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 Issue 19        ◊  Professional Development   |   Children's Books   |   Professional Books   |   E-mail Us   |   Catalogs  ◊         March,  2007 

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Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc.
Hosts

An Online Discussion with
Terrell Young, author

Date:  June 13-15, 2007
Place: TLN Listserve


                  

              TRANSCRIPT






If you missed the informative discussion with Terry Young, or if you just want to recap the discussion you can read the transcript below .

The postings listed below are not in the order in which they were received. For your convenience, we have relocated the responses to questions so that they appear directly after the questions posed.

We hope you have enjoyed this discussion as much as we have and will join us in our next discussion.

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Opening Remarks
Darcy Bradley

Hello Everyone!

Hope you will bring your thoughts and questions and comments to this first summer discussion, which focuses on nonfiction reading. Allow me again to introduce a friend to education: Terry Young. Terry wrote the chapters in Caught in the Spell of Writing and Reading: Grades 3 and Beyond on “Reading To Students” as well as the conclusion to the book “Weaving the Magic Together: Threads of Student Success and Engagement”.  This book was co-edited with Margaret Mooney, and of course many of you know at least one or more of the contributing authors (Brenda Parkes, Erin Lucich, Marsha Riddle Buly, and Mary Ann Whitfield).  

So here are some start up questions to consider:  

How do you define nonfiction? Why is it important for teachers and their students to know about nonfiction?  

We’ll look for Terry’s answer and your further questions and responses shortly! 

Cordially,  

Darcy

Opening Remarks
Terrell Young

Thanks for that introduction, Darcy!

Nonfiction is an umbrella term that covers many types of text. For instance, there is literary nonfiction that includes informational and biographical trade books written with such artistry that it rivals the best fiction. Then there are the hybrid books such as informational storybooks that use a storyline or storylines to convey information (The Magic School Bus series is a good example of an informational story book.)  Generally the purpose of nonfiction is to inform so we have all types of procedural text, magazines, newspapers, schedules, internet web pages, field guides, encyclopedias, brochures, etc.

It is important for teachers to know about nonfiction and how to teach it for many reasons. Here’s a list of reasons that quickly comes to my mind:

• American students typically do not comprehend nonfiction as well as they do narrative selections. This has been noted on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and other assessments. In a recent PIRLS (Progress of International Reading Literacy Studies) where student achievement was compared across 35 countries found that US students scored fourth overall (but second in reading narrative and thirteenth in reading informational passages).
• Typically American students are exposed to less nonfiction than fiction. Margaret Mooney noted in the 80s that 70% of the reading was fiction. In 2000, Nell Duke found that first graders in the Boston area spent very little time reading nonfiction and nonfiction was not well represented in classroom libraries or classroom environmental print. (However, the newer basal or core reading programs are including more and more nonfiction.)
• Nearly 50% of the 5000 new children’s trade books published each year are nonfiction. Yet, these books are not showing up in most classrooms.
• Kids like nonfiction. I heard Nell Duke say that 45% of kids prefer nonfiction to fiction. Other researchers have noted that when teachers promote both fiction and nonfiction that kids choose nonfiction as often as fiction but boys and young children will choose nonfiction more often.
• Kids who read nonfiction are generally good readers of fiction as well but the reverse is not true. Many students struggle to apply comprehension strategies learned with fiction to nonfiction.
• The achievement gap represents many gaps. Hart and Risley note that 50% of the gap is due to vocabulary. The vocabulary learned from reading nonfiction plays an important role in filling the vocabulary gap. Another gap is the information gap. Reading nonfiction can fill that gap as well.
• Teacher read alouds are generally fiction.
• Standardized tests often have more nonfiction than fiction.

Please note that I’m making a case for both fiction and nonfiction.  I hope this is enough to get the conversation started.

Terry

Kathy

Thanks for starting us off, Terry.  Here are my first thoughts:

I have noticed in my career of both teacher of early primary and science instructional coach that children
do seem to prefer nonfiction.  Comprehension does go down, and yet, interest can be high.  As I think about
'teaching' strategies to kiddoes about nonfiction vs fiction, a few things come to my mind. 
 
