EDC 423

Informational Text Analysis

For this assignment you will analyze an informational text and create a summary of the text-based resources and challenges for children in grades 2-3 using information we discussed in class.

To begin

Choose either “See How Cheetahs Survive In The Wild” or “Swim with Seahorses” from a National Geographic Explorer magazine, Pioneer Edition (available on the wiki). These are expository/ informational texts appropriate for students in grades 2-3.

Part 1: Ideas and Learning Goals

  1. Read the text.
  1. Outline the main ideas and related details of the text.
  1. Identify some important concepts or “big ideas” that students can learn from reading and talking about this text. The big ideas might be related to content areas (science, civics, etc.) or to text (how texts are organized, how writers find out the information, etc.).
  1. Use your outline of #1 and 2 above (main and big ideas) to create learning goals for a discussion you might eventually plan for your students around this text. What should your students know/learn from reading this text? You should frame your learning goals as questions (e.g. “How are caves formed?”). For each learning goal, list information students need to understand in order to reach that goal. For example, in Panda Mania, one of our learning goals was “What is the panda’s habitat and how are they adapted to that habitat?”
  1. To understand that, students needed to understand:

·  The pandas live in bamboo forests in China.

·  These forests are rainy/wet.

·  The pandas have waterproof fur to keep them dry.

·  They eat the bamboo.

·  Pandas have long bones in their wrists, like thumbs, to hold the bamboo, sharp teeth to bite it, flat back teeth to crunch it. Then they eat the inside!

Part 2: Text Analysis

  1. Read the text again, carefully noting features/ideas that challenge comprehension, and those that support comprehension. Be sure to consider text features we discussed in class, such as:

Macro Features / Micro Features / Other issues of cohesion/coherence
·  Genre
·  Photos, diagrams, charts, maps
·  Captions
·  Type face (bold, italics)
·  Glossary/TOC
·  Headings
·  Subheadings / ·  Transitions
·  Referents
·  Connectives / ·  Inferences needed
·  Topic sentences
·  Ideas fully explained/not explained
·  Background knowledge unknown
·  Organization (are ideas logically ordered?)

Note your analysis either by annotating a PDF (preferable) or creating a table where you list the page number, ending phrase (so I know where you are), and your comment (like below).

For example:

Supports/Resources / Confusions/Challenges
Page 19, paragraph 4:
Habitat is bolded signaling its importance. Glossary definition is somewhat helpful. / Page 19:
Term is not defined within the text.

2.  Save your annotated .pdf file or your Table file in MS Word with the following filename:

·  Lastname_Cheetah Text Analysis” OR

·  Lastname_Seahorse Text Analysis”

3.  Email your file to Dr. Coiro with the following subject line:

·  EDC 423 LASTNAME Text Analysis

Part 3. Complete a Flipgrid reflection

What did you learn from this assignment about informational text features and how they influence comprehension? How will this new knowledge help you select complex informational texts for elementary school students and support their comprehension in ways that meet Common Core Standard #10 (By the end of the year, students will read and comprehend informational texts at the high end of their grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently)?


EDC423 Informational Text Analysis

40 Possible Points

Possible Points / Earned Points
Part 1
·  Text outline captures the main ideas of the text and the supporting details needed to understand the main ideas. / 8
·  “Big ideas” identify the overarching messages/ideas that students can transfer to other aspects of life. / 4
·  Learning goals identify the important content students need to deeply understand the text. / 2
·  Learning goals include relevant text ideas necessary to understand/meet that goal / 2
Part 2
·  Text analysis captures relevant text supports/resources / 7
·  Text analysis captures relevant text confusions/challenges / 7
·  Text analysis captures other text ideas/issues that might make the text less cohesive/coherent (e.g. inferences, lack of clarity, organization) / 2
Part 3
·  Flipgrid response is thoughtful and reflective, answering both parts of the question / 5
Submission
·  Plan uses Standard English mechanics and grammar throughout / 2
·  Plan is submitted via email as Specified / 1
TOTAL / 40

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