Informational Writing

*I CAN continue to develop increasingly sophisticated

understandings and applications for essential educational concepts
and best practices.

*I CAN explain the development of key elements of informational
writing.

*I CAN use peer feedback to make revision suggestions to my own
lesson design.

*I CAN create a grade-level appropriate purpose statement for a
reader response podcasting project.


October 27, 2014
Revisiting Key Concepts
All of these terms are review.
However keep in mind that surveying a
concept once does not equal mastery.
This is useful for you as students and
as teachers of students.
Revisiting Key Concepts
Intentional Planning Decisions
Example with Jigsaws
Intentional Planning Decisions Less Intentional Planning Decisions
Grouping Pre-selected with a purpose in mind Student selected or based on random
seating chart
Reading Passage Deliberately selected for groups of
students based on length, complexity,
interest, etc.
Randomly passed out to groups
Comprehension
Task
Supports are provided to help students
complete the task (ie identify the main
point, locate textual evidence, write a
summary, identify character traits, etc.)
The task is explained in the directions. No
additional supports or strategies are
provided for completing the task.
Expectations Students have been assigned or selected
roles, or shared responsibilities (ie
everyone will write 2 examples).
Students are encouraged to contribute to
the groups progress.
Directions Are posted on the board and/or at table
groups
Teacher has orally explained the
directions.
Revisiting Key Concepts
Gradual Release of Responsibility (D. Fisher)
Literacy Lesson Series
Special Accommodations
Objectives aligned with Assessments
Language Functions & Demands
Use of Research in Planning
Visual Literacy Workshops
This was a new idea I created this
summer.
Did you find it useful for helping you
think about visual and print literacies?
Did you find it useful for scaffolding
analysis of text in your classroom?
Thoughts from Serafini...
Using this framework made me critically
analyze the book. In doing this my view of the
book and the narrative changed. The message
of the book became more complex, more
intricate and more meaningful. This framework
basically asks why? Why did the author
choose to do it this way? This makes students
critical thinkers. ~ Grace Binder
This framework makes you conscious of the authors craft. By
following the framework, you start to see who the audience is, for
what purpose this was written, how the multimodal text is being
presented, or what modes are being utilized. You can start to see how
the author makes meaning through his choices with text, visual, and
design elements or the structural layout of the picture book. In turn,
by becoming conscious of which elements contribute to which types
of meaning, you can as a writer start to consciously apply this own
elements to your writing. By reading like a writer, you transform what
you intake as a consumer and reuse it as a producer. ~Jasmine
Erbs

Personally I have only ever done this sort of analysis with non-
picturebooks. So seeing how it can be done with picture books
has helped me to connect text analysis for older grades to the
lower ones. Understanding why authors phrase, include
figurative language and use point of view to connect to readers
schemas is integral to understanding a text in its entirety. Doing
simple readings of text can draw on personal knowledge,
understandings and misconceptions, by doing analysis like this
can help those students who do not engage with text improve
their understandings of many aspects of the world around them,
from relationships to ideology. Melanie Hardin


The questions in this workshop focus a lot on design and the relationship
between pictures and the text. For picture books, this framework works well
and can be used in a straightforward way. For non-picture books though, the
framework might not seem as applicable at first. Taking a closer look however,
new ways of interpreting the framework shows that it can actually be beneficial
in several ways if you think about the questions in a different way. First,
Serafiniasks you to look at the design elements and textual elements of the
book. For a chapter book, this could be asking about the length of the
chapters, the size of the wording, the overall size of the book, the margins or
so many other things. Secondly, Serafini wants analysis to consider the
characters that are represented and their interactions. In a non-picture book,
this information could be found through how the characters interact throughout
the plot of the story, rather than how they look on the page. The same idea
goes for exploring social conventions and socially constructed roles. As
readers are trying to discover this information, they will need to look more at
the text and what it says rather than looking at the pictures. However, the
layout of the book and the physical aspects can still be analyzed like they
would be in a picture book. As students begin to do this type of framework
analysis on the books that they choose to read, they will develop skills for
anticipating what a book will bring and inferring what various aspects mean.
They will know that if it is a chapter book with small words, for example, it will
be more difficult to read than a chapter book with larger words. Students will
be prompted to think deeply about what their reading means rather than
simply letting it flow in one ear and out the other since they will be asked
about things such as, the layout, the character relationships, etxc. ~Amanda
Olson
Thoughts from Hassett...
My first time reading this book, I cruised through it, quickly reading the text and
simply glancing at the pictures. Through using this framework I realized how
important it is to look at both the pictures AND the text. After reading it a second
time, using the framework and paying specific attention to the interactions of the
pictures and the words, I realized how much I had missed when I ignored the
pictures. My interpretation of the book changed drastically and I got much more from
the story in terms of perspective. As a college student who has been trained to read
fast and efficiently, this framework helped me slow down and pick out all of the
details. For children however, they are taught to look at the pictures and use them to
determine what the text is saying. I feel like a child would do the things that the
framework emphasizes without being asked. They enjoy looking at pictures and
picking out details from them. On the other hand, this framework might help them to
realize that the words and the picture are representing two different perspectives.
This concept might be confusing to students at first without being asked to think
critically about it. ~ Amanda Olson
Hassetts framework encourages the reader to take note of the
intentional collaboration between text and image in childrens literature.
By doing so, it reminds the reader that the full meaning of the book is not
contained within its pages, but exists somewhere between the book and
the reader. It implies that a book cannot truly be considered produced
until it is consumed, that the finished product lies in the act of someone
picking up the book to read it and creating meaning out of the
intersection between text, image, design, and personal experience. The
framework also encourages the reader to seek out meaning even where
the author may not have consciously intended to make a point. When
one brings ones own personality to literature, the thematic significance
of the work depends partially upon what the reader deems culturally and
personally relevant, making the reader one of the books co-producers.
~ Michael Graunke

This framework helps to bridge the gap between producer and
consumer, and blur that relationship, by pointing out that the
consumer is allowed to read the story in whatever way they
chose to. The story is different depending on whether you read
one of the four stories at a time, or if you read all of them
together, and through the questions about imaging and
narration, I think students can analyze these differences, and
discuss how the author and illustrator have worked to create the
type of story that they wanted to create. This framework helps
the consumer to evaluate some of the design choices that were
made by the creators of this book. ~ Ellie Ewaldt


In using this framework, I was able to explore the role of the reader
more and how the reader brings an element to the book that would be
lost without the reader. By having the reader take on the responsibility
of keeping the pigeon from driving the bus, the story would be pointless
if the pigeon did not keep bothering the reader to let him drive the bus.
The reader acts as a character him or herself by feeling like the pigeon
is interacting with them. I think students may realize this right away
when reading the story since they may be used to other modes where
the character in the story is talking directly to the participant. For
example, Nick Jr. had childrens shows such as Blues Clues or Dora
the Explorer where the main characters would talk directly with the
viewer. The viewer would be asked questions and asked to participate
within the show, even though they could not physically be there. This
asks a lot of students to use their imagination and engage with the
characters. ~Ashley Gorski