Chapter+21


 * Chapter 21**

**#1 Collection of NF texts** // “If we want children to know what it is to follow their interest into texts, we need to look again at the collection of nonfiction texts we provide for them.” (442). This was a convicting thing to read as I remembered my focus on fiction titles when I added to my own classroom library in the past. Ahhh, if we only knew then what we know now, right? And not only is balance between literature and informational texts important (and outlined in the new Common Core State Standards) but, as this quote urges, the actual nonfiction texts themselves and text sets we create for our students are important in the success of deep informational reading. //

// Is there a quote that stood out to you in this thinking about non-fiction instruction and if so, please explain why? // // "Do we have the courage to open up the box, to mess up our thinking, and do it over and over". pg. 431 Over the years I have been dissatified with our use of nonfiction in my classroom. I'm sure I complained about the lack of material to enhance this area of instruction. You know what, it was in the "box" that I put away when I was done with the unit. I want to get my team out of the disconnected mode and create for our community of learners the return to the open box to see if our thinking has new ground. I practice my trade over and over based on the real world. How dare I not give this mode of investigation to my children. It is not mine it is ours. The right fit material will open the door to moving on up to higher levels of thinking and writing in real time. // // Margaret Fox﻿ //

“The skilled reader of nonfiction, then, is not the person who goes through life like a scanner, retaining every text, but instead, the person who can look at texts, judge the ways they or parts of them can best contribute to a constructive learning life, and can adjust their reading strategies according to the text, the context, and the place of this day’s reading within the reader’s larger work.” (439) This quote stood out to me for a couple of reasons. The first thing I was reminded of was my own schooling. In the vast majority of my high school and college classes, it seemed as though we were simply expected to read the assigned chapters and make our best guess as to what material might show up on a test. There was little discussion surrounding the material unless you count the teacher or professor standing at the front of the classroom lecturing while we frantically scribbled notes. We rarely discussed our thoughts in small groups, especially in high school, and the focus was just on reading the book…often from cover to cover. This is a quote I want to guide my reading. I want my students to look at a book, perhaps of an animal, scan the table of contents and/or index, and decide on what page they need to begin their reading. I want them to know it is okay to skip around to read what is important to them at the current moment. To know that one day they may read to find information on foods the animal eats and a description of its habitat on the next. I want to instill a love of nonfiction in my students so they do not dread receiving new text books as they progress through the grades. Stephanie Cooper Chapter 21 from Bobbi Friend #1 – This chapter was full of profound statements for me because I have become an avid supporter of nonfiction text in my classroom. I have truly spent more money on adding to my nonfiction library than my fiction library over the last three years. The first quote that stood out to me was on page 438. “Our schools not only provide little time for nonfiction reading, they also provide few texts. Very few teachers have more than a shelf of nonfiction books in their classroom libraries. The nonfiction books we do have are outdated and hopelessly difficult.” This statement was one that hit me very hard when I read the Art of Teaching Reading for the first time a few years ago. I felt that nonfiction text has so much to offer my students that I needed to begin to expand my nonfiction library. I began to invest in nonfiction books that matched the units that I was teaching in my science and social students content areas. I felt that students would have more interest in those books since they would have prior knowledge about those topics which would draw them into those pieces of informational text. Nonfiction reading needs to be enjoyable and not just based on textbooks that contain stale facts.

I am very luck to have a lot of non fiction text. But like Marg comment I probably do tend to isolate it. First, because I know I am luck to have a lot of nonfiction and I am protecting it and second because it belong to “science and social Studies”.

The person who commented second did make me think. Focusing on the way we were taught and teach others. It is important to remember to teach the process not the content. The content is always changing but giving students the tool to have a critical investigative mind will better prepare them for the global world that Erin referenced. KDN

I was struck by the quote on page 440, “If we want our children to grow up as avid readers of //words,// they need in Paolo Freire’s words, to read //worlds// (Freire 1983).” To me that is the essence of non-fiction reading. We need to bring our interests and wonderings about the world into our reading. Otherwise, what is the purpose of reading? It surely isn’t to just decode the black squiggly marks on a page. It is to connect with characters to better understand people. It is to learn about sharks or how to cook. It’s for a purpose that feeds our hunger for knowledge and understanding and connection. As teachers, we need to cultivate a classroom where students think about how reading can “help us enjoy these things even more” as Kathy Doyle presented it to her students (page 440). I can’t wait to ask my kids, “Have you – or //could// you – weave reading into this interest in a way that heightens the fun of it?” (page 440). Of course, many children do this naturally and I want to continue catching those moments to share with the class. I’m envisioning collecting these stories into a book that I (we) record in over the school year titled something like, //Weaving Reading into our Life//. J Students could be readily reminded of reading projects they and others have taken on. The projects would likely serve as inspiration for other pursuits. Margaret, I applaud your passion to “give this mode of investigation to my children”! Yes, let’s unpack those boxes and make resources available to our kids as much as we can. Sara Sabourin

