Teaching FictionELA Cadre

February 3, 2014

Let’s look at what the TEKS have to say.

Table TalkIn grade-level specific groups, discuss what the TEKS say we should be teaching with regard to fiction.

On a post-it, write your thoughts, observations, and connections about what you noticed.

Chapter Five: Learning to Process Fiction and Nonfiction Texts

Reading and the Brain The levels of complexity in the text triggers a complex

thinking process in the reader. This should remind us that reading is thinking.

According to Wolf and Barzillai, reading was invented in 5500 B.C., which makes it a relatively new cognitive function (compared with talking, eating, running).

The process of reading substantively changes the neural networks over time.

Reading different kinds of texts place different demands on readers.

It is essential for students to experience a variety of rich texts – fiction and nonfiction-if they are to acquire the reading strategies they need.

Ways of Thinking About Texts

1) Thinking within the text: Includes all the actions a reader uses to process the text and gain a satisfactory literal understanding

2) Thinking beyond the text: Includes what the reader brings to the reading (i.e. connections, predictions, and inferences)

3) Thinking about the text: Includes analytical and critical thinking (i.e. thinking about the quality of the text and making judgments)

Instruction needs to ensure that all students have daily opportunities to articulate their thinking beyond and about texts in talk and writing.

That kind of instruction is often limited to proficient readers; struggling readers often engage in tasks that require drill and recall.

Systems of Strategic Actions for Comprehending Texts

Fountas and Pinnell define twelve systems of strategic actions for comprehending texts. They are happening simultaneously in the reader’s head and are interrelated. They are categorized within the ways of thinking about texts.

What students do when they are thinking within the text: Solving words – using strategies to take words apart and

understand what a word means Monitoring and correcting – checking whether reading sounds

right, looks right, makes sense, and working to solve problems Searching for and using information – when readers know the

characteristics of a genre and can find information Summarizing – putting together and remembering important

information and disregarding irrelevant information while reading

Maintaining fluency – integrating sources of information in a smoothly operating process that results in expressive, phrased reading

Adjusting – reading in different ways as appropriate to the purpose for reading and type of text

What students do when they are thinking beyond the text: Predicting – using what is known to think about

what will follow while reading continuous text Making Connections – searching for and using

connections to knowledge gained from personal experiences, learning about the world, and reading other texts

Inferring – going beyond the literal meaning of a text to think about what is not stated but is implied by the writer

Synthesizing – putting together information from the text and from the reader’s own background knowledge in order to create new understandings

What students do when they are thinking about the text: Analyzing – examining elements of a text

to know more about how it is constructed and noticing aspects of the writer’s craft

Critiquing – evaluating a text based on the reader’s personal, world, and text knowledge and thinking critically about the ideas in it

The Value of Read Aloud When you read aloud to students, they

are freed from some of the basic word solving, searching for and using information.

While listening to and discussing the text, they are free to expand strategies such as inferring, summarizing, and synthesizing.

Closing thoughts from chapter five

The strategic actions for reading are going on all at once and with great speed.

We know they are happening because they are constructing meaning.

You can’t teach them one at a time.

Chapter Six: Understanding Fiction Texts

Let’s read and discuss!Group One: pages 57-61 (stop at elements of fiction)

Group Two: pages 61 (begin at elements of fiction) – 64 (stop at plot)

Group Three: pages 64 (begin at plot) – 67 (stop at illustrations)

Group Four: pages 67 (begin at illustrations) - 72