passionately curious. -- Albert Einstein

Transcription

1 Ruth McNally Barshaw I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. -- Albert Einstein

2 Explore different types of informational books using current children s literature examples Discuss how fiction techniques are spilling into nonfiction (THANKFULLY) Review current children s literature that bridges the gap between fiction and nonfiction Share lesson ideas for breathing life into nonfiction through fiction techniques LITERACY AT THE OF FICTION AND NONFICTION Using books to help children understand the world and their place in it

3 Click on MRA 2015 page, password is MRA 2015

4 DLS #1 Elephant in the Room by Leah Saulnier

5 Book Creators children Teachers

6 LUCK

7 THIS TOOK ME A FULL DAY TO FIGURE OUT Nonfiction = any literature that is factual CCSS Informational texts = includes nonfiction literature

8 WHY READING COMPLEX TEXT IS IMPORTANT Emory University professor Mark Bauerlein: Complex texts require a slower labor. Readers can t proceed to the next paragraph without grasping the previous one, they can t glide over unfamiliar words and phrases, and they can t forget what they read four pages earlier Complex texts force readers to acquire the knack of slow linear reading.

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10 NONFICTION HAS CHANGED!

11 WHAT S DIFFERENT NOW #1 tells a story -- even if it gives a lot of facts Survival in the wild often comes down to packaging Dogs can help us in ways we didn t realize

12 WHAT S DIFFERENT NOW #2

13 WHAT S DIFFERENT NOW #3

14 NONFICTION IS NOW REAL LITERATURE Obvious dedication to craft A careful, planned balance between fact and narrative

15 Students benefit from understanding what type of nonfiction they are reading from the start, because understanding the purpose of a book is a clue to the content it contains. -- Cathy Potter Siebert Medal committee 2014

16 THE PROBLEM WITH DEFINITION IS

17 BIOGRAPHY Inspirational Great storylines Demythologizes Any fictionalizing is held accountable Respect versus whitewashing/sanitizing ***

18 SHADES OF GREY OR NONFICTION-ESQUE BIOGRAPHY Definitely an intersection of fiction and nonfiction What if dialogue is actual, but not spoken in the chronology of life events as portrayed in the book? Is this okay to present what we do know and leave reader to imagine what s next. Author s notes indicate where facts are known and not Gateway books to more traditional biographies

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20 SANITIZING ADULT BIO FOR CHILDREN October 8, 2014, New York Times, To Lure Young Readers, Nonfiction Writers Sanitize and Simplify

21 MEMOIR credited with saving Gabby Gifford s life Jewish soldier in Nazi Germany Little Green: child of Chinese cultural revolution first Latina Caldecott Award winner coming of age as an African American in 1960s hearing loss as a teen

22 REFERENCE/EXPOSITORY

23 HISTORICAL FICTION: HISTORY WITH A PERSONAL TWIST Invented dialogue Some parts cannot be proven Facts + believable story Fiction or Nonfiction?

24 CREATIVE NONFICTION Narrative: narrative arc, all true Lyrical: poetic, all true Factual: true facts delivered creatively

25 CCSS SLICES IT THIS WAY Type: survey, specialized, concept, biography Style: narrative, expository, persuasive Structure: description, sequence/order, compare & contrast, question & answer, cause & effect Voice: lively, lyrical, or somewhere in between Point of view: first, second, third

26 NONFICTION TYPES Survey: focus on one broad topic and break it down into a variety of subtopics, a general introduction Mentor texts: National Geographic Readers and Eyewitness books, The Animal Book by Steve Jenkins, Animal Grossapedia by Melissa Stewart Specialized: delve deeply into a highly-focused topic, may use primary or secondary resources Concept: understand an abstract idea or process, often science-themed picture books (life cycles, seasons, animal behavioral patterns, etc.) Mentor texts: Port Chicago 50 by Steve Shenkin, Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa's Fastest Cats by Sy Montgomery Mentor texts: No Monkeys, No Chocolate: (the interdependence of living things), Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons by Sarah Levine Autobio/biography/memoir

27 NONFICTION STYLES What style the author selects for the goal of the book students determine the style and reasons for selecting it Narrative: reads like a fiction story, often a three act structure Expository: explains, describes, informs non-narrative Persuasive: argues a position, purpose is to convince the reader of that position

28 COMBO PLATTER: COMBINING TYPES AND STYLES Concept + Expository Swirl by Swirl by Joyce Sidman Specialized + Expository Pure Grit by Mary Cronk Farrell Specialized + Persuasive Frog Song by Brenda G. Zuiberson Concept + Narrative Trout Are Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre Specialized + Narrative Plastics Ahoy! by Patricia Newman Biography + Persuasive Who Says Women Can t Be Doctors? The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell by Tanya Lee Stone

