A presentation on why and how to pair fiction and nonfiction texts

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elanonfictionrw.wikispaces.com
Teaching
Nonfiction
Reading
Delia DeCourcy
Oakland Schools
November 5, 2013
delia.decourcy@oakland.k12.mi.us

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Goals & Burning Questions

Define nonfiction.

Review the standards and expectations around nonfiction
reading in the Common Core.

Explore strategies for teaching nonfiction reading paired
with a fiction text.

Brainstorm the integration of nonfiction into a fiction unit
you currently teach.
 POST-IT:
Write down a burning question that you
want to get answered about teaching nonfiction.

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What is Nonfiction?
Stop & Jot – define it

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What is
Nonfiction?

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Nonfiction Text Types
bias
ARGUMENT
INFORMATIONAL
Narrative
Nonfiction
implied
argument

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Why Teach Nonfiction?
 MODELS

What we ask our students to write in high school
 PREPARATION
 The majority of the texts students will encounter in
college and career
 PREPARATION
 So
FOR AN INTELLECTUAL LIFE
they can inform themselves and enrich their
own lives

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4 Corners of Nonfiction Mediums
WHAT’S YOUR PREFERENCE?

Articles & Books (printed and online, long and short form)

Graphic Novels, Photographs, Photo Essays, Cartoons

Speeches & Podcasts (Ted Talks, NPR journalism)

Videos & Films

Share with your neighbor the best piece of nonfiction in this
medium that you recently read/heard/watched.

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Your Nonfiction Reading Life
What
percentage of your
extracurricular
reading/viewing/listening is
nonfiction?
100%
50%
0%

9. The Challenge:
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To become as expert in
reading and teaching
nonfiction as you are in
teaching fiction/plays/poetry.

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Nonfiction & the CCSS
MYTHS
FACTS
 70%

70% of the texts seniors
read throughout their
school day must be
informational texts.

The exemplar texts in
Appendix B point to the
breadth, quality, and
complexity of the texts
students should read.
of the texts
seniors read in English
class must be
informational texts.
 The
exemplar texts
listed in Appendix B are
required teaching.

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The Informational Reading
Standards
Multi-draft Read of an
Informational Text
 #1
– Central Ideas and Key Details
 Table talk
 #2
– Craft and Structure
 Table talk
 #3
– Implications
 Table talk

13. Multi-draft
Read
Talk to the
Text
Focused
Discussion
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Activity Reflection
What reading strategies did we just
engage?

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Group Discussion/Debrief
Key Practices
 Summarize:
What must our
students be able to
do as readers of
informational text?
Jumps
 Extension:
How do
those skills spiral up
from 9/10 to 11/12?

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FOUNDATION:
Interactive Model of Reading

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Our Students as Readers
Students should…
 enjoy/be
engaged by reading
 see
connections within and across texts
 ask
their own questions of texts
 grapple
 make
with those questions
meaning via discussion, informal and
formal writing (formative & summative)

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Interactive Model of Reading
Text
COMPREHENSION
Activity
Reader
Rumelhart, D.E. (1977). Toward an interactive model of reading. In S. Dornic (Ed.), Attention and
performance VI. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Snow, C.E. (2002). Reading for Understanding: Toward an R&D Program in Reading Comprehension.
Santa Monica, CA: RAND.

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Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction

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Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction – Why?
“English teachers need to teach more
poetry, more fiction, more drama, and
more literary nonfiction. More is more
when it comes to reading. And we have
evidence to prove it. “
-
Carol Jago, “What English Classes Should Look Like in the
Common Core Era”

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Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction –Why?
 Improve
comprehension by expanding
background knowledge connected to the
narrative text. (Anderson & Pearson, 1984;
Block & Pressley, 2002)

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Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction –Why?
 Expand
student thinking: 2 Lenses/1 Topic
 Narrative: illuminate human identity and
feelings
 Informational texts: provide knowledge of the
natural and social world (Duke, 2000;
Weinstein, 2003).
“Nonfiction lets us learn more; fiction lets us
be more.”
-
Kylene Beers, Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading

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Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction –Why?
 Increase
relevance
 Demonstrate connections between the
Canon and modern texts
INCREASED MOTIVATION & ENGAGEMENT

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Turn & Talk
How
well do I strike a balance
between fiction and nonfiction in
my classroom?
How
do I help students think about
the role of both genres in their
lives?

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Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction – How?
BACKWARDS DESIGN
Literature
 Essential
Unit
Questions
Themes
Summative Assessment
Select
Texts

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Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction – How?
PURPOSES of NONFICTION PAIRINGS
 Develop
background knowledge
 Deepen
perspective and analysis on a single topic
or theme
 Read
one text through another to broaden
perspective
 Examine
literary criticism or reviews of the fiction
text
 Explore interpretations of the text
 Study models for upcoming writing task

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Romeo & Juliet – a model
To the WIKI

27. +
BREAK
10 minutes

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Romeo & Juliet – a model

Theme: Romantic Love

Essential Questions


What is romantic love?
How have depictions of romantic love changed and remained the
same?

