Nonfiction Mentor Texts

Transcription

1 Nonfiction Mentor Texts Teaching Informational Writing Through Children s Literature, K 8 Lynne R. Dorfman & Rose Cappelli Foreword by Tony Stead Stenhouse Publishers Portland, Maine

2 Contents Foreword Acknowledgments ix xi 1 The Value of Nonfiction: Imagining the Possibilities Defining Our Thinking Choosing Nonfiction Mentor Texts The Importance of Nonfiction Writing The Teacher as Writer of Nonfiction The Your Turn Lesson: A Gradual Release of Responsibility Imagining the Possibilities An Author s Voice: Advice for Teachers Establishing the Topic and Point 13 Forming an Essential Question Narrowing the Topic Expert Lists: Writing About What We Know Using Anchor Charts Begin with Noticing Making a Point Capturing the Focus Final Thoughts An Author s Voice: Sharpening Subject Focus and Bringing in Depth Using F-Q-R to Form an Essential Question 29 The Point Is Using a Scaffold for Point-of-View Poetry 33 Building Content 37 Building Content with Rich Description Using Numbers and Comparisons in Descriptions Creating Content with Examples and Explanations Quotes and Dialogue Create Interesting Content Anecdotes Are a Breath of Fresh Air Cartoon Drawings Help Readers Visualize Text Features Fit the Facts Bringing Nonfiction to Life An Author s Voice: A Good Storyteller Doesn t Have to Be a Good Writer, but a Good Writer Must Be a Good Storyteller Building Content with Diagrams and Labels 60 v

3 vi Nonfiction Mentor Texts 4 5 Creating a Time Line 62 Using Comics to Add Humor and Build Content 64 Your Turn Lesson 4: Adding Details to Avoid Listing 66 Introductions and Conclusions 69 Discovering the Possibilities for Introductions Discovering the Possibilities for Conclusions Framing Your Work: Finding the Right Introduction and Conclusion An Author s Voice: Unforgettable Introductions and Conclusions Made to Stick Creating a Scene 90 Creating a Summary: The Way We Are Known 91 Writing an Introduction by Creating a Sense of Era 93 Your Turn Lesson 4: Writing a Definition Lead 95 Writing to Persuade 97 The Power of the Written Word Using Fiction to Help Students Understand Point of View Developing the Argument Knowing Your Audience The Counterargument The Importance of Reflection Persuasive Responses to Literature Developing the Argument with Nonfiction Book Reviews and Book Talks The Importance of a Road Map An Author s Voice: About Writing Nonfiction Stand Up and Deliver Speeches 125 Writing from a Point of View Using a Pro/Con Chart 127 Revising Persuasive Writing 130 Your Turn Lesson 4: Listing to Find Your Main Arguments 132

4 Nonfiction Mentor Texts 6 Nonfiction Writing in the Real World (and Other Interesting Formats to Engage Student Writers) 135 vii 7 Postcards, Letters, and Familiar Formats Nature All Around Us Up Close and Personal Using Interviews to Create Family Histories ABC Study: A Useful Organizational Format Using Primary Source Documents Newspapers as Mentor Texts: Writing an Obituary How-To: Writing Recipes, Poems, and Procedures Survival Guides: Practical Advice in Practical Formats Opportunities Abound An Author s Voice: Some Tips for Writers How-To (Procedural Writing) 177 Writing a Family History from an Interview 179 The Newspaper as Mentor Text: Writing an Obituary 181 Your Turn Lesson 4: Writing a Recipe Listen, List, Think! 183 Voice, Syntax, and Conventions in Nonfiction 187 The Importance of Oral Writing to Establish Voice The Conversational Tone The Poetic Voice Establishing an Audience Connection: Writing in the Second Person Purposeful Use of Fragments Finding a Toe-Tapping Tempo to Share Information Writers Love Words! Author Study: An Investigation into Craft and Conventions Tying It All Together An Author s Voice: Bringing Your Writing to Life Painting a Clear Picture Creating Voice with Second-Person Writing 215 The Dash Purposeful Panache 217 Crafting Compound Sentences 219 Your Turn Lesson 4: Revising with Proper Nouns 221

