Informational Texts and Multigenre Text Sets Webinar 082610

Informational Text and Multigenre Text Sets August 26, 2010 Jessica Fries-Gaither Beyond Penguins is funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0733024.

A – Classroom Teacher
B – Librarian
C – Administrator
D – Higher Education
E – Other
What best describes your professional position? Answer using the poll buttons underneath the participant window!

What grade(s) do you teach?
A – Grades K-2
B – Grades 3-5
C – Grades 6-8
D – Grades 9-12
E – Other
Answer using the poll buttons underneath the participant window!

From where are you joining us today? Answer using the stamping tool to the left of the whiteboard!

Informational Text and Multigenre Text Sets Download these slides at:

Today’s presenter Jessica Fries-Gaither Education Resource Specialist The Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology School of Teaching and Learning [email_address]

About Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears
Online magazine
Professional and instructional resources
Science and literacy integration
Aligned to national standards
Multimedia
http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org

Today’s Agenda
Characteristics of nonfiction and informational text
Including informational text in the classroom
Multigenre text sets: an overview
Creating and using multigenre text sets in science instruction

How often do you use nonfiction text in your classroom?
A – Hardly ever
B – When we’re doing research projects
C – A couple of times a month/quarter
D – At least once a week
E – Daily
Answer using the poll buttons underneath the participant window!

Research findings: 1 st grade classrooms
Students spent an average of 3.6 minutes a day interacting with informational text
Informational text constituted less than 10% of classroom libraries
Informational text represented less than 3% of material on walls and other surfaces
Duke, N. K. (2000). 3.6 minutes per day: The scarcity of informational texts in first grade. Reading Research Quarterly , 35, 202-224.

Are the terms “nonfiction text” and “informational text” interchangeable? Answer using the stamping tool to the left of the whiteboard! YES NO NOT SURE

Nonfiction vs. Informational Text What’s the difference, anyway? Nonf Informational Text Nonfiction Text

Characteristics of Informational Text
Primary purpose is to convey information about natural and social world
Addresses whole classes of things in a timeless way
Comes in many different formats (books, magazines, handouts, brochures, CD-ROMs, the web)
Duke, N. and Bennett-Armistead, V. S. (2003). Reading & Writing Informational Text in the Primary Grades . New York: Scholastic.

Genre Characteristics Duke, N. and Bennett-Armistead, V. S. (2003). Reading & Writing Informational Text in the Primary Grades . New York: Scholastic. Narrative Genres Informational Genres Other Genres Primary Purpose To entertain or convey an experience To convey information about the natural or social word Varies by genre Examples Fairy tales, mysteries, fables, true stories, personal narratives, historical fiction All-about-books, question-and-answer books, most reference books Poetry, biography, menus, instructions, rules Typical Organization Temporally Topically Varies by genre Some Other Key Features Includes characters, is goal-based Timeless verbs, generic nouns Varies by genre How They’re Typically Read Linearly, as a whole Linearly or nonlinearly Varies by genre

Why use more informational text?
Prepare students for future schooling
Prepare students for “real world” reading and writing
Some students prefer this genre
Addresses students’ interests and questions
Builds knowledge of natural and social world
May help develop vocabulary and other kinds of literacy knowledge

Balancing genres in the classroom* *As recommended by Nell Duke and V. Susan Bennett-Armistead in Reading & Writing Informational Text in the Primary Grades . 2003. Scholastic.

Let’s pause for questions from the audience….

How familiar are you with multigenre text sets? Answer using the stamping tool to the left of the whiteboard! I can explain what it is to someone else. I’ve heard or seen the term. I have no idea!