29 SEQUENCE/ORDER Chronological narrative Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet Noah Webster & His Words by Jeri Chase Ferris Braided narrative Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming Bomb by Steve Sheinkin Circle narrative Red-Eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowley Redwoods by Jason Chin Journey narrative If Stones Could Speak by Marc Aronson Lost Treasure of the Inca by Peter Lourie Expository Bugged: How Insects Changed the World by Sarah Albee No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart

30 NONFICTION STRUCTURE DESCRIPTION A Black Hole Is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano The Beetle Book by Steve Jenkins Creep and Flutter by Jim Arnosky Dolphins! by Melissa Stewart An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston Hutts Frogs by Nic Bishop The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown Lightship by Brian Floca MELISSA STEWART'S CELEBRATE SCIENCE BLOGSPOT COMPLEMENTS OF MELISSA STEWART

31 COMPARE/CONTRAST List books Dueling spreads Born to Be Giants: How Baby Dinosaurs Grew to Rule the World by Lita Judge Deadliest Animals by Melissa Stewart Eye to Eye by Steve Jenkins Feathers: Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart Move by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page Frog or Toad? How Do You Know? by Melissa Stewart Mosquito Bite by Alexandra Siy Neo Leo by Gene Barretta Those Rebels, Tom & John by Barbara Kerley A Warm Winter/Cool Summer Tail by Carrie Pearson

32 QUESTION AND ANSWER Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons by Sarah Levine Hatch! by Roxie Munro Hello Bumblebee Bat by Darrin Lunde How Many Ways Can You Catch a Fly? by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page Creature Features by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page A Warm Winter/Cool Summer Tail by Carrie Pearson and Christina Wald Sterling s new series called Good Question!

33 CAUSE AND EFFECT Not many out there hmm Where Once There Was a Wood by Denise Fleming A Place for Butterflies by Melissa Stewart

34 NONFICTION VOICE From Melissa Stewart Lively Animal Grossapedia by Melissa Stewart Army Ant Parade by April Pulley Sayre What to Expect When You re Expecting Larvae: A Guide for Insect Parents (and Curious Kids) by Bridget Heos Lyrical Ballet for Martha by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan Dave the Potter by Laban Carrick Hill Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola

35 NONFICTION POINT OF VIEW First usually autobio or memoir, but what about this series? Second Expository Style Bugged: How Insects Changed the World by Sarah Albee If You Hopped Like a Frog by David Schwartz Narrative style (bring readers right into the middle of the action) Journey into the Deep by Rebecca L. Johnson If You Decide to Go to the Moon by Faith McNulty Army Ant Parade by April Pulley Sayre Third most traditional form

36 CONFUSED YET? Challenging to classify books because some cross or blend categories, subjectivity BUT!! Remember that classification is less important than identifying how a particular book can be used most effectively as a mentor text Build a collection with a few books that are good models for what you want to teach

37 MENTOR TEXTS: MACRO Organization (big idea vs topic sentence vs supporting) Plotting Pacing Point of view Character Style

38 MENTOR TEXTS: MICROBIAL Word choice Sentence variety Descriptions First lines Titles

39 MENTOR TEXTS: ATOMIC Devices alliteration internal rhyme onomatopoeia assonance consonance Word play puns joining two words together words that just sound funny repetition for effect Figures of speech simile metaphor personification

40 WHERE DID THE CHILDREN GO?

41 ITS ALL ABOUT ENGAGEMENT Informational texts often include: little-known facts unusual viewpoints fascinating comparisons first-person accounts expands breadth of knowledge in general leading to better overall performance taps into their own interests, not just topics given to them

42 WHY IS A BOOK/TOPIC/STRUCTURE ENGAGING TO ONE AND NOT ANOTHER? Left-brain thinkers are straight-line thinkers-- scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and computer programmers. Logic, not emotion, rules in the land of the analytical. Naturally drawn to the arts and humanities and social sciences. Intuitive, synthesizing, subjective thinkers.

43 LEFT BRAINERS AND RIGHT BRAINERS Left Brainers Don t crave an emotional connection with a main character/or a central figure in a biography Give me data! I ll interpret it for myself! Not so much into narrative nonfiction Appreciate books with: patterning, analogies, metaphors, and calculations The Guinness Book of World Records and other just-the-facts books Right Brainers Love emotional connection! Give me character or give me death! Data, schmata. Blah, blah, blah. Tunes it out. Narrative storyline is where its at. Appreciate books with: Characters, story arc, plotting, connection, resolution

44 THE BEST KIND OF NONFICTION TAKES CHILDREN FROM WHERE THEY ARE AND BUILDS ON THAT INFORMATION, EXTENDING THAT KNOWLEDGE AND STIMULATING THEM TO FURTHER RESEARCH. -- Barbara Elleman Committee on Using Nonfiction in the Elementary Language Arts Classroom