5 viii Nonfiction Mentor Texts 8 A Treasure Chest of Books 223 An Author s Voice: Writing Nonfiction Well Three Big Ideas 2: Establishing the Topic and Point 3: Building Content 4: Introductions and Conclusions 5: Writing to Persuade 6: Nonfiction Writing in the Real World (and Other Interesting Formats to Engage Student Writers) 7: Voice, Syntax, and Conventions in Nonfiction Afterword 277 References 281 Index 283

6 1 The Value of Nonfiction: Imagining the Possibilities Teachers are the great translators of theory into practice. Writing instruction does not look exactly the same in one classroom as it does in another. Tom Romano, Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers 1

7 2 Nonfiction Mentor Texts Defining Our Thinking Have you ever picked up a child s piece of writing and known immediately what it is he or she has recently been reading, or who he or she values as an author? Take, for instance, this beginning to an informational piece about spring from Carson, a first grader. (Note: Throughout the book, primary students original spelling has been retained for authenticity.) It was a horible tarible no good winter but yesterday night a very very good thing happened to me! Spring finally came! It felt like it had bin winter for a year. I was so happy I felt like shouting spring is here as loud as I could. It is evident that the words of Judith Viorst from Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day have influenced who Carson is as a writer. Viorst created a character this first grader could relate to, so the words Alexander used became the words Carson chose to use as he made a connection to his own life. That is the power that mentor texts can have in influencing the writing of our students in our classroom communities. It is unlikely that Carson opened his journal, then opened up Viorst s book and copied her words. More likely, Carson was first introduced to Alexander in a read-aloud, either at home or at school (maybe both). Perhaps he loved that well-known repeated refrain so much that he asked for the book to be read again and again. Perhaps it is a book he later returned to as a reader, reacquainting himself with his old friend in a new way, hearing the words again, and thinking more deeply about Alexander s plight. Perhaps one day in a writing workshop lesson or conference, Carson s teacher returned to the book to point out an aspect of the author s craft. That is just how we define mentor texts as pieces of literature you and your students can relate to, fall in love with, and return to and reread for many different purposes. They are the books whose words resonate in the minds and hearts of our writers. They provide the models for the types of writing that can be studied and imitated and that will allow our students to move forward as writers. It is important to remember that finding a mentor, whether it be a teacher, an author, or a text, involves bonding. If students don t see themselves or the relevance to their own lives in the books we make available to them, it will be hard for them to form the kind of relationship that will allow them to grow. As teachers, we must make it a point to know our students well as individuals with specific interests and as writers with specific needs. We need to understand their strengths and needs as readers and writers, acknowledge these strengths and needs, and find the authors and texts that will provide them with just the right models. Tony Stead (2002) explains it this way: If we are to truly assist children in their quest to become better writers for many purposes, we need to acknowledge what they already

