Literacy Topics: EXPLANATORY WRITING November 30, 2015 Barbara Mick, COOR ISD Jackie Fry, COP ESD.

Literacy Topics: EXPLANATORY WRITING November 30, 2015 Barbara Mick, COOR ISD Jackie Fry, COP ESD QUICK WRITE What is explanatory writing? We will give you 3 minutes to write down your thoughts. Write the whole time. Dont start until we say go. No talking. Who is in the Room? Now its time to turn and share with your elbow partner...3 minutes We will go around for introductions Introduce your partner to the group who they are, where and what they teach Share your partners learning goal for tonight What do the standards say? Read over the CCS ELA: Writing Standards K-5 and 6-12 Discuss with a partner what you see/notice Talk about how you teach informative/explanatory writing in your classroom Be ready to share Nonfiction...Informational? Nonfiction is that body of work in which the author purports to tell us about the real world, a real experience, a real person, an idea, or a belief. Nonfiction literally means not fiction. This implies that nonfiction is true. However, we must recognize (and teach our students to recognize) that the author is not offering the truth, but one vision of the truth. More to think about... Explanatory text often contains an informal argument without the formal constraints. Most nonfiction is primarily narrative. However, within that piece you can find paragraphs of pure explanatory text. We need to study those. Did you know? Michael Moss won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Nonfiction for his book, Salt Sugar Fat! (Have you ever even heard of that category?!) With your partner... Think about the ways we explain...Jeff Anderson calls this The EX-factor. List all of the words that begin with ex that are related to explanatory writing. Be ready to share out with the group... The EX-factor examine extricate extrapolate expository express explicit extend explanation exposure execute examples excite exemplar explain explore exact expedite exhort exhume extract extoll excise expound exhibit exercise explicate exclude What is Explanatory Writing? Informational/explanatory writing conveys information accurately. This kind of writing serves one or more closely related purposes: to increase readers knowledge of a subject, to help readers better understand a procedure or process, or to provide readers with an enhanced comprehension of a concept. What is Explanatory Writing? Explanations provide information about causes, contexts, and consequences of processes, phenomena, states of affairs, objects, terminology, and so on. Explanations start with the assumption of truthfulness and answer questions about why or how. CCSS for ELA & Literacy in History, Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects, Appendix A Explanatory Writers Address such matters as... Types What are the different types of rock? Components What are the parts of a motor? Size How big is the United States? Function What is an x-ray used for? Behavior How do penguins find food? How Things Work How does the legislature function? Why Things Happen Why do some authors blend genres? Using a variety of techniques such as... Naming Defining Describing Differentiating different types or parts Comparing or Contrasting ideas or concepts Citing an anecdote or scenario to illustrate a point Lets practice finding these structures/craft moves Name attributes or traitsDefinitions Classify Answer Questions (especially why & how) Statistics Problem/Solution Sequence Example Details Metaphor/Analogy Compare/ContrastCause/Effect Lists Break 15 minutes During the break, take a look at the collection of mentor text examples on the table. Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation. Mason Cooley What do we mean when we say we know something? How would you answer this question? How would your students answer this question? Turn and talk Evidence is not tangible... The CCSS and NGSS place an emphasis on the ability to recognize and produce evidence. BUT Rather than inspiring children to think more expansively about the texts they are reading, prompts for text evidence often require only literal recall, and children resort to plucking words and phrases, or sentences from texts to satisfy the prompt. - Kay Stahl, The Reading Teacher, Vol 68(2) ...use evidence, identify evidence, draw evidence, cite relevant evidence, support with evidence... The ability to identify the use of evidence is not what makes it possible to evaluate evidence and produce it. The abilities recommended in our standards all depend on understanding the purpose of evidence and its production. Evaluating and producing evidence are foundational skills to expository writing. ...use evidence, identify evidence, draw evidence, cite relevant evidence, support with evidence... The abilities recommended in our standards all depend on understanding the purpose of evidence and its production. Evaluating and producing evidence are foundational skills to expository writing. Knowing and Knowledge Study (KKS) Please tell me something you know about sound How did you come to know this about sound? Why do you think it is true? If you had to prove this, what would you do? Friend 1 I know sound is everywhere Because I read it in a book about sound Because I heard it everywhere I will let you listen Friend 2 Animals could make sound Because I could hear animals make sound Because I saw it make noise I will catch a animal and let it make sound ...so what happened? By having the students record claim-evidence conjectures and then introducing them to the vocabulary in this way, students immediately learned that they (and everyone they know) create such conjectures every day ...so what happened?...and by the next day, students began to develop strategies and tests for identifying evidence in texts as they worked, first by identifying a claim and then asking: Did the authors prove their claim? Is an alternative possible? How do they know that? Are there any other clues (pictures, drawings, illustrations) on the page that could be used as evidence? So what? What implications could this work have on expository writing? Turn and Talk to your Elbow Partner -five minutes- Your turn... First, generate a list of things you could write about, using the 2-column thinking chart. (5 minutes) Then... Next, you will have 10 minutes to start on a piece of explanatory text using one of the types you generated on the thinking chart. Howd you do? Use the Information/Explanatory Continuum to evaluate your writing. You may work alone or with a buddy -10 minutes- Be ready to share what you learned with the group Q & A Wrap Up & Ticket Out the Door Make sure to clean up your area and recycle your water bottles. Please complete your Ticket Out the Door and leave it on your table. Thank you for your hard work tonight!