Wilhelm, J., & Smith, M. (2012). Get it done!: Writing and analyzing informational texts to make things happen. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Reading and Writing Informational Texts

Say: 

"One of our most challenging moves as teachers is to try to get underneath the stuff we teacher, to understand it deeply, to know it's purpose, structure, and inner workings, so we can fully grasp why it's important and know how to teach it better." (10).

     I appreciate how the the Smith and Wilhelm text scaffold the readers into understanding the larger term, Informational Texts. First there are pages of examples explaining "what is informational writing?"(Wilhelm 2). These then move into pages of examples of "the informative text structures" (5). Smith and Wilhelm acknowledge other disciplines in the first chapter when they explain, "every discipline uses these thought patterns extensively, so if we are going to help students think like real readers, writers, historians, scientists, and mathematicians, we need to teacher these patterns and text structures in the context of our subject mater" (4). So often, people assume of teachers that they understand everything in their content area, and as crazy as it sounds, some teachers don't know everything--and other times they grow complacent with the knowledge that they do have. Get it Done! does in fact, get it done when it comes to hitting all the categories of text structures. These include but are limited to: lists, summaries, descriptions, definitions, comparison-contrast, and more. The point i'm making is that (in a meta sense,) Get it Done! is a great resource collection. As a new teacher, I could not have named all of the taxonomy listed, so it's important to understand the hierarchy, so that students understand what comes before each part of informative texts.  

"As teachers we've come to realize that there are conventional categories for texts that have lost their original power and meaning because we've lost the connection to why that category evolved in the first place and why and how it is used in the world. This phenomenon seems especially true with regard to informative/explanatory texts." (10).

     Narrative writing is my jam. I can analyze it. I can recreate it. I can describe how giddy the best of it makes me feel. I can show podcasts and movies, describing parallels to this, that, and the third. What about arguments? Claim, counterclaim, evidence, warrant? I'm a little shaky from time to time, but I can most definitely help you figure out whatever issue that you may have. We can bring in some theses and discuss with the class if they are strong or weak. Informational texts? I currently have to take these a category at a time. Some examples of the structures broken down starting in Chapter Two include: game instructions, process instructions (The PB&J activity), scientific classification, causation from a non-fictional narrative (these skills are very transferable--especially in argument), and more. When understanding what all makes up informational texts, very quickly I've realized that "the form becomes more important that the purpose of the text and i's creative and contextualized use, particularly in hybridized forms" (16). 

     The point here is that, if we want students to "compose, read, and think in these different types of paradigms--and therefore be able to do the kind of work these paradigms support in the disciplines and in life--we are going to have to teach students very explicitly how to engage in the specific tasks (or operations) required in the context of the particular knowledge structuring that results in that specific text type" (17). Understanding the complexities of informational texts is understanding and teaching a specific list--a specific way of thinking. 

     So how are to we bring this knowledge about informational texts to a practical light? Tools like reader-response are not the most appropriate here. Smith and Wilhelm propose starting in the know: proposing units around inquiry. This begins with a set of solid Essential Questions (46). Then it moves to composing and reading different text-types within the context of the unit. Recently, this looks like combining knowledge from Article of the Weeks, the Canon, YA supplements, and other media (pg 50-52 give some concrete ways to relate these to assessment).

     "The last forty-plus years of cognitive scienve research demonstrates that all deep learning occurs in a context which support--actually, co-produces--that learning and in which all understanding is deepened by being applied in real situations. " (52).

     Without a meaningful context, students can't activate proper schema--they disengage. Teachers shouldn't be thinking about "genre units" (53) anymore, but rather putting everything related to inquiry into the units and being able to read multiple text types in a week. If you set up routine that includes these, it's not too overwhelming. This doesn't mean you have to grade everything either (i'm still getting through the shock of this one). Context can also be present in the projects and work that comes from the canonical texts or pieces of writing. If students just can't connect with Odysseus, maybe when creating a modern video reenactment of a certain book, they will be able to translate it into their own context (then they can take it to the page, so to speak).