1.  The types of nonfiction do vary.  Some teachers may be uncomfortable with the content.  I am thinking
particularly of science.  And people generally agree that leveled text with NF is 'harder' than F.
2.  With Fiction, it seems easier to teach vocab up front so that the comprehension can fly better.
3.  I notice and ascribe to a different sort of ractice with science reading.  I believe the kids
need an experience, with vocab first, or there will be less comprehension.  
4.  Some upfront strategies, such as features of text: labels, text boxes, stop and process what you read,
and probably more are necessary.  I almost always talk about slowing down your fluency to be sure you can
attend to what is being said.

All that said, I think that children can and should comprehend NF text.  We just need to think about it
differently and for me, remember that science content reading is NOT something that should be done without
the experience first.  I cannot know for example about a ball going down a ramp without ever having done
that!

Peace,
Kathy

Terry

Kathy,

Thanks so much for your response! Reading what you wrote makes me think of several things I'd like to share.

First, some young children actually have higher comprehension when reading nonfiction than fiction. Both Nell Duke and Christine Pappas have published articles that support this. English language learners often find nonfiction much easier to comprehend (providing they have both the schema and vocabulary to support the reading--otherwise the reading is reduced to decoding).

I couldn't agree more about the importance of comprehending what is read. Comprehension should always be the goal of all of our literacy experiences.

I also agree that reading science books should never replace the hands-on experiences. Many have noted that is one of the unintended consequences of No Child Left Behind. Kids are reading about science rather than doing science.

Many vocabulary researchers concur with you about the importance of getting kids into the text and then some heavy instruction after reading. They also emphasize the importance to providing kids with many exposures to the new terms. Beck and her colleagues suggest kids need seven exposures while others suggest 12 to 15 before kids really 'own' a word.

Your comment about teaching text features reminds me of Margaret Mooney's great book, Text Forms and Features. It is a great resource for teachers!

Terry

Jeri  

                                                                                                                                   
This is great so far. It is a big issue in our school. We have a large amount of ELL students, over 50%, and they do prefer nonfiction books, but as I watch, they are not reading the words but mainly try out the captions and pictures. They gain information from these and feel proud. Read-alouds are easier for teachers as most of the vocabulary can be easily explained and up dated from their social language vs. academic language. They can grasp fiction easier when being read to, where as the teacher really has to do large amounts of pre-vocabulary and schema work with nonfiction. With our students getting embedded comprehension on both fiction and non-fiction is hard.

I agree that there is a need for both hands-on and reading in all areas not just science. When I use a hands-on activity before reading, the students have gained a tremendous amount of vocabulary and the reading then begins to make sense. (I do we do, you do).

Thanks for a great discussion so far.

Jeri
La Garita, CO

Nancy

I couldn't agree more about the importance of comprehending what is read. Comprehension should always be the goal of all of our literacy experiences.

How does comprehension differ when reading fiction and nonfiction?

Nancy

Marilyn

In order to help with comprehension of fiction and non-fiction works I introduce my 7th and 8th grade students to the idea of aesthetic reading vs. efferent reading - and then to help them with the vocabulary I paint
a picture for them. I tell them to imagine they are walking along a beach. Different people like to do different things at the beach (and I like to do different things at different times when I go to the beach).
Sometimes I like to walk along and collect rocks and shells that have washed up with the tide - you can find some real treasures that way! There is no way I could hold EVERYTHING in my hands that washes up on
the beach, and I really wouldn't want to - I'm not interested in everything. This is like efferent reading, the reading we often do with non-fiction books. You are reading to take away the treasures, bits and
pieces if you will, that are in these books.