I have always loved to read nonfiction-it is my favorite genre so I have always spent a lot of money supplying my classroom with a huge number of nonfictional texts. I realized as I sorted my books by topics, levels, authors, and characters that I am blessed to have a good assortment of books for my first graders. I received one of the best compliments I could last week. One of the custodians walked into my room, looked around and said that he thinks I have more books that the school library! Since I know I am a bookaholic I just smiled and said "Thanks!" I know this is an old quote but I feel it carries a lot of weight, "If kids learn to read they will be able to read to learn." This is the ultimate goal I hold for my students. I want them to be able to read anything in order to learn anything in order to open all the doors to any future they choose. I love Sara's comment, "It's for a purpose that feeds our hunger for knowledge and understanding and connection." That sums it up for me! --Jodee Tuttle

"For richly literate people, reading is like breathing. Always, wherever we are, in the midst of loving and laughing and traveling and working and eating and being with friends, always, without even choosing to do so, we inhale the words of our world. That is what it is to be a nonfiction reader." This is the quote that stood out for me. Throughout this book we have been going over and over the fact that we don't just want our students to be able to read, we want them to be life-long readers and learners. We want to instill in them that reading is part of living. We do this in the classroom with fictional stories. This quote is a great reminder that most of the reading we do on a daily basis is non-fictional. There needs to be a shift in the classroom to accomodate "real life". I have spent a lot of time this summer sorting, organizing and leveling my classroom library. I do have a lot of non-fiction books, but they are mostly books about animals. I can see the need for more types of non-fiction books. And I love what Jodee says, "I want them to be able to read anything in order to learn anything in order to open all the doors to any future they choose." All I have to say to that is, "Me, too!" Keri Cooper

On page 442, under the subtitle of “Nonfiction Texts That Will Support Kids’ Interests”, I support the following statement. **“If we want children to know what it is to follow their interests into texts, we need to look again at the collection of nonfiction texts we provide for them.** According to (Bars and Pidgeon, 1994, p.1), “Boys especially choose to read nonfiction and it is important as readers than girls.” In addition, reading surveys from Jenkinson’s ‘What Do Boys and Girls Read’ in 1940 to Whitehead’s Children and Their Books in 1977 have shown that gender is the major factor in studies of children as readers, being more strongly linked than either social class, or ability, or attainment with how much children read.” This section goes on to say that reading teachers seem to view the nonfiction that boys are interested in as ‘insignificant’ and should try to make nonfiction more central to their classrooms. So, in a nutshell, we need to provide a plethora of reading experiences for our young readers be it fiction or nonfiction.

M.J.

There were several important quotes in this chapter. The first one was on p. 437. "Nonfiction reading is the primary reading fare of every teacher ... and it will be the primary reading fare of each of our students. Yet ironically, the curriculum in our schools focuses on the texts and skills of reading fiction". How unfortunate! I had not ever thought of that before! It was eye-opening to me. I do make a point of reading nonfiction books to my students but they almost always are books that relate to our science and social studies curriculum. I also thought it was very interesting about the difference between boys and girls. Boys struggle more with reading than girls, boys read nonfiction more often, and boys read less than girls (p. 442). (And, as a side note, I can already notice the difference between boys and girls and books at home! I have boy girl twins, age 22 months, and our daughter LOVES to read and does several times a day on her own! Our son, IF he looks at books, flips right away to the page on the "trucks".) I have quite a few books about animals, too, like Keri, but I also have books about the human body, trucks, airplanes, and space. Those are the books that are in "high demand" by the boys in my class. It is so true! I will have to work to keep on building up the nonfiction books in my classroom library. Kari Bonnema

One of the many important quotes that hit me in this chapter was one on page 438. "When there is very little time available for learning about social studies or science during the week, it affects not only the quantity but also the quality of the nonfiction reading students do in school." I have realized that I need to place more emphasis on getting nonfiction books near the first grade level that supports our studies on a subject. I used to have so many in my old grade level but need to make it my priority to purchase books that are at an apprioriate level and aren't outdated. Ronda

**#2 Non-fiction differences**

//How is the non-fiction reading and thinking described in this chapter specifically different from your experiences, if at all? Explain either from an educator’s standpoint thinking about how you guide non-fiction work, or as a reader of non-fiction.//

//As an educator, during MEAP, we are shoving the idea of NF into our children without substance. There is no connection. As I create my read workshop I can and will use the read aloud time as a way of creating connections throughout unit one using NF. My minilesson can refer back to what will happen throughout the day. Non fiction for me was always the hard "stuff" because the only NF I knew came from the text. My instruction is going to show the excitement found in this literature. May I say agaiin it is the connections that will create links.//

