Instructional/Procedural Writing: Literacy
Hey everyone, Happy Red Nose Day.
Over the past 2 days, we’ve been learning about instructional and procedural writing, which is all about giving clear instructions. Have you ever had to write or follow instructions before? In this blog post, I’m going to talk about what instructional writing is, share the task I worked on, and reflect on how it went. Hope you enjoy it!
If you’ve ever followed a recipe, built a model, or played a new game, you’ve probably read some instructions. These types of writing are super important because they help people understand how to do things step-by-step.
What is Instructional Writing?
Instructional writing is all about telling someone how to complete a task or activity. It’s like being a guide. Imagine you’re teaching a friend how to make a sandwich or how to play your favourite video game. That’s instructional writing.
This type of writing can take many forms, such as:
- Recipes: Instructions for making food.
- How-to Guides: Step-by-step directions for completing a task.
- User Manuals: Instructions for using a product or software.
Task –
For the task, we were given four options to choose from, and I decided to explain how to play the classic game “Connect Four.” As I began writing about it, I found joy in the process of writing someone how to play a game. It was interesting to break down the strategies, making it easier for new players to understand the game.
Here are the options we had to pick, the one in bold is the one I picked.
Tell me in the comments what you would pick and why.
Procedural / Writing Instructions List
| Task | Notes | Suited for |
| 1. Recipe – Using your own words, write up a procedure for writing your favourite recipe. | Think of a common dish or main meal that you like at home.
Also, be sure to include some pictures. Draft by yourself. |
Ace, Pro, Legend, Titan |
| 2. How to make Fairy Bread | Use the template provided to help lay out your work. | Ace, Pro, Legend, Titan |
| 2. Moving around – Using your own words, write up a procedure for moving from the TV in T4 to Mrs Fletcher’s space (T2) | Before you start writing, walk the route that you will take to get to Mrs Allan’s space. Consider directional vocabulary, including ‘turn,’ ‘left,’ ‘right,’ and ‘straight.’ Draft with a buddy. | Ace, Pro, Legend, Titan |
| 3. Paper plane – Using your own words, write a set of instructions for creating a paper plane. | Choose your favourite board game. Come up with a set of instructions for how to play this game so that someone else can follow it. | Legend, Titan |
| 4. Board game instructions | Choose your favourite board game. Come up with a set of instructions for how to play this game so that someone else can follow it. | Legend, Titan |
My Connect 4 Writing
Reflection –
I hope you enjoyed this blog post as much as I did. The task was quite straightforward, and I found it enjoyable to complete. I look forward to my class learning more about instructional writing in the upcoming weeks.
Thanks for reading my blog post, and I hope you found this informative and interesting.
Bye,
Shreeya