Aesthetic reading, on the other hand, is like going snorkeling. You are right there in the water with the fish and the coral. You're not really there to take anything away with you but you are there to
appreciate the beauty and to enjoy the experience - it's almost as if you're really a fish living in the water with all of the other beautiful creatures! Of course, you're not, and sometime you'll have to go home,
but you can take the memories of your time swimming with the fish with you. This is often the experience of reading fiction. People who love fiction often love it because they can get involved in the story, it's
as if they're actually there! Sometimes they come away with knowledge they didn't have before (try reading Madeline L'Engle and NOT learn something about science!) but primarily they've enjoyed being part of
the story.

Both types of reading are valuable. Both meet needs that all students have and students should learn how to do BOTH types of reading. I know for myself as a reader, I needed to learn about the two different types
because, as an aesthetic reader primarily, I didn't understand why I didn't like most non-fiction books - I was coming at them with an aesthetic stance rather than an efferent stance. Once I learned the
difference between the two, I like non-fiction books much better! (I still prefer the type, even non-fiction, where I can immerse myself in a story!) I think when students learn this type of meta-cognition they increase their comprehension of both fiction and non-fiction books.

Marilyn Bennett

Nancy

 Marilyn,
Thank you for reminding us of Louise Rosenblatt's thought provoking theory of efferent and aesthetic reading. I do think I often read nonfiction for aesthetic reasons, for instance when I read Anne Lamott. And I just finished reading Shalimar the Clown by Rushde. I learned an incredible amount about the history of the war in the Mideast and never picked up the book with that intent!

Nancy

Terry

Rosenblatt noted that we never read anything that is totally efferent or aesthetic but are somewhere on a continuum between the two. Some readers have that "lived through experience" while reading about the Civil War or Moon Exploration while others try to gather a grab bag of facts while reading Esperanza Rising so they can pass an Accelerated Reader test.

Kitt

Hi All

I'm throwing out a question I've been pondering of late, Terrell, can you clarify?

1.) What's the difference between nonfiction, expository text, and information literacy?

Also, Regarding efferent text and aesthetic text, Rosenblatt also identified different efferent layers:
-getting information, facts, ideas -analyze from literary level: how author crafts, word choice, linguistic
decisions, reading like a writer

whereas aesthetic text is of course emotions, reading from the heart

BUT there is also the humanistic response, a melding of the two: life lessons, Hennings calls this reading like a philosopher Isn't it fun to think about all of this?

Kitt

Terry

Kathy,

That is a good question! Most people use nonfiction, expository, and informational text interchangeably. When I think of information literacy, I think of teaching kids about text structures and features, strategies for unpacking information, evaluating an author's credibility and the accuracy of information, and other such skills. My librarian friends often speak of information literacy being the skills and strategies involved in research. Of course I agree with them, too!

I appreciate your reminder of the different layers of efferent response which make it clear how we can read fiction efferently as well. It is fun for me to interact with deep thinkers who push my thinking and learning to higher levels!

Terry

Darcy

Terry.

What are your thoughts on how you get the most out of reading aloud nonfiction? Do you have any “demonstrations” that you can share on the listserve? I do not think that I do justice to nonfiction read alouds. I think it is easier for me to read aloud fiction. Perhaps that is a socialized phenomenon?

Thanks for your responses as well as the responses and thoughts of others.

With appreciation,

Darcy

Joan

I think that we need to model to students that a nonfiction text can be read in a different way. We can jump from chapter to chapter, we can just look at the pictures and captions one day, we could use the Table of Contents to choose where we are going to start. We might have two or three books about the same topic and pick a section out of each that relate to a single specific area of interest. Although most of us on this conference are readers of fiction there are many who read almost exclusively nonfiction texts. Think of how many times you read nonfiction during the day, for example. By specifically teaching children how to read and to write nonfiction we are really giving them a gift. I do not feel as though I was taught that in school and I wonder if that is why I do not often choose to read a nonfiction text to relax.

Joan Littleford

Terry

Joan really has captured much of what I would have said, but I do have a little bit I’d like to add.

