Get It Done!: Writing and Analyzing Informational Texts to Make Things Happen

Informational texts aren’t just for school

“Even if the CCSS are not adopted in your state, the theory and instruction we present is devoted to developing not only competence in literacy, but competence in life.”Jeffrey Wilhelm, Michael Smith, and James Fredricksen

Informational texts aren’t just for school. They are a real-world tool for making things happen. Similarly, the Common Core State Standards for writing are designed to help adolescents be prepared for the world outside the classroom.

That’s why Jeffrey Wilhelm, Michael Smith, and James Fredricksen wrote Get It Done! So that once kids leave school, they’ll have the skills, know-how, and agency to do work that matters by composing nonfiction texts—and so that their teachers have a clear-cut set of strategies for instruction in informational genres.

Naming and listing, summarizing, describing, defining, comparing and contrasting, classifying, identifying cause–effect relationships, exploring problem–solution situations—Get It Done! will both help you teach all these types of informational texts engagingly and effectively, while explicitly connecting your work to the Common Core State Standards.

Help your students Get It Done! “We think that through effective instruction, the goals of the CCSS and much more can be met,” write Wilhelm, Smith, and Fredricksen. “More important we want the work we and our students do to matter.”

Jeffrey Wilhelm is coauthor with Michael Smith and James Fredricksen of Get It Done!; Oh, Yeah?!; and So, What's the Story?. Jeff has cowritten or coedited four other Heinemann books, Going with the Flow, "Reading Don't Fix No Chevys", Strategic Reading, and Imagining to Learn. For Chevys he and coauthor Jeff Wilhelm received the NCTE David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English. Jeff is an internationally-known teacher, author, and presenter. He is driven by a desire to help teachers to help their students to more powerful literacy and compassionate, democratic living. What he most wants for teachers to get out of his work is motivation, a vital passion and impulse to continue experimenting and learning about teaching, as well as ways to frame instruction so it is meaningful and compelling to students. A classroom teacher for fifteen years, Jeff is currently Professor of English Education at Boise State University. He works in local schools as part of a Virtual Professional Development Site Network sponsored by the Boise State Writing Project, and regularly teaches middle and high school students. He is the founding director of the Maine Writing Project and the Boise State Writing Project. He has authored or coauthored numerous books and articles about literacy teaching and learning. In addition to the Russell award, his "You Gotta BE the Book" won the NCTE Promising Research Award. Jeff has worked on numerous materials and software programs for students including Scholastic's e21 and ReadAbout, and has edited a series of 100 books for reluctant readers entitled The Ten. Jeff enjoys speaking, presenting, working with students and schools. He is currently researching how students read and engage with non-traditional texts like video game narratives, manga, horror, fantasy, etc. as well as the effects of inquiry teaching on teachers, students, and learning. Jeff grew up on a small strawberry farm in Northeastern Ohio. He loved the Hardy Boys as a boy, and has continued to love reading ever since, progressing through Hermann Hesse, John Steinbeck, and James Baldwin as literary mentors. In high school he was named a Harrier All-American for cross-country and track. He was then a two-time Small College All-American in Cross-country. He has competed Internationally in cross country, track, and nordic skiing. He now enjoys marathon nordic skiing and whitewater kayaking.

Michael Smith is coauthor with Jeffrey Wilhelm and Michael Smith of Get It Done!; Oh, Yeah?!; and So, What's the Story?. Michael, a professor in Temple University's College of Education, joined the ranks of college teachers after 11 years of teaching high school English. He has won awards for his teaching at both the high school and college levels. His research focuses on understanding how experienced readers read and talk about texts as well as what motivates adolescents' reading and writing out of school. He uses that understanding to think about how to devise more effective and engaging reading and writing instruction for adolescents in school. Michael has cowritten or coedited three other Heinemann books, Going with the Flow; Reflective Teaching, Reflective Learning; and "Reading Don't Fix No Chevys". For Chevys he and coauthor Jeff Wilhelm received the NCTE David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English. When he's not working, Michael's likely to be watching or talking about sports, reading, or playing with his granddaughter.

Jim Fredricksen is coauthor with Jeffrey Wilhelm and Michael Smith of Get It Done!; Oh, Yeah?!; and So, What's the Story?. He has spent his career listening to and learning from his students about the choices they make - as young people, as athletes, as members of their communities, and especially as readers and as writers. This began in Fairfield, Ohio, and then in his hometown of St. Charles, Illinois where he taught middle school students and coached both middle and high school student athletes. More recently, he has worked with pre-service and in-service teachers in making their pedagogical decisions visible to themselves and to others - first at Michigan State University and currently at Boise State University, the Boise State Writing Project, and the National Writing Project. Jim's interest in helping people pursue their own interests - and in listening to the choices people make in pursuing those interests - reflect Jim's belief in the power of curiosity and creativity, in the pleasure that can be found in uncertainty, and the hope that comes from learning with others.