Conference Recap, Part 1: Defining the Reading Range- What Makes a Text Literature, Literary Nonfiction and Informational?

Have you ever been to a workshop hosted Smekens Education Solutions?  They're worthwhile, for sure.  In the summer of 2015, I attended my first Smekens Literacy Retreat with Kristina Smekens as the presenter and acquired a great deal of practical and valuable information that can be implemented into the classroom straightaway.  If you're interested, click HERE to access my Literacy Retreat mini-series breaking down the eight sessions I attended. There are free resources within the posts! :)  

Anyway, I'm back to share an assortment of things I've learned from another phenomenal workshop with Kristina Smekens.  Prior to registering, her workshop claimed to provide the skills and motivation teachers need to keep reading instruction both purposeful and dynamic for students.  After attending, I must say the all-day workshop did not disappoint.  

I was blasted with so many steadfast suggestions and innovative mini-lessons to better scaffold students, as well as grab and keep their attention, that I've decided to break up the content shared at the workshop into three parts, instead of having one never-ending blog post.  

1. Part 1: Launching the School Year- Defining Reading Range & Text Types
2. Part 2: Three Components Defining 'Readers as Thinkers'
3. Part 3: Mini-Lesson Ideas for Reading Strategies

This post is Part 1.  It offers suggestions for launching the school year, which includes defining the reading range for students and determining what makes a text literature, literary nonfiction and informational.  When Part 2 materializes, you will learn more about the three components that define 'Readers as Thinkers', which encompasses reader voices, what it takes to make an inference and the Close-Reading Framework. Finally, in Part 3, I will share a handful of the mini-lesson ideas for Recalling, Retelling & Summarizing (as well as establishing the difference between the three), Determining Main Idea, Visualizing Ideas, Asking Questions, Making Connections and Synthesizing.  Like I said, I was blasted with so much information!  Okay, moving on with Part 1. :)

Suggestions for Launching the School Year:
Think about your reading experiences as an adult. You probably read a variety of undemanding reads such as magazines, recipes, novels, etc.  However, when the time approaches, you may also be required to make sense of more laborious reads, such as tax forms during tax season, policies, insurance documents and so on.  As adults, it's real life to read a variety of texts.  Bringing in some of your authentic samples of *easy* and *hard* reads at the start of the year for students to view firsthand, gives them a preview of what's out there.  

After establishing your procedures and routines for Reading, Kristina suggests starting off the year by explaining to students what they will be reading, which encompasses *easy*, *hard*, and multimodal texts throughout the year. (Click HERE for more information on multimodal texts.) These varieties of text types will be read for differing reasons because that's real life. Cautioning students to expect easy days and hard days makes for a nice transition into teaching them how to persevere through the harder texts (Close-Reading).  This is crucial because students will encounter difficult texts inside and outside of the classroom, without a doubt.  

Defining the Reading Range: Literature vs. Literary Nonfiction vs. Informational Texts
Along the same lines, it is essential teachers discuss the parameters of literature, literary nonfiction and informational texts.  Helping define the range of reading for students is a necessity.  Kristina states, "No longer can we simply refer to something as fiction or nonfiction. The CCSS requires us to distinguish literature, informational text and literary nonfiction- and engage our students with all three."  Below are the comparative features for each text type.  If you click on the image, you can download a copy for yourself. 

Characteristics of Literature:
We usually refer to Literature as fiction.  Kristina affirmed literature comprises the following: 

"It includes made-up characters who overcome problems and resolve conflicts. It encompasses picture books, short stories, fables, fairy tales, legends, folk tales, chapter books, historical fiction, realistic fiction, sic-fi, novels, poetry, and plays/dramas." 

Characteristics of Literary Nonfiction:
The big difference between literary nonfiction and informational text is how facts are revealed.  Kristina indicated:

"These texts read more like literature, but all the information is factual. Think of it like a hybrid. Authors of literary nonfiction engage readers with their lively narrative voice, weaving facts with details that appeal to the reader's emotions and make the subject come alive.  These include biographies, memoirs, documentaries, essays and speeches."

Characteristics of Informational Texts:
Informational text is read for the purpose of gaining knowledge. Kristina referenced informational texts with the the details below: 

"By nature, this text is of a higher text complexity with specialized vocabulary specific to the topic, heavy doses of facts, and numerous text features.  These texts include text books, primary source documents, newspaper articles, etc."