We can read nonfiction to students for many purposes. Sometimes I like to read a teaser to motivate students to read the book on their own. That teaser many be a few phrases, a page or two, or even an entire chapter. Sometimes I want to enrich students’ schema prior to having them read another text. Many kids do not realize that they should think of what they know about a topic prior to reading so this is a great way to bring that knowledge to the foreground. As Joan noted, we can demonstrate how to use reference aids such as the index or table of contents. We can also demonstrate how features of text work in nonfiction such as sidebars, captions, headings, etc. At other times, I read aloud from nonfiction to extend what kids have read about in another text. This might introduce another viewpoint on an historical event or to just dig a little deeper than what the earlier texts shared.

How do we get the most out of a nonfiction read aloud? We need to carefully select text that is accurate, interesting, and accessible to students. As in reading fiction, we always want to stop while the kids are interested and involved—less IS more! Another thing that is critical when reading nonfiction is student involvement. We want to give students time to talk about the text. Sometimes that might be a quick break where students think, pair, and share with a partner but at other times the entire class stops to make an inference or a prediction before the teacher reads on. I think student engagement is always important when reading aloud but even more so when reading nonfiction.

Joan talked about reading books aloud on the same topic. Here are some I have enjoyed sharing with young children. Dianna Hutts Aston has written a book called An Egg is Quiet that describes different characteristics of eggs. For example, turtle eggs are round so more eggs can be packed into a hole and some seabirds have eggs that are pointed on one end so when bumped the eggs spin rather than rolling off the ledge. The front matter of the book has pictures of many different eggs and kids love looking at the back matter to see what the creatures that lay the eggs look like. A great follow-up is Mia Posada’s Guess What is Growing Inside this Egg? Posada shows a picture of an egg and provides some clues that students can use to infer what type of egg it is. The following pages reveal the creature and provide more information.

Siy Alexandra’s Sneeze is another great book to share with young kids. The fairly simple text is accompanied by microscope enlarged images of pollen, dust, pepper, and other things that cause people to sneeze.

A favorite book to read for enjoyment is Jennifer Armstrong’s Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World. This one is an account of Shackleton and his experience near Antarctica that is filled with suspense but all true.

If someone wants to provide more context for the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks, I heartily recommend Russell Freedman’s Freedom Walkers. I like to read just a couple of pages about Jo Ann Robison and her experience riding the bus in Montgomery that really generates lots of emotion from listeners. This book is great for the intermediate and middle school grades.

The chapter on cotton mills in Deborah Hopkinson’s Up Before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America is a perfect introduction to Katherine Patterson’s Lyddie.

I like to read the message that President Nixon was going to share with Americans if NASA failed to return the Apollo 11 astronauts home from the moon that is found in Catherine Thimmesh’s Team Moon. The book heralds all of the people behind the scenes who were important to the mission’s success.

There are so many good nonfiction books available today!

Terry

Joan

I have wanted to share a website that I have worked on. The grade 2/3 shared reading module has demonstrations of how to read a nonfiction text. Since I left the Ministy of Education the site has reorganized a little and I had some difficulty finding what I was looking for. They are found in under video demonstrations. Hope you find the site of some use in your work. Our teachers are beginning to use it now and learning a lot from it.

www.eworkshop.on.ca

Joan

Dawn

What a wonderful resource for us to be able to access! Thank you!

I have been a silent listener and actually tried to post twice so who knows if this will work, but as we look at the discussion of teaching non-fiction it brings up a question I have struggled with this year. For years I have used the gradual release strategy for my whole class lessons that followed the method detailed in Mosaic of Thought and Strategies that Work (PEBC work). I have balanced the use of non-fiction and fiction. I found this approach to be successful, but last year while in Chicago at the TLN conference I observed Margaret Mooney teach a lesson that used multiple strategies and am now in a state of confusion. Her comments that followed that lesson questioned expectations we have for our students when we focus our instruction on a single strategy over time. As we discuss the use of non-fiction I wonder in what "structure" or format others are speaking of. As you plan for the year do you think a bout teaching by genre and integrate strategy instruction for your readers? Do you think about strategies and then draw on whatever books you have? Do you teach one strategy, but emphasize that readers use multiple strategies as we read? Any clarifying thoughts?

