit ticket.
Ask:

“Which nonfiction text feature was most helpful today, and why?”

The entire lesson can easily fit into one class period.

Final Thoughts

Teaching nonfiction text features shouldn’t be limited to memorizing that a caption explains a picture or that a glossary defines vocabulary.

Our real goal is to help students understand that strong readers actively use these features to make sense of informational texts.

When students begin previewing headings, examining diagrams, interpreting graphs, reading captions, and using glossaries automatically, they are developing habits that will help them in ELA, science, social studies, and beyond.

And the more opportunities students have to interact with authentic nonfiction texts, the more natural those habits will become.

So the next time you introduce an informational article, don’t immediately tell students to start reading paragraph one.

Give them a moment to explore the page first.

They may discover that the text has already started teaching them before they’ve read a single paragraph.