The Power of Words: Exploring Literacy and Expression · 2nd Year

Active learning ideas

Using Headings and Subheadings to Locate Information

Students learn best when they move from passive readers to active navigators of texts. Headings and subheadings come alive when learners physically interact with them, testing predictions and organizing ideas in real time. Hands-on activities turn abstract text features into tools they can use independently in every subject.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Primary - Understanding
• NCCA: Primary - Exploring and Using

• 25–40 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Stations Rotation
• 30 min · Pairs

Scavenger Hunt: Heading Challenges

Provide non-fiction books or articles with clear headings. Students work in pairs to answer 10 targeted questions, like 'Find three facts under "Life Cycle".' Pairs note the heading first, then skim for answers, discussing efficiency. Debrief as a class on patterns found.

Analyze how headings and subheadings organize information in a text.

Facilitation Tip

In Scavenger Hunt: Heading Challenges, provide exact page numbers and line references so students practice precision, not guessing.

What to look for

Provide students with a short, unformatted passage from a non-fiction text. Ask them to create 2-3 appropriate headings and subheadings for the passage and write one sentence explaining why they chose those specific titles.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Stations Rotation
• 25 min · Small Groups

Prediction Relay: Subheading Guesses

Display a text with headings visible but content covered. In small groups, students predict content under each subheading on sticky notes, then reveal and check accuracy. Groups revise predictions collaboratively. Share best guesses whole class.

Predict what information will be found under a specific heading.

Facilitation Tip

During Prediction Relay: Subheading Guesses, give teams 30 seconds to agree on predictions before revealing the actual text to spark lively debate.

What to look for

Display a page from a textbook or magazine with clear headings and subheadings. Ask students to point to the heading that would likely contain information about 'the diet of a lion' and then the subheading that might detail 'how lions hunt'.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Stations Rotation
• 35 min · Individual

Text Surgery: Add Your Headings

Give students a paragraph-heavy non-fiction passage without headings. Individually, they add headings and subheadings, explaining choices. Pair up to compare and refine, then vote on class favorites. Display improved versions.

Explain why authors use headings to help readers navigate non-fiction.

Facilitation Tip

For Text Surgery: Add Your Headings, model how to underline key phrases in a paragraph that could become a heading before students attempt it themselves.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine you are writing a guide for new students at our school. What kind of headings and subheadings would you use to make it easy for them to find information about the library, the canteen, and after-school clubs?'

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Jigsaw
• 40 min · Small Groups

Jigsaw: Section Experts

Divide a long text into sections by headings. Small groups become experts on one section, noting key info. Regroup to teach others and quiz on locating facts quickly. Rotate roles for full coverage.

Analyze how headings and subheadings organize information in a text.

Facilitation Tip

In Jigsaw Navigation: Section Experts, assign each group a unique colored highlighter to visually track their section’s overlap with other groups’ findings.

What to look for

Provide students with a short, unformatted passage from a non-fiction text. Ask them to create 2-3 appropriate headings and subheadings for the passage and write one sentence explaining why they chose those specific titles.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teach this as a structural habit, not a one-time lesson. Model your own thinking aloud when you read headings, asking, 'What do I expect to find here?' and 'How will this help me later?' Avoid over-explaining; let the activities reveal the purpose. Research shows students grasp text organization faster when they create headings themselves, so balance analysis with production.

By the end of these activities, students will confidently use headings and subheadings to preview, locate, and explain information in non-fiction texts. They will articulate why authors structure content this way and apply the same organization in their own writing.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Scavenger Hunt: Heading Challenges, watch for students who treat headings as decoration by picking any heading without checking the content beneath it.

  After they return from the hunt, have each student explain to a partner how they verified their chosen heading matched the information on the page.

• During Prediction Relay: Subheading Guesses, listen for students who guess subheadings based solely on the main heading’s topic rather than the paragraph’s details.

  Pause the relay and ask teams to highlight the sentence in their paragraph that confirms or refutes their prediction before moving on.

• During Jigsaw Navigation: Section Experts, notice groups that assume all headings are equally important and skip over subheadings entirely.

  Direct students to use their assigned color highlighters to mark every heading and subheading in their section, then compare counts across groups.

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Methods used in this brief

• Stations Rotation
• Jigsaw