Dawn Christiana
5th grade teacher moving to 2nd :)
P.S. My students favorite non-fiction book is Owen & Mzee- if you haven't read it, look it up and then let your kids fall in love with this true story. My class ended up doing on-line research to find out more of their story and that book must have been in every students book box at one time or another this year! (There is a sequel and many on-line resources!)

Kathy

Hello All,

Joan's comments make me think of my own reading habits, I now commute to work and have become an avid "audiobook" consumer. I flip-flop between fiction and nonfiction to mix it up some, and now I'm wondering, "How many nonfiction texts do we put into our listening centers in our schools?"

kitt

Vikki

Terry,
I am excited to read this discussion. Teaching nonfiction well has become my newest quest. My district is moving into a Comprehensive Reading Program model that includes: Read Aloud, Shared Reading, Small Group and/or Guided Reading and Independent Reading. We are writing units of study for grades K-6 and within those units we have across the grade levels, nonfiction units that include teaching kids about how to access information with NF, structures of NF, and in the older grade levels: bias and stereotyping, persuasion, etc. Could you recommend some new NF titles that could be used for Read Alouds? I know that list could be exhaustive but do you have some favorites that you might recommend? I am not sure you can do that on this list-serve but it was worth asking.

I am also searching for the best in professional literature for my teachers about teaching nonfiction. Anything really new that you know of that might help us? We have been reading Tony Stead, Linda Hoyt as well as using Margaret Mooney's Text Forms & Features.
Thanks for sharing if you can. I appreciate it greatly.

Vikki
P.S. Hope all is well with you these days.
--
Vikki Berard
Title 1 Reading Specialist/Literacy Coach
Woodin Elementary School
Northshore School District, Bothell, WA

Terry

Vikki, 

I tried to embed some good read alouds in my last message, but I do want to recommend some good resources. Those I have in mind are both for teachers of young children so I think you will like them both. 

The first is a Scholastic publication written by Nell Duke and V. Susan Bennett-Armistead called Reading & Writing Informational Text in the Primary Grades. The book has great ideas for reading aloud, shared, guided, and independent reading. In terms of reading aloud, they recommend two important strategies: Isabel Beck’s Text Talk and Catherine Au’s Experience Text Response. These strategies have great potential with nonfiction and especially for developing vocabulary and content knowledge. 

The other book that is a real goldmine is Informational Text in K-3 Classrooms by Sharon Kletzien and Mirian Dreher. This book is one that I wish I had written! The ideas about classroom libraries and reading aloud are very practical. They have some terrific ideas of how to demonstrate many different nonfiction text features. 

Terry

Wendy

Thanks Terry,
Both sound like excellent resources. You may like to look at one of the support documents for our English Curriculum in NSW Australia. This document describes the function, structure, grammar etc associated with various text types-both factual and fiction. What I like are the ideas to teach related to reading, listening and talking as well as writing.

http://k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/english/#english-modules

Click on English K-6 Syllabus Modules
It is a large pdf file.

Wendy Bean

Being one of your librarian friends I feel comfortable adding my “two pennies” to this conversation. I agree that we do talk about information literacy as a set of skills that helps students define, access, find, use, synthesize, and evaluate information as explained by Dr. Mike Eisenberg, co-author and developer of Big 6 Information Skills program.

These skills are taught to help students meaningfully engage with the information that is out there for them and to teach them to think critically. In order to achieve this goal, the library needs to become a place where students come eager to explore and where we librarians act as facilitators through this process.

