Get It Done!: Writing and Analyzing Informational Texts to Make Things Happen (Ch. 1, 2, 5-12) By: Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Michael W. Smith & James E. Fredricksen
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The fact that CCSS and the SC state standards mandated that informational texts be one of the three major texts that should be taught says a lot about this genre. First, it communicates that, in the past, informational texts have not been as important or pertinent in classroom instruction. It also says that it is now becoming a crucial part of education. It makes sense that it is making this move, I just wish that it had made this move earlier because informational texts are texts that we read and experience constantly throughout the day. The majority of what we read can be categorized as informational texts. Even the way that we think is in a very informational categorizing way. So, what are informational texts? Texts that give us information or organize information that we have.
There are nine different kinds of informational texts that Wilhelm & others present in this book:
Naming and Listing
Summarizing
Describing
Process Description
Definition
Comparison-Contrast
Classification
Cause-Effect
Problem-Solution
Chapters 5-12 give us real-life examples of how to teach these kinds of informational texts in the classroom. It's important to have this resource at hand when you are planning instruction for informational texts because they give us applicable strategies. It's important that we teach these different sub-genres of informational texts because we confront them on a daily basis. We must teach students to be able to read and create informational texts effectively because they need to understand their function in their "everyday" world.
Below, I attached another info graphic that I created for Angela Byrd's EDSE 547 class. It functioned as a study guide for two particular concepts we had studied in class: non-fiction genres and vocabulary. The info graphic confronted the current problems with teaching those concepts within the classroom, then provided a solution. This text informed it's readers about non-fiction genres and vocabulary and what it looks like and how to teach it effectively to students.
Do:
https://magic.piktochart.com/output/5803427-edse547-final
What a thoughtful summary--very informative:) Your DO is informative as well--I especially appreciate your emphasis on the interdisciplinary quality of informational texts as well as how they may reach a different audience of students. What I am still wondering about are connections backwards to previous readings--how do informational/explanatory texts related to transactional theory? Other theories? Talk? Reading like a writer? Strategic reading? Your final paper is coming due and you must reach to create a coherent whole from all of these seemingly disparate ideas.
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