The Missing Genre: Creating Quality Non-fiction Books for the Early Grades Christabel Pinto Global Literacy Director CIES 2018
Presentation Outline Background Why Non-Fiction? What is Quality in non-fiction? Best Practices Partnering with Ministry of Education Capacity-building around Design & Presentation Collaboration between local writers, editors and designers Curriculum connections Impact
Background
Addressing a Gap: Why Non-Fiction? Can motivate reluctant readers (Duke, 2000) Develops background knowledge--accounts for up to 33% of variance in student achievement (Marzano, 2000) Good preparation for content-specific textbooks (Young et al, 2007) Most of what we read every day is informational!
What is Quality in Non-Fiction? Accurate Focused on a topic Topic is clearly explained Relevant & appropriate for the audience Uses photos, illustrations or both Appropriately uses design elements (sidebars, text boxes, call-outs etc)
Quality: What s Missing? Fun! Appealing and engaging Information is imaginatively presented Expands the reader s horizons
Spread: Text Box & Sidebar TEXT BOX Maasai Tradition Integer pretium nunc tortor suscipit dolor hymenaeos, condimentum leo nam. In tincidunt malesuada lacinia, sed pellentesque praesent justo lorem. Tellus cras mi massa feugiat, arcu varius magna! SIDEBAR EGET FERMENTUM Tempor tellus, non tellus orci tortor curabitur, bibendum ut vel, orci nunc nunc euismod fusce, id odio. Nibh nibh in, est elit arcu dictumst! 8 9
Single Pages: Feature & Speech Bubbles IMAGE with SPEECH BUBBLE SINGLE-PAGE FEATURE with IMAGE
FEATURE TEXT Feature Spread: with Call-outs & Character Bubbles CHARACTER with SPEECH BUBBLE CALL OUT
What does Quality really mean?
Best Practices
1. Partner with Ministry of Education Subject specialists from Tanzanian MoE were engaged as writers Opportunities: Smoother approval process Knowledge of subject Easier advocacy for TPD Challenges: Lack of exposure Textbook mindset Variable passion for project
2. Capacity Building: Design Designers were trained in text features and created design templates Opportunities: Improved appearance of books Consistency of design features Challenges Multiple designers, different technology Workload
3. Collaboration: Writers, Illustrators, Designers High quality children s books require writers, illustrators and designers to work together! Opportunities: Contribution to local industry Develop understanding that non-fiction can be fun! Challenges: Recruiting enough qualified people Conveying concepts amidst limited exposure
Curriculum Connections Divide curriculum into smaller units and focus book on specific part of a subject area Teachers should be trained on why and how to read nonfiction books in the classroom Non-fiction books do not have to be related to the curriculum!
Impact Government enthusiasm (more than for story books!) First initiative to develop non-fiction books with photos and systematically used text features Trained writers, illustrators and designers can contribute to local industry 32 books! Teacher Professional Development around non-fiction
Acknowledgements The development of Room to Read s non-fiction books for children was a team effort led by Alisha Berger. In Tanzania, the work was led by: Mahesh Pathirathna Titus Kazungu
Thank you! For more information contact: Christabel.Pinto@roomtoread.org