My experience with students’ preferences related to nonfiction vs. fiction goes in favor of non- fiction. I always review the grade level curriculum just to be informed what books would fit into the current topics the students are learning about in the classrooms. That way, I try to provide support for their teachers and help the students broaden their knowledge about the topics they learn about in social studies, science, and math. Very often I try to find a fiction and a non-fiction book on the same topic and read both because it really makes sense and it seems to work perfectly. I teach the features of non-fiction texts (table of contents, glossary, index, captions, etc.) and then I go to the fiction book and talk about literary elements, figurative language, and imagery. I think that there should not be a sharp cut between the two in teaching children to read and understand what they read. We compare and contrast the two texts we read and reread. We use computers t
o find more information on the topic, read and critically evaluate the information, answer questions, write poetry about the topics read from the non-fiction and fiction books, develop posters and power point presentations, and simply put, the students actively engage with the text, which helps them tremendously in understanding and gaining a lasting knowledge.

Another type of non-fiction that is emerging as something very appealing to young readers is an informational book with a skillfully written narrative, often personal encounters of a writer engaged in some kind of research. Owen and Mzee: Best Friends or its sequel Owen and Mzee: The Language of Friendship by Craig Hatkoff, Isabella Hatkoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu come to my mind at the moment as well as Search for the Golden Moon Bear and Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud by Sy Montgomery. These books are treasures for both their non-fiction features, the factual information they provide, as well as for their skillfully written narrations that are very often related only to fiction. I think that a teacher’s role is to share excitement and read and reread wonderful books that are out there, non-fiction and fiction, and let students explore them and use strategies they were taught, and comprehension will not be in question at any time.

Something else! It is very sad to still see students coming to the library to return a book they checked out a few minutes earlier. Naturally, I ask why. The answer: “My teacher said it is not an AR book.” Unless somebody really pushes it from the higher level, this kind of behavior will harm many of our students and “purposefully” impair their reading. In my opinion, AR should not be used as a reading program. While it might have some motivating values for some students, I think of it as an assessment tool, although it is not really measuring true comprehension of the text read. If we limit our students to reading only these books that have an AR test (even thought some of them are the highest quality literature, fiction and non-fiction), their comprehension will not go further from “ their laps,” which is where many students keep the books to answer their five questions and then all proudly go back to their classroom teachers reporting 60, 80, 100 or 20, 40 percent comprehension score. What a big mistake!

Dr. Young, thank you for sharing your expertise with all of us. This is such a fruitful conversation from which all of us will surely stay enlightened with some new ides and be eager to go to the classroom or to share them with colleagues and university students as well.

Best,

Vida

Vida Zuljevic, Ed.D.
Librarian
Robert Frost Elementary School
Pasco,WA
vzuljevic@psd1.org
tel. 509-543-6795 ext.4140

Terry

Bravo and beautifully stated. I had a student a few years back who was tested in 3rd grade reading at the 2nd grade level. I got him at the beginning of 4th grade and when I asked students to pick a book for independent read, he chose a 5th grade book. While I agree most readers should pick just right books, I let this child read the chosen book. He struggled but stuck with it. In groups, he read just right books. At the end of the year he was reading close to a 5th grade level and loves to read still to this day. The student will still come back to my room and discuss his latest readings. We need to allow students to taste all of the wonderful literature at some points during our teachings. Thanks for stating what you did below!

"My teacher said it is not an AR book." Unless somebody really pushes it from the higher level, this kind of behavior will harm many of our students and "purposefully" impair their reading. In my opinion, AR should not be used as a reading program. While it might have some motivating values for some students, I think of it as an assessment tool, although it is not really measuring true comprehension of the text read. If we limit our students to reading only these books that have an AR test (even thought some of them are the highest quality literature, fiction and non-fiction), their comprehension will not go further from " their laps," which is where many students keep the books to answer their five questions and then all proudly go back to their classroom teachers reporting 60, 80, 100 or 20, 40 percent comprehension score. What a big mistake!
Terry

