Analyzing relationships in informational texts
About this video
Hannah and David show that ideas, events and people in a text are connected in a web of cause and effect. Reading a magazine article about goat lawnmowers, they trace how goats eating dry grass reduces wildfire fuel, how that helped contain a real fire, and how the idea shaped Renata Sandoval's business.
You'll be able to
- identify causes and effects in an informational text.
- explain how an idea in a text influences an event or a person's decision.
Key words
- cause
- Something that makes another thing happen.
- effect
- What happens because of a cause.
- informational text
- A nonfiction text that gives facts and explains a topic, like a magazine article.
- fuel
- Material, like dry grass, that a fire can burn.
Transcript
- [Hannah] Hey readers. Hannah here. Sorry about the noise. David's outside mowing his lawn and I'm in his kitchen stealing his snacks. We were supposed to be talking about the relationship between ideas.
- [David] Hey readers. I'm back. Ah, sorry for the delay, Hannah. I am ready to teach. Hello.
- [Hannah] You had to mow your lawn now? - [David] I know. I'm sorry. It's a whole thing. I have to do it in the morning because if I mow my lawn in the afternoon, all the neighborhood kids yell at me for interrupting their homework time.
- [Hannah] I guess this is actually a pretty good intro to our topic, connections, interactions between ideas and people. Here's one event, you mowing the lawn at 9:00 AM, and its cause, you getting bullied by 13 year olds for mowing in the afternoon.
- [David] All right. I mean, I wouldn't say bullied.
- [Hannah] Ideas, events and people in a text are interconnected in a web of influence. Causes lead to effects.
- [David] So we're gonna talk to you today about how that comes into play in an informational text.
- [Hannah] To that end, we have here an issue of a science magazine.
- [David] Wow. Print media. - [Hannah] It's coming back, I promise you. Let's turn to page 15. There's an article in there about goat lawnmowers. Would you do me the honor of reading this passage aloud, David?
- [David] Sure. "Renata Sandoval wants you to rent a goat for your backyard. Sandoval, the founder and CEO of The Goat Brigade makes the case for goat mowers. 'Goats graze on overgrown vegetation, including weeds and other unwanted plants. Compared to a lawnmower, they're almost silent and they're much nicer to look at.
Nobody ever says, "Oh, what a cute lawnmower!"' Sandoval also points out that goat mowers can reduce safety risks related to wildfires. Goats munch on dry grass and plants, which lowers the amount of fuel available for fires to spread. Just last week, fire officials reported that they were able to quickly contain a blaze in nearby Baker County, thanks to recent grazing by goats and sheep in the area."
- [Hannah] Thanks, David. Now that we've got our text in front of us, let's make a couple of connections. I'll throw it to you readers. What does a goat's diet have to do with wildfires? What connection is there between what goats eat and the risk of fire?
- [David] We'll put on some music, have a snack, and give you some time to think. Pause the video if you need to, and when you're ready we'll be here to discuss.
- [Hannah] Let's hit it, David. (techno music)
- [David] So what does a goat's diet have to do with wildfires, Hannah?
- [Hannah] I was drawn to this detail here. Goats eat plants, specifically, they eat the sorts of vegetation that fuel wildfires, dry grass and plants. So if you let goats graze, there'll be less dried grass lying around, and the effects of less dry grass is fewer and smaller wildfires.
And we can see in the next sentence how that idea to let goats and sheep graze influenced an event. The event was a fire in Baker County that firefighters contained more easily because of goats grazing.
- [David] And that's why Renata Sandoval, The Goat brigade lady, wants me to rent one of her goats.
- [Hannah] Yeah, so you don't start a wildfire in your backyard.
- [David] She wants her business to succeed, but also she knows her goat's interventions will reduce the risk of fire.
- [Hannah] Exactly. The idea that goats can prevent fires influenced her decision to start a rent a goat business.
- [David] Man, that is a cool business. (keyboard clacking)
- David? - Yeah. One second. - [Hannah] David.
- Yeah, yeah. Sorry. - Are you Googling goat lawn care businesses?
- Yeah, dude. Cute goats on the lawn means the neighbor kids will stop yelling at me. I don't need that kind of smoke.
- [Hannah] All right, readers. Remember, you can learn anything, except maybe how to enjoy mowing the lawn.
- [David] David and Hannah out.
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