A place for learning and sharing.
Natural
Disasters
Information report writing for non-fiction texts
Introduction | Task | Process | Resources
| Evaluation | Conclusion
In
year 3009, a new planet is born. The
name of the planet is Warakiki, and it is a twin of Earth. The inhabitants of the planet are called
GenXT9, a new species of humans that is comparable to us in every aspect and
who have mastery over all the languages we speak. As GenXT9 is new to the world, they have not
discovered all the knowledge that we own.
One
day, the ruler of Planet Warakiki, Rakula had a strange dream. In the dream, a Goddess told Rakula that
their planet will be struck by all the natural calamities imaginable –
tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides. Rakula do not know what those disasters are
because the planet has not seen nor heard of it. Hence, the Goddess told Rakula that she will
be sending her helpers to educate GenXT9 about these calamities so that they
can understand it and hopefully do something to avert the disasters.
Task
You and your classmates are
chosen to be transported to year 3009 to educate GenXT9 and help Warakiki! Find a partner and work together to produce
an information report about the natural disaster of your choice. Your tasks will include:
·
![if>Writing up a 200 words report
(draft) of your findings that you will use to present to Rakula and GenXT9.
· Submitting
your report to the class blog.
· Making
comparisons about your group’s information report against another group’s and
explaining the similarities/differences.
Research
(25 minutes)
Step 1: Go to ‘Resource’ and
choose a natural disaster of your choice.
Step 2: Click on the link
underneath your choice – it will provide you with information about the
disaster.
Step 3: Select the information
that you think is necessary for Warakiki residents to know.
Product (20 minutes)
Step 4: Open up MS Word: type in
the information and include the rationale for choosing the information.
Sample:
Information |
Rationale |
Earthquakes
are the Earth's natural means of releasing stress. When the Earth's plates
move against each other, stress is put on the lithosphere. |
Gives an introduction to explain what earthquakes are because
the residents in Warakiki have no knowledge about it. |
Step 5: Type out a 200 word
report (draft) of your findings that you will use to present to Warakiki.
Step 6: Check against the rubrics
under ‘Evaluation’ to evaluate your product.
Step 6: Submit the products in
step 4 and your report in step 5/6 to the class blog when you are done.
Skills involved
·
![if>Reading, research and
communication skills.
· Selection
of web page information suitable for the purpose.
· Self-monitoring
of learning process.
· Teamwork
and accountability.
· Citing
sources accurately.
·
![if>Tsunamis
1.
![if>http://www.geophys.washington.edu/tsunami/general/physics/physics.html
2.
![if>http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/tsunami/preview.weml
(video link)
· Hurricanes
1.
![if>http://www.fema.gov/hazard/hurricane/hu_about.shtm
2.
![if>http://dsc.discovery.com/news/video/hurricanegallery.html
(video link)
· Earthquakes
1.
![if>http://www.readinessinfo.com/eqhistory.shtml
2.
![if>http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/earthquakes/preview.weml
(video link)
· Volcanoes
1.
![if>http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/volcano/
2.
![if>http://videos.howstuffworks.com/howstuffworks/231-how-volcanoes-work-video.htm
(video)
· Landslides
1.
![if>http://www.uwec.edu/jolhm/EH2/Rogge/causes.htm
2.
![if>http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/environment/environment-natural-disasters/landslides-and-more/landslides.html
(video)
Rubrics
for written task:
|
Below Average 1 |
Average 2 |
Above Average 3 |
Score |
Task
completion |
Minimal
completion of task. Contents and
structure do not fulfill requirements of task. Ideas are copied
and pasted from sources with minimal effort at trying to represent the
information by the writers. |
Partial
completion of task. Most of
the contents and the structure fulfill the requirements of task. Some ideas
are not well-developed. A few copying
and pasting of information but most of them are represented by the writers. |
Completion
of task. Both content
and structure fulfills the requirements of task. Ideas are well-developed
and are represented in writers’ own words. |
|
Comprehensibility
& Citation |
Text is
barely comprehensible at times and requires readers’ own interpretation. Little or
no citation of sources. |
Text
comprehensible, but still requires readers’ own interpretation at times. Most
sources are cited, with few errors in citation. |
Text
comprehensible and do not require readers’ own interpretation at all. All the
sources are cited with no errors in citation. |
|
Language
& Organization |
Inadequate/inaccurate
use of vocabulary (fewer than 10 vocabularies). Grammatical
mistakes amount up to 75% of the whole text. Sentences are
broken and the linkages of the sentences are not cohesive. |
Adequate/accurate
use of vocabulary (between 10 and 18 vocabularies). Grammatical
mistakes amount up to 50% of the whole text. Sentences
are mostly complete and often cohesive. |
Rich use
of vocabulary (more than 18 vocabularies). Grammatical
mistakes amount to less than 25% of the text. Sentences
are complete and cohesive throughout the text. |
|
Group
Dynamics and Time Management |
Little or
no attempt at cooperation. Most of the
work is done by a single person. No
distribution of work and little attempt to stay on task, causing the group to
be unable to complete the task. Little
attempt at communication to discuss ideas and resolve conflicts. Teacher has to intervene constantly to help
the group to progress with the task. |
Equal effort
is put in by each partner. Both
partners contributed equally to the task. Equal
distribution of work and both partners are on task but still unable to
complete it in time. Attempts
are made to communicate ideas and resolve conflicts. Teacher has to intervene occasionally to
help the group to progress with the task. |
Equal
effort is put in by each partner. Both
partners contribute equally to the task. Equal
distribution of work and both partners are on task and manage to complete it
in time. Both
partner communicates ideas and are able to resolve conflicts together with no
intervention by the teacher. |
|
Well done! Have you found all the
information that you think Warakiki residents need to know about the natural disaster
that you are working on? Do you think
the other groups working on the same topic will have similar ideas as yours and
equally similar rationale? Together with
your partner, go to your class blog to look another group’s information report
with the same topic and make a comparison.
Post your comments on why such similarities and differences occur under
the group’s information report.
Follow up:
Your teacher
will be choosing the group with the highest score for each topic to present their
report to Rakula and GenXT9 in the next lesson!