Informative writing classifies, describes and gives factual information about people, animals, things or phenomena.
But no one said it had to be boring!
Informative Writing Theory & Insights
Want to bring informative writing to life in your classroom? It’s not as hard as you’ve always thought! The Seven Steps to Writing Success gives you the tools to help you and your students to have fun with facts. It breaks down writing into explicit, practical steps that make it easy and FUN for students.
Below is a small snippet of the Seven Steps theory for informative writing.
Want to learn all the Seven Steps theory? Check out Australia’s most engaging PD for teachers: The Seven Steps Workshop.
Step 2: Sizzling Starts™ for Informative Writing
Jump in with this video, taken directly from Seven Steps Online, to learn the theory behind the simplest, easiest and most fun of the Seven Steps – Step 2: Sizzling Starts.
What are the Seven Steps?
Learn the full theory at a Seven Steps Workshop.
Step 1: Plan for Success
Planning acts as a roadmap for the writing journey. It’s crucial in writing an informative text and can be broken down into brainstorming, researching, sorting and planning.
Step 2: Sizzling Starts
Engage your reader instantly by grabbing their interest and making them want to know more. Try Sizzling Starts for FREE >>
Step 3: Tightening Tensions
Build momentum and maintain the reader’s interest. Start strong and gradually build to a high point just before the Ending with Impact.
Step 4: Dynamic Dialogue
Support your facts and give vibrancy to your writing using dialogue from real or imaginative characters.
Step 5: Show, Don’t Tell
Show the story behind the facts by bringing the information and facts to life.
Step 6: Ban the Boring
Keep the reader focused on what’s really important. Edit out parts that distract the reader from the critical information to ensure it’s remembered.
Step 7: Exciting Endings
Information soon forgotten isn’t much use to anyone. Make your ending powerful to leave a lasting impression.
How Professional Writers Use Sizzling Starts™
One reason why the Seven Steps works so well is because it is based on the way actual authors write. Below, professional writers divulge their insights on great writing.
Michelle Scott Tucker | Biographer
Mark Greenwood | Author
How to use these videos:
Show them to students to introduce them to the way that real writers create Sizzling Starts™ in their writing. If you’re a member of Seven Steps Online you can use the discussion questions provided to explore their insights in more detail. Finish with a core resources activity to help your students translate their knowledge into skill.
Informative Writing Resources
Explore other great informative writing resources for your classroom
Informative Writing Samples
See the difference the Seven Steps can make in these writing samples. Great to help your students identify different writing techniques and explore them in informative texts.
Informative Lesson Plans & Action Activities
Experience the difference the Seven Steps can make by introducing your students to a new informative writing technique and then consolidating it into their muscle memory.
Informative Writing Prompts
Fun and quick writing practice to develop your students’ writing one technique at a time. Great for short, collaborative and intense writing sessions full of creativity.
Learn the complete Seven Steps theory!
Learn how to break writing down into Seven simple Steps that can be taught in less than 20 minutes. Inspire confidence and energy in your students.
“Brilliant – Extremely helpful, I will approach the teaching of writing with confidence and clarity. I have certainly developed my professional skills in this workshop, more so than any other curriculum focused PD I have ever attended.”
– Karen Sullivan, Kimberley State School
“Brilliant – Extremely helpful, I will approach the teaching of writing with confidence and clarity. I have certainly developed my professional skills in this workshop, more so than any other curriculum focused PD I have ever attended.”
– Karen Sullivan, Kimberley State School
