What is nonfiction reading

Nonfiction, on the other hand, enters our world and tells us something about it. It must enter our world if it is to be meaningful to us. We aren't invited into the author's invented world to mingle with her invented characters and witness her invented happenings; the nonfiction writer intrudes into our very real world, tells us about real people, describes real events.

At least, we want to trust the writer to do so. The nonfiction text may tell us about the newest tech tool, what caused World War II, how dinosaurs evolved, whom we should vote for in the next election, or how to fix dinner; no matter the content, it will give us information or make some argument about the world we inhabit.

Writing that enters our world so directly needs to be read with a questioning stance, one that reminds us to be somewhat skeptical of that person intruding into our world. We don't raise that question about the flying brooms in the Harry Potter novels, but texts about health care, climate change, Ebola, women's reproductive rights, cyber-bullying, testing mandates, marriage equality, or the lengthening of the school year deserve that consideration. Perhaps we have a better opportunity at holding on to that skeptic's eye if we remember we aren't guests in the author's world; he is a guest in ours.

In a workshop for about teachers, we shared a strategy and modeled it with an article we liked. Teachers liked it, too, and several inquired about the Lexile level of the article. When we asked why, one spoke up and said that she couldn't use texts unless they were in a certain Lexile level band.

Others said they would be reprimanded if they used texts below a student's Lexile level. The Common Core State Standards have encouraged us to give students more challenging texts.

But if we aren't careful, that may reinforce the commonly held misconception about rigor, which is that if we simply make the text harder we will make the student's reading more rigorous.

That seems logical. The heavier the cart, the harder we will have to pull to move it. The more difficult the text, the harder we will have to work to comprehend it. To an extent this is true. Text complexity is multidimensional.

It involves vocabulary and syntax. And those factors are influenced by clarity, coherence, inferences the reader must make, ease in spotting author bias, the style of the writing, and most certainly the content discussed. In short, there are qualitative factors and reader-and-task factors that must be considered. We are loathe to see students' reading choices limited by a number, or a letter, or a color code. We want texts that kids can struggle with , rather than texts they must struggle through.

Struggling with ideas is less likely to happen if kids are instead struggling through words they don't understand or struggling through syntax that is too complicated for them. Seen that way, it makes sense to look at a formula that gives us an idea about sentence length and word difficulty. With the Lexile formula, a higher number suggests that the sentences are longer and the word frequency is lower. A lower word frequency means the word isn't one readers will encounter often.

Verdant has a lower frequency than green. But reducing text complexity to a formula based on sentence length and word frequency isn't the solution.

Such a limited view of "readability" misses the point that those formulas can't "gauge the clarity, coherence, organization, interest, literary quality, or subject matter adequacy of books" Heibert et al.

Even information on the Lexile site confirms this: "It is important to note that the Lexile measure of a book refers to its text difficulty only. The next time someone requires that you use a Lexile number to match a child to a book, encourage a conversation about the efficacy of this as a sole measure.

Be quick to point out that word frequency and sentence length don't address many of the issues that make a text difficult or appropriate for a reader. Many times, difficulty—especially in nonfiction texts—is in the content. As the war casualties climbed, the Union needed even more troops. African Americans were ready to volunteer. Not all white northerners were ready to accept them, but eventually they had to About , African Americans served with the Union army.

They were usually led by white officers, some from abolitionist families. African Americans faced special horrors on the battlefield. Confederates often killed their black captives or sold them into slavery.

In the election, Lincoln suggested rewarding African American Soldiers by giving them the right to vote p. With a Lexile level of L, teachers who have been told to depend solely on the score to match kids to text would say this text belongs in fourth grade. We agree that the short and direct sentence structure and vocabulary put very few demands upon a reader; we don't agree that the content is appropriate for nine-year-olds. Very few nine-year-olds have the maturity to discuss the inequalities African American soldiers faced during the Civil War.

Instead, we want to see eighth graders talking about why African American troops made less money and were led by white officers. We want them to question why whites in the north didn't want them in the army. We want students to question why the African Americans would go to war for a country that did not grant them the opportunity to vote. If they could not vote, were they indeed emancipated? We want them to think about the racial tensions evident in our country today and wonder why some changes are so slow.

When districts tell us that they couldn't use this text because it would be "too easy" and they must "raise the rigor," we remind them that rigor is about relevance and not about a Lexile score.

Fiction invites us to take one stance. The novel invites us to explore the imagined world the writer has created for us. We enter it willingly, and if we don't enjoy it, we put the novel down, acknowledge we just don't like this author or this genre, and move one.

If we do enjoy it, we stay there til the end, maybe so immersed in it that we might describe ourelves as lost in the book Nonfiction, on the other hand, should come with a cautionary note that reminds us that gettinglost in the text might be dnagerous. The reader needs to remember that a work of nonfiction will try to assert something about his world, and he needs to take those assertions with a grain of skepticism.

They may be perfectly true, they may be somewhat slanted or biased, or they may be flat out lies. The slightly skeptical stance implies three questions Creating the Questioning Stance We began to experiment with asking students to read with these questions in mind:.

Numbers Hidden numerals, number words, and illustrated quantities in the Numbers collection of books build early emergent readers' math literacy. Spectacular Sports The Spectacular Sports collection explores some of the world's most popular games, including their history, rules, and famous players. Trip on a Latitude Line Explore geography and climate from the tropics to the subarctic in the Trip on a Latitude Line collection.

Government Learn about the three branches of the United States federal government and the Constitution that established a nation. World Landmarks Visit some of the most amazing landmarks on the planet with this collection. World Leaders The World Leaders collection contains fascinating biographies of famous and infamous leaders from various time periods around the globe.

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Why Use Themed Nonfiction Series Many state and national standards, including the Common Core State Standards, call for an increased use of informational texts in the classroom and for the development of analytical skills using multiple texts on similar topics in order to build knowledge and compare information. How to Use Themed Nonfiction Series The variety of informational texts and resources available in each Themed Nonfiction Series allows for flexibility in your instructional approach.

Follow suggestions in the Lesson Plans or Teaching Tips that accompany each series for classroom activities involving the Worksheets or Activity Cards. Use the Comprehension Quizzes to check for understanding of the text and inform you of students' instructional needs.

Provide instruction or additional information using resources, such as maps and posters, to teach various skills specifically needed to access nonfiction text. Assign books at the most appropriate reading level for students to read independently. Improve comprehension and take readers beyond the text by having them answer the Discussion Questions, Essential Questions, or Beyond the Book questions. Have students choose a topic related to the collection's theme to write about using the books from the collection as models.

Assign a research project related to one of the books in a collection. Other Resources for Nonfiction Texts Shared Reading nonfiction books ensure early readers work with informational texts.