Teaching about Genres

To begin, let me say that I don't address all my comments about teaching genres to whether or not they meet the Common Core State Standards.  Michigan (my home state) adopted the Core Standards a few years ago so they are the standards that I must teach.  Having said that, I don't plan every bit of my teaching around these standards.  For starters, the Core Standards aren't universally supported by education professionals.  Many in the field are concerned about their implementation across the country and the resulting impact on children.  Others are worried about their appropriateness.  The following link will take you to Appendix A from the Common Core Standards website:

http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_A.pdf 

This link is a discussion of the research supporting key elements of the standards.

Today's post is a simple discussion of genre instruction (and not a post about whether too little or too much time is spent teaching about genres).  The above appendix document spends a great deal of time debating the need for text complexity in K-12 reading.  I don't debate this theory at all.  However, I argue that it matters in K-12 instruction whether or not students understand the difference between mystery, science fiction, and fantasy.  It matters that students understand what makes up a historical fiction novel.  Poetry matters.  The amount of classroom instructional time needed to teach about these genres makes their instruction a part of my reading workshop.  Plus, certain genres ARE required per my grade level's core standards!

To start, I'll tell you how I design genre instruction.  It starts with the idea that we study a genre a month. I write down all the genres on slips of paper, put them into a bowl and each month we draw a new genre.  Of course, I MAKE SURE that we pull certain genres at certain times of the year!  This allows for there to be a level of excitement in the classroom during the monthly drawing. ("Ohhh...I hope it's mystery this month!")  At the same time, someone always groans...it's just the way it goes!

Once a genre is drawn I spend at least two mini-lessons teaching about the properties of the genre.  We create a chart that hangs on the Reading Workshop bulletin board and students take notes in their reading journal.  Next, I require a monthly homework project linked to the genre.  Students are required to read a book from that genre as homework (They are required to read up to 35 minutes for nightly homework) and then create a project teaching about that book while using knowledge gained from a previous month's literary skills, strategies, or devices lesson.  So, students might make a character traits poster while reading a mystery.  They might create a conflict diorama while reading fantasy.  Student feedback on these projects has generally been positive.  They know at the beginning of the month their genre and their project.  This allows them to design the reading and the project around their month's schedule.

Throughout the month I check in with students on their project progress and we discuss the books being read.  Students may read these books in class or at home. (I just don't give class time for their project work.)  I also don't like to accept projects early...only because we usually have a "share day" where projects are set up and presented to each other in small groups, partners, or similar.

My favorite tidbit to share from genre instruction, as well as the reason I strongly believe in its necessity is that it helps to create lifelong readers!  I have had many students over the years tell me they wouldn't have ever read a "mystery, science fiction, etc.."if I hadn't taught about it and had a reading/project requirement.

I don't have any fancy handouts, worksheets, etc for this post because they aren't needed.  Simply know that genres necessary for your grade level instruction (see your grade level state or common core standards), teach about them, and decide how students will read these during your school year.

Here's to reading!

--Mrs. Perrien

Oh my goodness...She's back to blogging about reading!

Readers-

I'm back and with a purpose.  I have changed perspectives this year and will be attending Michigan State University this fall as a doctoral student.  Yay me!  I plan to focus on literacy instruction.  I'm super excited about this change in my career and in my life!

I plan to spend time updating this blog with all that I can share about classroom reading instruction--specifically the reading workshop method.  I won't bore with what I do those first few months.  (It's  already on my blog...) In fact, I plan to update my readers by focusing these next few weeks on genres and strategies rather than a day-by-day focus.  Follow along, everyone!

Here's to reading!

--Amy

My Reading Corner

Most fiction books are located on these shelves.  Subject area books are located in their respective areas:  math, language, science, social studies, and writing workshop.  Students simply write down their name on a clipboard along with the name of the book they want to read.

My reading charts hang just to the right of the bookshelf area.  

An easel is actually JUST to the left of this picture.

Characters in Fiction

For the past week and a half my students have been studying characters in fiction.  Characters are critical to learn and discuss.  Characters are connected to the plot and make a good story great!

We have focused on the following:

Character Traits--words that define characters, both good and bad.

Types of Characters--main and secondary, as well as the difference between secondary and nonessential characters.  It was important for my students to understand that the man serving pop at the restaurant counter (in a given story) is not a secondary character, but rather a nonessential character.

Roles that Characters Take--Mainly, we discussed the protagonist and antagonist and how each are super important to the plot.

Characters Thoughts and Action--Why do characters say what they say and do what they do?  This was a fun discussion, and an important one.  Many of my students identified with a character's thoughts and actions, but many also commented on why they would never do what a character did!

Now my students may respond in their reading journals and discuss characters!

I should also point out that we don't have as much to write about for the past 4 weeks due to testing.  Many days of school in October were test days and that meant adjustments to our RW schedule.  We didn't cover as much to make sure that what we covered would count.