     Some says for reference sake:

-->Naming&Listing: Think about strategies used in classroom (thinkPairShare, ETC)--it's important. Think about scienvtific naming and how important things of that nature are. Naming and lists can define and create something. Have students add names to their work; have students do work in lists. Then talk about it (pg 73+ for resource lessons).

-->Summarizing: Students need to learn to get to the point, so that they can reflect on if they actually know what the point is.

-->Description: If students are unclear or vague with their descriptions, it's often times because they lack a clear sense of purpose and context (103). Incredible amounts of Lesson ideas in Chapter 8. The largest Unit titled: How Can We Make the Best Possible School? would be a great start of the year community building unit that could have some classroom rules-creation built in. This Say/Do assignment ;)

-->Definiton: This seems to fit perfectly within essential questions surroudning a larger unit. For example, I'm currently assisting with a unit on The Odyssey and one of our essential questions for inquiry is "What does it mean to be a hero? What makes a hero?" Both of those deal with defining the term "hero". Students can then use their own schema and responses to other informational texts to help define this! 

Do: 

    Summarizing is an essential skill for learning, but too often in school we simply ask students to "guess" what the teacher (or author) thinks is important.An essential part of a summary is that it needs to be expressed to an audience. In life, we purposefully craft summaries for a specific audience (directions for the out-of-towner, computer how-to for the technophobe). In school, the tacit audience for most summaries is the teacher. Imagine how a student feels when asked to summarize a textbook passage for the teacher. In effect they have been asked to summarize one expert's writing for delivery to another expert - the teacher.   "...and remember, be sure to use your own words!"If students are going to learn to summarize they need to be given a chance to genuinely share what they think is important for an audience other than the teacher. Here's a three step process I followed in a second grade classroom using a popular Currier and Ives print, "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way." (1868)   Link to larger image

Step 1: Start with the concrete "right there" observations. I projected a digital image on the screen and asked student to talk about the people, things and activities they could identify. They replied, a train, native Americans, a village, people digging, steam from the train, houses, trees, a lake, maybe a harbor, a road, dry grass, covered wagons, poles, mountains, a school house, people working, people waiting for the train, a train track, etc Step 2: Give students a chance to tell what they think is important.I managed this aspect by asking each student to draw a picture of what they saw in the projected image. The details they included were what they thought was important. Here's a few samples.

Here are some of their captions: (spelling corrected) 

     

·       Water would come from the mountain and fill the lake. You could get fish and drink water. Water is very important

·       People were moving west. They moved by wagon at first, then but train, which is faster.

·       Life was tough. People had to do everything for themselves.

·       It maybe was lonely because people missed their friends back home.

·       The people were building a town. They could get wood from the trees. It was a small town at first.

·       The Indian see the people coming. They knew things were changing. They got sick from the smoke.

·       The school was different from our school. People had different clothes than us.

·       The train split the old life from the new life

Step 3: Give students a chance to frame their summary into a narrative explanation for another audience. I digitally divided the image into multiple sections and photocopied them (in B &W) into packets of  image details. I gave groups of students the packets and asked them to work in teams to assemble the images into children's "a story book" with a caption under each image.  

While summarizing has been shown to be one of the most effective strategies for building content knowledge, that gain only applies when students are allowed to make their own judgements about what’s important and frame their summaries for an audience. When we ask them to "learn" the teacher's summary - they are reduced to memorizing "another fact."

When we ask our students to create authentic summaries (with audience and purpose) we give students a chance to reflect on their learning. Instead of simply testing them for factual knowledge, students can be asked: 

·       What did I think was important?

·       How did I share that with my audience? 


·       Did my summary match audience and purpose?

·       Is my summary accurate? 

·       Did I use my own words and style?

·       What did I learn from the activity?

  

Pappas, P. (2009, November 9). How to Teach Summarizing. Retrieved November 14, 2015.