8 1: The Value of Nonfiction 3 know as writers and base our demonstrations around what they need. (18) As we work on nonfiction in our writing workshops, we need to take advantage of the power of the reading-writing connection. Kristo and Bamford (2004) urge teachers to use mentor texts over and over again throughout the day in all types of reading and writing lesson formats. Doing so will give students opportunities to learn firsthand how an author crafts nonfiction or uses a particular feature of nonfiction. Your constant reference to these books will be contagious, Kristo and Bamford explain. You ll find students taking their cue from favorite authors in no time (81). Students need to immerse themselves in the reading, writing, and inquiry work of nonfiction in order to be successful with the full range of informational texts. If our students are writing poetry, we would expect them to be reading and hearing lots of poetry as well. So it makes sense that if we want our students to write good nonfiction, we need to immerse them in the work of good nonfiction authors. Portalupi and Fletcher (2001) remind us: As students try to create their own information texts, they need to spend time apprenticing themselves to the finest nonfiction writers around (83). Choosing Nonfiction Mentor Texts As you look through the books that occupy your classroom library shelves or the favorites you stash on a special shelf behind your desk as your indispensable read-aloud selections, how many of them would count as nonfiction texts? In the nonfiction count, how many are narrative nonfiction texts, such as biographies and autobiographies, or selections that read more like narratives, such as Bat Loves the Night or One Tiny Turtle by Nicola Davies? How often are your students writing nonfiction during your writing workshop time? How do you choose a nonfiction mentor text for the young writers in your class? Kristo and Bamford (2004) define nonfiction as the literature of facts. They describe the main purposes of nonfiction writing: to deliver information, explain, argue, and/or demonstrate. In this book, we are defining nonfiction texts in a much larger sense than as informational trade books and picture books. We are also including other kinds of expository texts, such as cookbooks, newspapers, magazines, brochures, and travel guides, as well as Internet selections. Portalupi and Fletcher (2001) discuss the importance of familiarizing our students with high-quality nonfiction literature and the subgenres that have developed within the informational picture book selections. Kristo and Bamford (2004) discuss several types of nonfiction books that writers consider depending on purposes, intended audiences, and possible use by those audiences. Authors can present a topic narrowly but in great depth or they can broadly cover a topic. It is important to learn about the different kinds of

9 4 Nonfiction Mentor Texts nonfiction books that are available to our students in order to make sensible selections for mentor texts. Many of the nonfiction books we are recommending are life-cycle books, such as One Tiny Turtle by Nicola Davies and Monarch and Milkweed by Helen Frost, or survey books, such as All About Frogs by Jim Arnosky. We also have used many how-to books, such as A Kid s Guide to Washington, D.C. by Diane Clark. Identification books (field guides), such as Jane Kirkland s Take a Walk Books, and photographic essays, such as Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman, are other types of promising nonfiction books to use as mentor texts. We are also impressed with the wonderful selection of picture book biographies, such as Thomas Jefferson: A Picture Book Biography by James Cross Giblin, Into the Woods: John James Audubon Lives His Dream by Robert Burleigh, and Rachel: The Story of Rachel Carson by Amy Ehrlich. In order to create an energizing sense of freedom within writing workshop and opportunities to write nonfiction across the content areas, we can make use of a variety of types of nonfiction books depending on our purposes for writing. When we allow our students to make decisions about how they will deliver and present information, we provide them with a sense of ownership, so vitally important to the notion of commitment to the process and product of writing nonfiction. We have found that fiction books can also serve as mentors when writing informational and persuasive texts. Hey, Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose and The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow are two examples. Informational picture storybooks, such as All in Just One Cookie by Susan E. Goodman, Everglades by Jean Craighead George, and Penny: The Forgotten Coin by Denise Brennan-Nelson show students yet another way to present information in a friendly and interesting format. Sometimes we need a fiction book to serve as a catalyst to write about a topic or to imitate the form, voice, or syntax of an author. Consider the fiction books Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, or Charlotte s Web by E. B. White to find ideas, formats, and even strategies for writing persuasively. Around the World: Who s Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George is written in the form of letters from a teacher to her class. Sometimes a fiction story presents facts through a unique voice, as in Pamela Duncan Edward s Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad, told in the voices of the woodland and marsh animals. Sometimes we select mentor texts to provide a clearer picture of our multicultural society and the distinctive voices that can be heard in these books. Consider Voices of the Alamo by Sherry Garland, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges, Teammates by Peter Golenbock, Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki, Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys by Elizabeth Howard, and Hiroshima No Pika by Toshi Maruki. It is important to find mentor texts that help us recognize and imitate qualities of good writing while at the same time fairly repre-