Summative Assessment

Write an argument essay that compares and contrasts popular
depictions of romantic love in the play and advertisements we
explored in this unit. What has changed since Shakespeare's
writing of Romeo & Juliet and what has remained the same?

Write an informational essay in which you explain the definitions of
and attitudes about romantic love explored in this unit. What do
Shakespeare, hooks, Fisher, and corporate advertisers contend
about love? Discuss the implications of each definition/attitude.

29. Romeo & Juliet – first thoughts
(2 min. freewrite)
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Do you believe in true love-also known as romantic love?

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Alpha Text – Talk to the Text
 Context:
after reading Romeo & Juliet’s initial
meeting; close reading of the love sonnet.
 Driving/essential
question: What is romantic love?
DIRECTIONS:

Read the excerpted essay below. As you read:
 Underline the central ideas/claims.
 Number key supporting details.
 In the margin
 Make notes to identify text structures
(cause/effect, definition, list, compare/contrast, etc.)
 Pose questions you have
 Make notes about confusing words or ideas

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Alpha Text – Talk to the Text
WHAT IS ROMANTIC LOVE?
INFORMATIONAL

Excerpt from the Times article
“Watching New Love as It
Sears the Brain” (science)
ARGUMENT

Excerpt from bell hooks’ book
All About Love, ch.10 on
romance (essay)
1.Jigsaw: half the table reads one article, half the table reads the
other.
2. Free write on the questions
3. Share thinking about articles.
4. Discuss together: Discuss Fromm and Peck’s thoughts on
love through the lens of the New York Times’ article
“Watching New Love as it Sears the Brain.” Who does
Shakespeare agree with?

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Before, During & After Approach
Before
 Activate
reading
interest and prior knowledge.
 Build/review any necessary knowledge
before reading.
 Preview difficult concepts and vocabulary.
 Introduce and set purpose with a driving
question. (essential question)

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Before, During & After Approach
During
 Have
reading...
students identify and organize
important information.
 Teach students to record developing
understandings and questions.
 Help students clarify things they don't
understand.

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Before, During & After Approach
After
 Guide
reading…
students to use evidence from texts
to develop accounts.
 Have students use evidence from texts to
support arguments.
 Facilitate synthesis and connection across
the texts.

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AUDIO
&
VIDEO

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Viewing/Listening Scaffolding
 Pause
periodically
 Stop & Jot – with prompt (summary, analytical
question) or graphic organizer
 Turn & Talk – with prompt (summary, analytical
question)
 Backchannel – Today’s Meet
 Summary
of content
 Reflection
on/ analysis of content
 Tracking
structure
 Flow chart/idea mapping

37. Television Ad: Multi-draft viewing/graphic organizer

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How does the ad
reinforce or conflict
with the play’s ideas
about romantic love?

39. + Speech – Stop & Jot

After reading Act 5: The Brain in Love

Driving Question: What is romantic love?

40. What do Dr. Fisher’s ideas help
explain about Romeo’s behavior
in Act 3 when he’s banished from
the city and in Act 5 when he kills
Paris?
+
Freewrite – 2 min.

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Pairing Texts: Curriculum Design

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Text Pairing – Curriculum Design
 Backwards
Design
 Essential questions and themes?
 Summative assessment for the unit?
Length – Less is More
 Make Choices: What’s most important about this
narrative text?
 Avoid Readicide: Are you over teaching the
narrative text?
 Unit

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Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction
 read-i-cide
noun : The systematic killing of
the love of reading, often exacerbated by the
inane, mind-numbing practices found in
schools. (Kelly Gallagher, 2009)
 Under
 Over
 Big
teaching text: You’re on your own.
teaching text: Flogging a book to death.
chunk/little chunk
 Reading flow
 Selected close reading

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Text Pairing – Curriculum Design

Nonfiction Integration
Purposes

Consider Multiple Text Types

Articles

Essays

Reviews

Develop background knowledge

Deepen perspective and analysis
on a single topic or theme

Ads – print & video

Documentaries
Read one text through another to
broaden perspective

Op-eds

TED Talks
Examine literary criticism or
reviews of the fiction text
 Explore interpretations of the
text
 Study models for upcoming
writing task

Speeches

Podcasts

Interviews – print & audio

Images/photographs



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Text Pairing – Curriculum Design
 Grade
Level Planning
 Select a Text - Google Docs Linked on Wiki
 Google
Docs
 Real time editing
 No need to save
 Editing – like Word
 Sharing – anyone with the link can edit

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Virtual Gallery Walk

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Discussion
What
was challenging about the
brainstorming?
What
concerns came up?
What
was exciting or revelatory?

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Burning Questions
Did
If
you get your question answered?
not – how will you get it answered?
What
new questions were raised for
you today?

49. +
Thank you!