“ Nonfiction actually contains a variety of textual genres that reflect the different processes within scientific inquiry.”
Ebbers, M. (2002). Science text sets: Using various genres to promote literacy and inquiry. Language Arts 80(1), 40-50. Multigenre nonfiction text

Genres of Nonfiction Text Explanation Reference Field Guides Biography How-To Narrative Expository Nonfiction Text Journal Informational Text

Reference
Provides an account of phenomena based on current understanding
“ The moon is Earth’s closest neighbor in space. It is about one quarter of a million miles away. In space that is very close. The moon travels around Earth. It is Earth’s only natural satellite. A satellite is an object that travels around another object. The moon takes about twenty seven days and eight hours to go around the Earth once.” The Moon by Seymour Simon

Reference
Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs! by Kathleen Kudlinski
“ Long, long ago, before people knew anything about dinosaurs, giant bones were found in China. Wise men who saw the bones tried to guess what sort of enormous animal they could have come from… … Now we think that many of our own past guesses about dinosaurs were just as wrong as those of ancient China.”

Explanation
Explains how something happens or why it occurs
“ Throw a ball up into the air. Watch what happens. It goes up for a short time, then falls down… Know what makes things fall? It’s a force called gravity. As long as you are on earth, you can’t get away from it. Gravity is always pulling things. Know which way? Down. Down. Down.” I Fall Down by Vicki Cobb

Field Guides
Label and classify objects
Fossils By Chris and Helen Pellant

How-To
Provide procedural steps for conducting investigations or completing a task
Light and Color By Tom Jackson

How-To A Parade of Plants by Melissa Stewart

Narrative Expository
Nonfiction information told through story
“ But as the years went by, something strange happened. The dinosaur’s bones began to turn into stone… … Millions of years went by. Up above, things changed. The river dried up and disappeared, and all the dinosaurs died. Grass and trees grew where the river had been, and different kinds of animals wandered around.” Monster Bones: The Story of a Dinosaur Fossil by Jacqui Bailey

Biography
Tells the life story of an individual
“ At night, Benjamin lay on his bed and looked out the window. Stars sparkled in the inky-black sky. Some were brighter than others, and Benjamin wondered why. Some groups of starts looked like animals or shapes. Sometimes a star seemed to shoot across the sky. Benjamin wondered why.” Benjamin Banneker: Pioneering Scientist by Ginger Wadsworth

Journal
Procedural information told through narrative expository text
“ 20 December Today we attach radio transmitters to fifteen penguins. Each transmitter is tuned to a unique frequency. This will allow us to track individual penguins when they go out to sea to feed…The adult penguins with chicks can be extremely defensive, which makes them difficult to catch without getting painful bruises.” My Season with Penguins by Sophie Webb

Let’s pause for questions from the audience….

Creating a multigenre text set
Organized around a theme
Purposeful selection of books
Consider how each book will be used
Consider how each book relates to the set as a whole
Not every genre must be represented

Text in an inquiry learning cycle
Engage students and spark questions
Build or activate prior knowledge
Guide students in designing investigations
Develop understandings gained in inquiry
Mentor texts for representing data and communicating results
Expand on knowledge gained

How will you incorporate a multigenre text set into your practice? Answer using the text box tool to the left of the whiteboard! Or, type in the chat window.

For More Information
Ebbers, M. (2002). Science text sets: Using various genres to promote literacy and inquiry. Language Arts 80(1), 40-50.
Duke, N. & Bennett-Armistead, V. S. (2003). Reading & writing informational text in the primary grades . New York: Scholastic.
Duke, N. K. (2000). 3.6 minutes per day: The scarcity of informational texts in first grade. Reading Research Quarterly , 35, 202-224.

Coming Soon!
Thursday, September 9, 2010: Inquiry, Literacy, and the Learning Cycle
We will explore the many faces of inquiry-based instruction and how a learning cycle framework can help you seamlessly integrate inquiry and reading, writing, and discussion.
Presenters: Jessica Fries-Gaither and Terry Shiverdecker
http://wiki.nsdl.org/index.php/BeyondPenguins/Seminars

Thank you!
Jessica Fries-Gaither
[email_address]
http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org
Today’s slides available at:
Archived recording at:
http://wiki.nsdl.org/index.php/BeyondPenguins/Seminars

Informational Texts and Multigenre Text Sets Webinar 082610

by The Ohio State University, College of Education and Human Ecology on Aug 25, 2010

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