45 HOW NEW NONFICTION INFLUENCES FICTION Research Heavy use of primary and secondary sources to create realistic setting, character, scene, dialogue Melting pot Science-y fiction: The Evolution of/curious World of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages History-fiction: Julia, Child by Kyo Maclear Math-y fiction Claudia Mills

46 HOW FICTION INFLUENCES TODAY S NONFICTION Narrative possibilities Sequence of events Birth to death, or one moment in time Chronology of events Traditional three act story arc Dramatization Conflict, tension, emotional beats Word choice Lyrical, literary, scientific, techniques (alliteration, metaphor, hyperbole, etc.) Truth molding certain aspects to enhance the narrative while retaining [the event's/setting] core truth

47 HOW FICTION INFLUENCES TODAY S NONFICTION Point of view: choices! Character and characterization empathy/sympathy for MC -- we care! description, dialogue, and action bring them to life Setting Description of real setting versus creating new Reader engagement: emotionally and intellectually

48 OF FICTION AND NONFICTION: WRITING the joy of the aha! moment when writers discover the answer to their So what and finally realize they do have something to say that s worth the struggle. -- Andrea Fishman Director, PA Literature and Writing Project

49 FICTION TECHNIQUES FOR NONFICTION WRITING CREATIVE NONFICTION: THE BEST PLACE TO START Factual Anchored in real life Should include accurate and well researched information AND hold the interest of the reader I don t create the facts, I use the facts creatively. Carla Killough McClafferty (author of nonfiction for children)

50 BUT THEN Be as experimental as fiction Develop characters Include sensory details and vivid verbs go beyond first choice words Incorporate poetic elements to increase artistry: Vary rhythm, style, and length of sentences metaphors allusions imagery Adopt an effective point-of-view for the topic Use dialogue, but limit tag lines (dialogue may push it into fiction shelves) DLS #2

51 2 ND : LET S TALK ABOUT YOU Dare or command the reader to participate Teach a concept

52 2 ND : LET S TALK ABOUT YOU Present information in a way that reaches out and grabs reader How To format fun, engaging, silly

53 NARRATOR POINT OF VIEW, SECOND PERSON AND ELA CCSS Seen as early as grade 3 CCSS.ELA- LITERACY.CCRA.R.6 Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text through high school CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W A Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events.

54 ARMY ANT PARADE BY APRIL PULLEY SAYRE: MENTOR TEXT MAD LIB LESSON IDEA Original If you wake in a tent under a green canopy of trees one morning in Panama and all you hear is your heartbeat and a strange silence, then you know they are coming. Student content If you (vivid verb) in a (place) (preposition) a (descriptive place) (when)(somewhere in the world) and all you (sense) is (noun) And a (noun) Then you know (what is going to happen).

55 Read mentor text Discuss how fiction techinques helps this nonfiction story narrator point of view second is more unique in nonfiction, but pulls reader into story narrative/story line craft Vivid verbs Parts of speech (preposition, noun, verbs) Alliteration Foreshadowing What author and illustrator needed to understand before writing this story? How did author research this information? Based on actual experiences with ants in Panama Reach out to author letter writing Map skills/geography Panama and US relations and history Other work by this author newest book Website:

56 BEFORE WRITING Writer should know who the reader will be If it is to be a writing exercise and a focus on craft, consider topics students know about already -- brainstorm with classmates prior to starting to see if they know enough Remember the difference between nonfiction reading and nonfiction writing researching a topic is part of the pre-writing stage Use mentor texts for craft (e.g., layout, story arc, narrative, word choice) not just content (e.g., other stories about ants)

57 MORE LESSON TOPICS FOR BREATHING LIFE INTO NONFICTION WITH FICTION TECHNIQUES Character/characterization: pick a famous biographical character (e.g. Ben Franklin) discuss the perspective (character attitudes, experiences, beliefs, and values) displayed in each of four books about Ben: Barretta, Gene. Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin Gr 2-5 Byrd, Robert. Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin Gr 4 7 Fritz, Jean. What s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? Gr 3 5 Schroeder, Alan. Ben Franklin: His Wit and Wisdom from A to Z. What more did you learn about the man after reading all four? Which author portrayed George most effectively? Why and how? Dialogue: must be taken from primary sources, nothing invented! Choose one nonfiction title with dialogue like: The Many Faces of George Washington Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman Pick a celebrity. Find a quote. Build a short story around the quote. Stay true! How hard or easy is this to do?

58 LITERACY AT THE OF FICTION AND NONFICTION Using books to help children understand the world and their place in it

59 DLS #3 Wish I d had more tenacity Graduation day 1984, School of Education, U of M

60 FUEL THE LEARNERS IN YOUR LIFE Light the spark! Ignite the imagination! And watch them take off!

61 Thank you! Winnie the Pooh