I have chosen to read, Nonfiction and Other Informational Texts Come Alive. I decided on this selection for several reasons. I have always enjoyed reading nonfiction text, but using them in my classroom has been a continues struggle. Students tend to gravitate towards narrative type books, and also use narratives in their writing. Many of the teacher resource materials that I have had access to also tend to focus on the narrative type of writing. In small group as well as whole class many reading lessons are focused on characters, setting, plot and theme. These are concrete concepts to teach and tend to be what teachers are comfortable teaching. However in real life it is far more important to know how to interact with nonfiction text.
Most things that we do as adults is centered around nonfiction text. Going through daily life, shopping, banking, driving, gathering news is all nonfiction. Most jobs require you to be able to gather and use information from a nonfiction source. In most classrooms, beginning in upper elementary, it is required that are able to use nonfiction text. Most questions on standardized tests are from a nonfiction stand point. Most writing that we do as adults is nonfiction writing. It is confusing to me as to why we spend so much time on narrative text.
As a fourth grade teacher I think that it is my responsibility to provide instruction to my students that teaches them how to use nonfiction text in a practice way. I am hoping that this book will help me improve my instruction in this area.
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