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Get Real with Nonfiction
October 16-22 is Teen Read Week, sponsored by the American Library Association. This year's theme focuses on nonfiction. No matter what age your students, it's a good time to talk about nonfiction texts. These resources offer suggestions for getting started.
For some introductory ideas and lesson plans, see the ReadWriteThink calendar entry for Teen Read Week (G). For more background and booklists for adolescent readers, read the English Journal article, "Some Teens Prefer the Real Thing: The Case for Young Adult Nonfiction" (M-S).
Try the techniques outlined in "The Nonfiction Read-Aloud: An Essential Ingredient in Student Learning" (E) from School Talk for ways to explore nonfiction with younger readers. In the Voices from the Middle article "Expository Text in Literature Circles" (M), Harvey Daniels explains how to extend literature circles to include a variety of nonfiction genres in reading circles. The general suggestions in the article can be adapted for any level.
To consider the complex ways that genres are categorized, check out "Naming Nonfiction (a Polyptych)" (C) from College English, which struggles with many different possible definitions of nonfiction and considers the limitations that these definitions bring to readers' and writers' visions of nonfiction.
For additional nonfiction books to share with students, check out the Orbis Pictus Nonfiction Book Awards and the NCTE publication Best in Children's Nonfiction, The: Reading, Writing, & Teaching Orbis Pictus Award Books (E-M).
NOTE: Free access to journal articles mentioned in this Inbox is provided
for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available
to journal subscribers only. This Inbox Idea was published 10-11-2005.
Initials in annotations indicate academic level of the resource (E=Elementary,
M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, G=General).
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