Teaching the Differences:
To teach the differences between the text types, introduce students to a specific topic using a piece of literature, a literary nonfiction text and an informational text.  Assist students in comparing how the topic is treated in each text.  The topic of turtles was brought up at the workshop.  Teachers may, for example, choose the books below to introduce the topic of turtles to students. 

Literature Example

Literary Nonfiction Example

Informational Example

After selecting texts, help students inspect the differences between the texts.  For example, point out the text features. Informational texts usually contain bold/italicized print, labels, diagrams, charts, captions, photographs, subheadings, and more. However, literature and literary nonfiction tend to include chapter titles, page numbers and illustrations.  Explaining to students how authors include specific features to help readers better understand the text or to convey information is important.

In addition, make sure students are familiar with the various structure of texts.  In Stephanie Harvey's book, Nonfiction Matters: reading, Writing, and Research in Grades 3-8, she states,

"Understanding the expository text structures gives readers a better shot at determining important information when reading nonfiction...If students know what to look for in terms of text structure, they grasp the meaning more easily."

Literature is less complex to understand because the structure is always chronological.  However, when students are reading informational texts, they need to be able to identify which of the seven types of expository structures they're reading.  This makes reading informational texts much more complex!  

To more sensibly prepare students to be successful readers, teachers need to start or remain explicit in teaching the necessary skills to better comprehend the different types of texts.  I'll end this post with a quote from Kristina Smekens: "As we are teaching the Common Core Standards, we need to do more than just read the different types of text. We need to teach their similarities and unique differences side by side."

I am hoping the information in this post is worthwhile to someone. I never really know who is actually reading my posts, but I'm hoping the time and effort I put into writing them isn't going to waste. :) Nonetheless, I will be back sometime soon to share more in Parts 2 and 3! 

Happy Friday.

Literacy Retreat Session 6: Inferring Ideas from Visual and Multimodal Texts

Well, my summer vacation has ended.  Even though I will miss the warm days on the beach and at the lake house, as well as camping with my family, I'm ready to start another school year.  I can't believe this will be year 20 for me in education.  Boy, time flies.  Below is Session 6 from my Literacy Retreat mini-series which began earlier this summer.  If you would like to read about the first 5 sessions, click HERE to access them.  

Session 6: Inferring Ideas from Visual and Multimodal Texts
The session began with a discussion of the importance of students being able to infer ideas from visuals.  It is crucial to teach students how to READ and APPLY visual information in a text to support their comprehension.  Inferring ideas from visuals is not about kids creating videos or illustrations.  It is about teaching students to USE the information viewed to help them better understand the text. Teachers must differentiate between producing and interpreting visual information for students.  To do this, teachers need to broaden the definition of "text".  There are 4 types of visual and multimodal texts students should become aware of when reading: photographs, picture book illustrations, info-graphics and videos.

Photographs: 

What should teachers point out to or teach students?  Well, it's important to teach them that a photograph is someone's perspective on an event.  Get kids to question the photographer.  What is the message the photographer is trying to convey?  Authors are making choices and are leaving readers to infer.  Here is an example using Arnold Schwarzenegger as the subject: What is the photographer trying to convey on each magazine cover?
  
In addition, ask students, What digital "doctoring" did they do to the photograph (if any)?  For example, sometimes parts of images are turned black and white to magnify other parts of the photograph.  Why highlight or shade those parts?  Click HERE for the example given to attendees at the retreat of digital doctoring. 

Picture Book Illustrations: 

Picture books typically have hand-drawn illustrations, especially in graphic novels.  Sophisticated and complex illustrations or visuals are sometimes the *power* conveying meaning in the text.  Asking the following questions can start great conversations in the classroom: What can be inferred on pages with no text, only pictures?  How is the text integrated with the illustrations?  How is the page with the pictures laid out?  For example, teachers may point out how there is big text with small images, or vice versa.  Fox by Margaret Wild and Waiting for Mama by Lee Tae-Jun were suggested mentor texts that provide powerful visuals.

Info-graphics: 

Students need to pay attention to time lines, charts, diagrams, etc. Teach students how to READ all of the nonfiction text features a book has to offer.  Students can extract pertinent information from those graphics, so make sure they know not to just read the print within paragraph format.  Get students to infer ideas from the visuals. Many texts have lots of information displayed in a visual way.  Sometimes info-graphics *are the text*!