//Margaret Fox ﻿// Chapter 21 from Bobbi Friend #2 – Teaching nonfiction reading has changed tremendously from the way I learned nonfiction when I was in school. According to the book, “The skilled reader of nonfiction, then, is not the person who goes through life like a scanner, retaining every text, but instead, the person who can look at texts, judge the ways they or parts of them can best contribute to a constructive learning life, and can adjust their reading strategies according to the text, the context, and the place of this day’s reading within the reader’s larger work.” When I learned about nonfiction, it was useful only for the purpose of gathering facts and used for research when necessary. Now, we need to teach students about the different aspects of nonfiction text that are different than fiction texts, as well as the ways they are similar to fiction. We then need to teach students how to adjust the way they read these different kinds of text in order to decide what they will do with the new information they are learning. The first step to teaching students to read nonfiction, according to Lucy, is to help them find nonfiction books that match their interests. Wow! This is so simple and makes so much sense, that it is hard to believe we have missed that as educators. Students will learn more when they are reading about what they are interested in. In order to match readers to their interests, we need to have a large library of nonfiction books. Another point Lucy makes is that reading aloud and fact-dropping can ratchet up our children’s nonfiction reading. When we read books that are non-narrative nonfiction, we can raise our students’ level of interest in different topics, therefore allowing them more concepts they would like to explore. It makes sense to me to begin teaching about nonfiction this way, and it is vastly different than the way I was taught about nonfiction.

I was taught to read a textbook (non-fiction) to study for a test. To this day I would not be one to go to a library to find a book to teach me how to do ANYTHING. The only "for fun" non-fiction reading I grew up doing was reading newspapers and magazines. I can see the benefit in having students find non-fiction books based their interests, first. I agree with Bobbi...it's so simple! I also need to spend more time reading non-fiction things to my students. Last year I think I did a better job of it as I incorporated more narrative non-fiction. However, teaching my students how to read non-narrative non-fiction by reading it aloud to them and teaching them the structure of it would be very powerful to them as life-long learners. And, if I pair it with the Thinking Maps, then I'll be onto something really big! Keri Cooper

As Bobbi said I used to read NF books strictly for gaining facts and research. I think we need to increase our numbers of appropriate NF books in our classroom libraries. We do teach the important aspects and differences of NF books to our students. With the increased numbers of books for our library hopefully our students can match the books to their real interests which is so very important. Wow with every question and answer I realize how much work I have ahead of me.. Ronda

**#3 Inquiry again** //“By inviting children to share their inquiries and hobbies, we’re cultivating a readiness for skilled nonfiction reading.” (440) The inquiry focused environment is a recurring theme throughout this text. What does it remind you of from earlier chapters? Generalizations are okay.//

If we think about it would it not be easier to teach with nonfiction. The meat in these types of books are more clear. But we start with young children with fantasy books—they can be light hearted. Books that make us laugh or give a moral message. Maybe if we quickly went to NF they could better grab our mini-lessons and find the joy in their won interests. All students have interests like p 441 explains how the teacher quickly reviewed this—students (especially boys how tend to give reading less of a chance—would get hooked). KDN

Students are immersed in an inquiry-based classroom during so much of the reading workshop! When children are given choices about what to read (within their independent reading level) they will gravitate toward topics or genres of interest. This inquiry-approach is part of the foundation of the reading center and book club formats. Partners work together in books to pursue common interests and questions. During whole-group mini-lessons and share time, students are frequently encouraged to turn-to-talk to a partner about a question (often an open-ended, higher-level one that is presented). Inquiry-based lessons show up in all units of study, from print work to comprehension strategies to authors’ craft. Sara Sabourin

Inquiring minds is what we have been trying to cultivate throughout all of the chapters of Read Aloud, Reading Workshop, mini-lessons, Coaching and Conferring with readers, Reading Centers, Book Club, Reading Projects and much more. I especially like the idea of allowing our students to choose a Reading Project that is closely aligned with their interests and hobbies that will facilitate talking about the text/book with partners and will also carry over to the home environment.

M.J.

Like the old quote says, "Inquiring minds want to know!" That should be a theme for our classrooms, too. If we have an interest in something, the natural thing would be to want to learn more about it. I agree with Sara. So much of the reading workshop is based on student interest and choice of books. This is so smart! It feeds that natural curiosity. Using nonfiction books, on what ever the topic, will keep this curiosity going. Kari Bonnema


 * //Here is a place to post other ideas and burning questions from chapter twenty one if any. (Remember, a high-quality comment in this bottom section does still count toward your total comments. So anytime the posts for a certain chapter don't speak to you and your thinking, feel free to share your own ideas from the text here...)//**