10 1: The Value of Nonfiction 5 senting the diversity that exists in our country. These texts can build bridges to new understandings about ourselves and others. They provide us with models of high-quality literature to help us learn how to write about diversity issues with dignity, style, and grace. Duke and Bennett-Armistead (2003) advise teachers to expose their students to a variety of texts, because research suggests a reciprocal relationship between the kinds of texts children become familiar with and the kinds of texts they choose to write and are able to write well. They write, Children who are not exposed to much informational text are not likely to develop informational writing skills as quickly as children who are (129). Shelley Harwayne (2008) states that kids need mentor texts that are distinctive. At Celebrate Literacy 2008, a conference sponsored by the Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project in West Chester, Harwayne suggested that we should help our students borrow techniques that are distinctive that our young writers need mentor texts that are distinctive. She talked about the importance of reading-writing connections and reminded us that Peterson (2007) described reading and writing as good neighbors with a big hole in the hedge that separated their properties to allow them to pass freely back and forth. Kristo and Bamford (2004) would concur; they elaborate on this same idea: Teachers work hard from the beginning of the school year to marinate their students in good nonfiction. They read aloud highquality nonfiction so that students develop an ear for how good expository writing sounds. Their lessons about reading and writing nonfiction scaffold their learners so they feel accomplished with what they can do all along the way. (166) We agree completely! Writers begin to understand that from the moment they begin to think about writing a text (finding a specific topic and engaging in prewriting) until long after the writing of the first draft (talking about it with others, revising it, and reflecting on how the writing has changed and grown in sophistication), they are beginning a journey. This journey will take them to and connect them with subsequent mentor texts and new writings and, consequently, will lead them to new journeys. We know that students become better writers of nonfiction because they try out new things and take responsible risks (try out or imitate the writing techniques in mentor texts that they are capable of doing with a little practice and guidance). It is only through risk taking and experimentation that our writers will continue to grow and become better writers tomorrow than they are today. The Importance of Nonfiction Writing Laura Robb (2004) discusses the importance of writing nonfiction in order for our students to refine their thinking skills and organize their ideas and

11 6 Nonfiction Mentor Texts understandings about their world. Calkins and Pessah (2003) discuss the importance of engaging students in nonfiction writing in order for them to read nonfiction texts with a deep understanding. From a writer s point of view, they will at the same time acquire an understanding of features, structures, point of view, and voice. Kletzien and Dreher (2004) tell us that just as most of the reading we do as adults is informational texts, so is most of our writing. They believe that informational writing involves young writers expressing their interests and expertise from both personal knowledge and experience. Students can read widely to become experts on topics of interest before writing about them. The authors state: Whenever children are expected to write in a particular form, they need to be provided with many examples to explore. For example, if children are asked to write procedural text, teachers can read several procedural texts along with them, inviting them to notice how the authors have written the text and having them identify particular characteristics of those texts. (96) Pike and Mumper (2004) remind us that it wasn t so long ago when most of the nonfiction reading used in schools was found only in textbooks. They talk about the importance of nonfiction writing to address issues of audience, purpose, and form. Tony Stead (2002) presents a useful table that lists all the purposes and many forms of nonfiction writing. He says that one look at such a list can make it clear to educators that fictional narratives cannot begin to provide all the opportunities our writers need to record our life s journey. Stead cautions us that nonfiction writing involves a lot more than writing reports about animals (something that seems to be very popular among educators and students alike, regardless of grade level!). Stead instructs us to seize moments when we can harness our students natural curiosity to provide the energy they need to read and write about their world. Stead feels that we may have placed too much emphasis on narrative writing, perhaps because we are more comfortable with the roadmap for narrative its language and structures and because of our unfamiliarity with different writing genres and how they work. We would like to add to this notion that we, as teachers of young writers, are too often unfamiliar with rich models for the many forms and structures of informational texts. In the words of Tony Stead, We need to... open the door to a wide world of possibilities (11). Here, in descending order, are our top ten reasons to write nonfiction: 10. To share our expertise with others and develop self-confidence and self-esteem. 9. To write for wider audiences with authentic purposes. 8. To obtain a thorough understanding of a topic of study. 7. To enhance our vocabulary, visual literacy, and use of technology.