Lynne

Vida and all-- Your point about A.R. is so well taken-- It seems to be used and abused for a variety of reasons. My principal was even considering it as a way for teachers to track the outside books that kids have read (she often uses the example of a sixth grade kiddo who read the same book 4 times before anyone figured it out). To me, it is horribly punitive since extrinsic motivation does not have long-term positive effects (see Alfie Kohn's work), it takes a most important skill out of the kids hands (choice) and it is a completely false sense of security around the very low level comprehension questions...not to mention the weird things it does to a library and the librarian. What can we do?? I wrote a paper on the bad news of it and the tons of precious money that school districts are spending on this junk and my reading took me to lots of papers and articles already written. Should we submit more articles--- maybe to periodicals that administrators would read??? This, like so much these days is the corporate folks (most publishers who are not Richard) trying to cause millions of dollars to be spent on low level junk that produces low level data--- I think that the powers that be (Washington) have caused school and district leaders to believe that these bad and expensive (in dollars and true time for quality teaching and learning) tracking devices ( like DIBELS, STEEP, AR and so many others) are what they have to have to be in compliance with the NCLB stuff--- not true --- but a lot of work will need to done to combat those "quick fixes".
What do you all think of starting an article together?? Could be "tales from the A.R. Crypt" with some background and everyone relating their stories??
Sorry to soapbox-it again but the whole thing is being pulled out from under us and will not allow us to concentrate on higher notions like non-fiction reading if we are forced into these weird programs---- professionals need to take back this profession--

Your resident radical,

Lynne Rerucha
Humanities Facilitator
Denver Public Schools

Terry

Dr. Vida's post reminds me of some interesting library research where researchers inventoried teachers' classroom libraries and then looked at the school library circulation records. They found the classroom collections were filled primarily with fiction and the kids were checking primarily nonfiction from the school library.

Terry

Kathy

Lynne

I had heard of AR, and then I went back to the classroom from science coaching. I had a tiny room of
15 first graders (I was hired in late Sept) AR was touted for the prizes. My students who knew about it
mostly used it to get prizes. One would not read unless it was for prizes. My one student who tested
highly gifted in language arts and read very well hardly ever received prizes. She read books every
day.

I continued my home reading program. Most kids did that, and I am glad, as it offered kids a chance to
really respond to reading, rather than answer multiple choice questions on a computer.

I wish that AR was present, but not the prizes. Pavlovs dogs might like it, but I do not. AR could be
an additional choice activity once a week and would give info about readers. It reminds me of the old SRA
reading cards. But, again, it is not the only thing.

I could write with you Lynn, but, I suspect it would be more of an editorial. We might need a researcher,
to make us look more valid, and those articles probably have a little of all that we have said
between us!

Peace,
Kathy
Colorado Springs

Nicole

As a preservice teacher, and mom, I have a certain level of anxiety about the AR program. I have been under the impression, from various literacy workshops, classes, etc... that it is always a good idea to encourage kids to tackle reading material that may be just beyond their immediate ability level. While they may be reading a variety of "just right" books, they may also benefit from finding (and nurturing) that intrinsic motivation that leads them through reading material that would otherwise be unavailable to them through an AR program. For instance, my son, who struggles with a mild reading disability, is denied access to books at his school library because they are "above" his AR level. Yet, at home (or Barnes & Noble) he is able to sit for long periods of time engrossed in these books. I think it is worthy to point out that most of these books are also nonfiction texts. There is something about these nonfiction books that grab his attention (that is otherwise fleeting) and draws him into the content. I think we need to be encouraged as teachers (and parents) to build on the childs desire to read as much as we build up their ability to read.

While I think that extrinsic motivators have some value, I believe that it is the strength of our intrinsic motivation that makes or breaks a lifelong reader. Aren't lifelong readers really what we're going for here? Any reading program that denies books to kids, or essentially tells them "you can't read this because it's above you" is defeating the purpose for which it was intended...which is to get kids reading.

