Pairing Fiction and Nonfiction text to further comprehension.

Jimmy Rhoades

EDU 316

April 26, 2011

Focus Statement

• Pairing fiction and nonfiction text will engage a students prior knowledge to

reinsure and ensure student comprehension at a higher level.

Gill, S (2009)

• New nonfiction text should reflect: visual emphasis, accuracy, and be engagingly written in child friendly form.

Gill, S. (2009). What teachers need to know about the “new” nonfiction. The Reading Teacher, 63(4), 260-267.

Heller, M (2006)

• Children respond well to factual information presented in each book and express wonder about new and interesting information.

Heller, M. (2006). Telling stories and talking facts: first graders’ engagements in a nonfiction

Soalt, J (2005)

• Comprehension improves when students have appropriate background knowledge that they can connect to the text they are reading.

Soalt, J. (2005). Bringing together fictional and informational text to improve comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 58(7), 680-683.

Questions

• What are teachers doing with struggling readers to help them?

• Do the students understand the difference between fiction and nonfiction?

• How can teachers encourage students to completely read both types of texts?

Participants and Environment

• 3rd grade reading intervention group.

• 10 groups of 5-7 students.

• Rural, predominately Caucasian district.

Data Gathering Procedures

• Observation

• Interviews

Themes/patterns• Knew the difference between

fiction and nonfiction text

• Less knowledgeable about the application of pairing fiction and nonfiction text to further comprehension.

Results/Conclusions• Lower achieving students that are

removed from the classroom remain behind on pairing fiction and nonfiction text.

• Added requirements based off the OAA limited the amount of exposure to fiction and nonfiction text.

Recommendations/Reflection

• Find out student’s interest.

• Offer more time for student choice.

• Encourage text pairing.

References

Gill, S. (2009). What teachers need to know about the “new” nonfiction. The Reading Teacher,

63(4), 260-267.

Heller, M. (2006). Telling stories and talking facts: first graders’ engagements in a nonfiction

book club. The Reading Teacher, 60(4), 358-369.

Soalt, J. (2005). Bringing together fictional and informational text to improve comprehension.

The Reading Teacher, 58(7), 680-683.