**I would love to post my charts but they all keep loading sideways, despite the facts that they are saved vertically in iPhoto.  Some days...sigh...

Getting to Know Your Reading Self

I believe Lucy Calkins calls it, "Building a Reader's Life."  In either case, we also spent the month of September getting to know our reading selves!  I can't stress how important it is that children be given the chance to learn about themselves as readers.  Consider this:  when was the last time you were asked what books you like to read and the person asking really wanted to know?  Then...that same person asked you to set goals for yourself as a reader?!

This is just one of many questions I ask my students in September.  I also ask (Thanks to Amy Buckner):

• What is your history as a reader?
• What keeps you reading?
• What I know to be true about reading...
• Books I love!

We also set reading resolutions (A lesson I stole from the Units of Study), discussed how to read faster, stronger, and longer (again...Units of Study), plus learned and practiced the importance of working with our literature partners.

I am excited about the possibilities this year will continue to offer for my students.  I am choosing to embrace the Common Core standards as a way to deepen my instruction and to make my instruction more valuable!

As we worked through this first month we read the following books:

• My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
• One by Kathryn Otoshi
• The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein

(I'm probably missing one or two..)

We are now reading the following chapter book by the awesome Montessori-trained Lee Wardlaw: 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents.  The lessons we have pulled from this book have been useful for both reader's and writer's workshop.

People have asked, what program do you use for your reader's workshop?  I don't use any one program.  I jumped into Reader's Workshop before it was the "in" thing in my district.  I read Amy Buckner and Frank Serafini in the summer.  I had just finished reading and using the Writing Workshop Units of Study.  I figured that I could do this for reading!  My RW is my own creation.  It is not a curriculum or a program, rather my RW is a framework for instruction.  I use my student's needs to select lessons and guide student learning.  That's how I, "get it done!"

The Genre of a Test

The month of September was a busy one!  In our Reader's Workshop we focused on two main areas--a quick review of the genre of a test, and getting to know ourselves as readers.

Frank Serafini states the following, "When students are familiar with the tasks required by the tests, they are better able to focus their attention and energy on the content of the test and to demonstrate their abilities."  He continues to point out in his short article that the skills needed for a standardized test may be different than the skills supported in the reader’s (and writer’s) workshop.  Think about it, when do you give children a question and ask them to pick the least likely answer or the most likely answer?  Most of the time we are having deep discussions and conversations about text-what we agree or disagree with in the story or article, symbolism, inferring and synthesizing information, and among other things, making connections between stories, articles, and the media.

I agree that we must show that a test has value if our students are to take it seriously.  On my end, we do discuss in our workshop unit all the ways that tests can be useful and brainstorm ways that the test helps my teaching. Between you, the Internet, and me it’s not the test that’s the problem it’s the crazy directions (Really, no water bottles on tables for 4^th graders testing for 80 and 60 minutes??) and the way the tests are used.  (Home real estate values, teacher evaluations..)

My unit, the genre of a test, includes the following lessons:

• Test vocabulary and language
• How tests are set-up
• What we know about tests
• Test reading tips (Using deductive reasoning to evaluate answers)
• Using the QAR strategy (which becomes a BIG strategy for the whole school year!)

Frank Serafini calls this demystifying the test—it’s an excellent description.  I am teaching the kids it’s just another unit of study!  This year I added one additional element to my mini-lesson, which was to make a connection from the daily mini-lesson to our study of non-fiction.  For example, we do and will use the QAR method quite a bit when we are reading non-fiction.

To read more of Frank Serafini’s short article on the genre of a standardized test go to the following link:  http://www.frankserafini.com/PubArticles/ShortArticles/StTestsGenre.htm

Happy Reading!

Mrs. Perrien

Running Records revisited...

I'm bumping this from Fall 2011:

I've had a few questions about when I complete my running records.  Simply put, I do them during my workshop conferring time.  My district requires a running record score on all students in the fall and again in the spring.  For my 4th graders this means I need to complete running records by the end of September. (I usually have scores on my 5th graders form the spring; many of them have tested out of the Rigby Running Record scale).

If I complete two running records each conferring session I'm able to have these completed by the September 30th deadline.  If I feel further assessment is needed, I will complete an authentic running record (using a book of the student's choice), an Informal Reading Inventory (My favorite is the Bader Reading and Language Inventory), and usually I will use the QRI site word assessment to get a balanced view of the reader.  I have found the QRI assessments to be useful when my students are reading past Rigby's level 30.

I personally feel that a running record on a 4th or 5th proficient reader to largely be a waste of time.  At that point it's time to move to an IRI or QRI inventory for a useful, authentic assessment.

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Fall 2012 Comments

I used the QRI assessment inventory to get a clearer picture of all my readers last spring.  What a difference!  Rather than stating that the student was an above average reader, I was able to more clearly articulate what I noticed in my readers and give them directions for next steps.  I highly recommend using an IRI model to assess your upper grade readers!