Nicole Walker
WSU student

Joan

As you say the list of nonfiction read alouds is huge but luckily there are also a large number of wonderful shared reading texts for the little ones that allow us to demonstrate how to handle a nonfiction text. I love being able to really show how this genre works. When working with teachers I have often hauled along a secondary school science text that has an example of visual literacy on every page - from charts to graphs to cut away diagrams, etc. etc. It is really important that we do not ignore demonstrations on how to maneuver around or through a busy page of text. The internet is a perfect example of that.
Joan

Terry

Here are some articles about Accelerated Reader and other programs of the same ilk. Please notice for each of these there are more articles praising such programs.

Carter, Betty. (1996) Hold the Applause! Do Accelerated Reader and Electronic Bookshelf Send the Right Message? School Library Journal 43 (10) (Oct. 1996): 22-25

Pavonetti, Linda M., Brimmer, Kathryn M., and Cipielewski; James F. (2002). Accelerated Reader: What are the lasting effects on the reading habits of middle school students exposed to Accelerated Reader in elementary grades? Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy; 46, Iss. 4; pg. 300-311.

Lamme, Linda Leonard, Fu, Danling, & Allington, Richard. (2002). "Is this Book an AR Book A Closer Examination of a Popular Reading Program. The Florida Reading Quarterly, 38(3), 27-32.

Krashen, Stephen. (2003) The (Lack of) Experimental Evidence Supporting the Use of Accelerated Reader. Journal of Children’s Literature, 29(2), 16-30.

Terry

Lynne

Dr. Young -- so are you saying that there are more positive articles about AR etc than there are negative ones? If that is the case, what could be the reason? I have been in 3 school districts where AR was going on in one way or another and NONE of the kids liked it, parents of both gifted and struggling readers thought it was not targeted or helpful to their kids and the librarians were basically appalled at what they saw happening with book choice. This kind of thing drives me nuts when no one that I have spoken to or with likes a program in the least yet some folks "out there" do seem to like it and write positively about it. What is a literacy facilitator to do?
Lynne

Terry

Sadly too many people have bought into the AR hype. I have a friend who is going to open a new school's library. She is dismayed that the parents are demanding AR. She hates the expense of the tests, giving kids points for reading, and limiting her library to AR books.

In the articles below, the Pavonetti research study showed that middle school kids who came from non-AR elementary schools actually read more than middle schoolers who came from AR elementary schools.

Kathy

Hello all --

When I was at NCTE I pulled together a group of articles and discussions on AR, as well as a handful of other programs. You can find these collections at http://www.ncte.org/elem/topics/reading. The pro's and con's are all there, particularly in the teacher commentary.

Thanks for the great book recommendations, Terrell. Some of them are new to me and sound so interesting.

Another great source of nonfiction picture books is the list of Orbis Pictus winners http://www.ncte.org/elem/awards/orbispictus. They're wonderful for grades 3+. Middle and high school teachers are always inspired to incorporate books from this collection into their units of study.

Kathy

Joan

I really believe that the librarian needs to assert her professional judgment to make decisions about her work environment. Surely she was hired because of her professional knowledge.
Joan

Richard

Good evening everyone,

I want to thank Terry Young for dedicating time this week to an engaging conversation about nonfiction in the classroom. I want to thank Darcy for organizing this discussion. And I want to thank all of you for your participation. I find the exchange of ideas stimulating. I hope you do too.

If you want to know more about nonfiction in the classroom and other literacy topics with older students, I encourage you to read the professional book Terry Young and Margaret Mooney developed along with several other subscribers to this listserve--Caught in the Spell of Writing and Reading: Grade 3 and Beyond. It is a gem, with value for teachers at all levels, but especially those who are working with students in the middle grades to middle school. You can access information about the book at http://www.rcowen.com/ProfBks.htm#Caught%20in%20the%20Spell. The Introduction is online, just click on "details" at the book page to get to it.

Again, my thanks to Terry for a lively discussion. Please stay with us for more conversations, both scheduled and spontaneous.

If you must leave, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to TLN-unsubscribe@listserve.com. Nothing in the body of the email; nothing in the subject box.

I wish you the best for the weekend.

Richard