Informational text is hard, especially for 7th graders. As teachers we want to help our students learn how to learn. Informational text is one of the best ways to do this. Instead of making informational text even more disconnected, try finding informational text that interests your students. If the goal is to learn how to gather,organize, and pull important information, why should it matter what the subject is. It shouldn’t. The truth is, that even as adults, we pull more information from texts that we are interested in. Why and How can we expect students to be any different?
Study the Halo Reach Manual and then let your “gamer” students study it. Halo_-_Reach_-_Manual_-_360
Ask them what an ordinance is, or what weapon would be better for long range. Have them explain how loadouts work.
The SKILL of reading informational text is more important that the actual informational text itself.