As you can see with the examples above, meaning doesn't come in just paragraph format.  Teachers must explain to students how information is shared with the reader within text features.  This strategy isn't only for students at the secondary level.  It must start at the pre-emergent levels as young as preK.  Here is something to think about.  Many questions on tests are taken from learning done within info-graphics, so wouldn't it be wise to teach students how to navigate those info-graphics?  Here is a graphic organizer you may find useful. 

Videos: 

On standardized assessments, students are often shown 2-3 minute video clips and are then expected to answer questions based on those clips.  Right?  Well, we were told at the retreat to show students short clips often in the classroom.  No, that doesn't mean watch full-length feature films, while you work on your lesson plans. It means, show students video clips that coincide with a text they are reading.  There is a certain power in short clips.  Teachers need to get kids articulating about what they see and hear, then put those observations into words to express the message of the video.  Teach students how to evaluate and interpret the message, along with how to track and take note of important parts of videos.  

I contemplated putting the following video into this post, while it sat in my drafts folder.  It is quite powerful and involves a car accident, so watch at your own discretion.  This video clip is certainly not something you would show little people, but it can give you a sense of how to interpret short video clips with your students.  A close reading discussion guide accompanies the video, since it was given to us at the retreat. 

Quite thought-provoking, right?  At the retreat, attendees were asked to listen to the clip and take notes on what we hear (no visual provided).  We were then asked to watch the video and take additional notes on what we see.  When implementing this with your students, keep in mind discussions should apply the close reading framework, which involves 3 phases: Understand the Message, Interpret the Message and Evaluate the Message.  Click the image below to download a copy for yourself. 

It was suggested teachers bring in visuals and videos for a half dozen of the units they teach to give students ample opportunities to practice.  Visuals allow students to capture the connections between the key details and can show the emphasis on key principles of a topic.  Videos promote ease of recording details and allow students to capture nuances within the clips.

It certainly is advantageous, when students record observations, they are able to watch the video multiple times.  It's considered *close reading* video-style.  Teach students how to take dual notes on what they see and what they hear.  Students may be asked to just "listen and not see" a video at first, like we were asked to do with the accident video.  

The Video Notes graphic organizer can help students encompass sounds heard through music, instruments, noises, volume and silence (which can be the most powerful), along with words spoken, shouted, whispered, sung, etc.  Students also embrace details in setting, characters, movements, transitions, pacing, along with printed text, scrolling, as well as overlaid and superimposed images in the background with their sense of sight.   

It's useful to have students collect and record observations on still/non-moving images before moving on to videos.  Make sure students can note observations, but not make interpretations at first. Students should be able to note the details of what they see in visuals, such as facets relevant to photographs (setting, objects, people, subjects, actions) and info-graphics (source, text, visuals, organization, data, main idea).  This is vital information!  Take note of how the visuals are laid out in the text.  Ask students, Are they in sequential, compare/contrast, or main idea/detail format?

VideoNot.es can be used with students for digital note-taking.  Click HERE and HERE for more information on how it works, but in general, this site pulls up a video, allows side bar space for note-taking and can be time stamped and re-used at a later date.  We were told SmarterBalance and PARCC use this type of system.  Additionally, Big Picture Apples to Apples is a recommended game to get students to make and take observations about illustrations.

Last, but not least, many of us are hearing about the power of *paired texts*.  Teachers need to remember that paired texts can and should include multimodal texts, not just books.  For example, paired texts could be a political cartoon connected to an article, or an info-graphic that can be compared to a short story, since they focus on the same topic.  Analysis is what students should be doing! Paired texts do not have to be two books.  How about text sets or multimodal text sets?  For example, have students compare The Giving Tree book to the 1973 movie read by Shel Silverstien and then, to the cartoon or claymation version of the book.  They're all different!

Overall, try to incorporate experiences of inferring ideas from visual and multimodal texts frequently throughout the year.  It's recommended students work on at least one text per week.  Teachers need to look for small-dose opportunities.  Have students *read* the illustrations of complex picture books and use animated movie shorts.  Ending a unit with a culminating video is fabulous review for the students!

Next up in the mini-series is Revitalizing the Writing Process and Using Mentor Texts to Teach Sentence Variety, so stay tuned. :)