Tennessee Diploma Project
English Language Arts
No grade range
In the Information Age the importance of being able to read and write informational texts critically and well cannot be overstated. Informational literacy is central to success, and even survival, in schooling, the workplace, and the community. - Nell Duke, Michigan State University Informational text is designed to convey factual information rather than tell or advance a narrative. Informational texts contain ideas, facts, and principles related to the physical, biological, or social world. They may take many different forms: picture books, photo essays, chapter books, articles and essays, letters, diaries and journals, observational notes, factual references (almanacs, books of statistics, books of world records), brochures, manuals, and text books. Informational text may employ techniques such as lists, comparing/contrasting, or demonstrating cause/effect, and may be accompanied by graphs or charts.Conceptual StrandThe world is filled with a variety of informational texts; learners must have a comprehensive set of skills for effective interpretation of this type of text.Guiding QuestionWhy is it important for learners to have a comprehensive set of skills for interpreting a variety of texts?
Course Level Expectation
Comprehend and summarize the main ideas of complex informational texts and determine the essential elements that elaborate them.
Analyze the organizational structures of complex informational and technical texts.
Read, interpret, and analyze graphics that support complex informational and technical texts.
Check For Understanding
Summarize in a concise and well-organized way the main ideas, supporting details, and relationships among ideas in complex informational and technical texts.
Summarize, paraphrase, and critique information in texts (informational, technical, and literary).
Recognize clear or subtle and implied relationships among ideas (e.g., cause/effect, comparative, sequential) in complex informational and technical texts.
Synthesize information across multiple complex informational and technical texts.
Analyze the organizational structure of an informational or technical text (e.g., sequential, problem-solution, comparison-contrast, cause-effect).
Evaluate the ways in which the unconventional organizational structure of a complex informational or technical text supports or confounds its meaning or purpose.
Comprehend and evaluate complex information presented graphically.
Evaluate complex informational and technical texts for their clarity, simplicity, and coherence and for the appropriateness of their graphics and visual appeal.
Follow extended multi-tasked or multi-dimensional instructions in complex informational or technical texts.