Lesson | - NYTimes.com

Overview | Does the emphasis on reading ?informational text? in the new Common Core State Standards set up a ?fiction versus nonfiction smackdown? in English classes? If so, is that good or bad?

In this lesson, students will reflect on their reading experiences in and out of school and discuss the roles that both nonfiction and fiction have played. Then, they will become familiar with what the Common Core standards say about reading, and what critics and supporters have written in reaction, in order to discuss and write about the question ?What Should Children Read??

Materials | Our Reading Questionnaire handout

Warm-Up | Ask students to complete our Reading Questionnaire (PDF) to begin thinking about their own reading histories, habits and preferences ? and about the roles of fiction and nonfiction in their lives.

Next, have students work in small groups to discuss what they wrote. (Though the questionnaire itself can remain private, they can use their answers to contribute to the conversation.) Then, as a whole class, hear observations and conclusions from each group. You might then go on to talk about any of the following questions, or save them for later in the lesson:

• In general, how much of what you read now would be considered nonfiction or informational text?
• What kinds of things do you read outside of English class, in science, history and math?
• Do videos and graphs and photographs count as ?texts? one can ?read??
• Is reading informational text, or nonfiction, easier or harder than reading fiction?
• Have you been taught explicitly how to read informational text, as you have been taught to read literature in English?
• What do you get from reading fiction that you can?t from nonfiction? What do you get from reading nonfiction that you can?t from fiction?
• Do students need to read more nonfiction to be ready for college and careers? Why or why not?

Finally, ask students if they have heard of the Common Core State Standards, and what they know, or think they know, about what the standards say. According to the overview, from the C.C.S.S. Web site, ?The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.?

Explain that 45 states and three United States territories have adopted the standards, so they will shape what students learn, what they read, and what they will be tested on.

One of the most significant ?instructional shifts? in these standards is the demand that schools teach more nonfiction or ?informational text? across subject areas. Because most of what students will read in college and in the workplace is not fiction, but texts that are ?informational in structure,? the standards say that that by fourth grade, half of what students read should be informational text, while by 12th grade, students should be reading nonfiction 70 percent of the time.

Here is the chart from the Standards document that shows the NAEP Reading Framework on which the authors of the C.C.S.S. base their recommendations:

(Note that this does not mean that 70 percent of the reading in 12th grade English classes should be informational, but, instead, that nonfiction should make up 70 percent of the reading 12th graders should do in school in all subjects.)

Ask students if this seems like a big shift to them given what they already read in school. Do they think that this shift is necessary in order to be ?college and career-ready?? Why? What would be lost, and what would be gained, for students with such a shift?

Tell them that, as the nation transitions to these new standards, there has been a great debate about the fiction vs. nonfiction requirement. They are about to read an essay on the topic that recently appeared in The New York Times, then will read other points of view, discuss them, and decide what they think themselves.

Related | In her Opinionator blog post What Children Should Read,? Sara Mosle writes:

Malcolm Gladwell, author of ?The Tipping Point? and a New Yorker staff writer, told me how he prepared, years ago, to write his first ?Talk of the Town? story. ?Talk? articles have a distinct style, and he wanted to make sure he got the voice straight in his head before he began writing. His approach was simple. He sat down and read 100 ?Talk? pieces, one after the other.

The story nicely illustrates how careful reading can advance great writing. As a schoolteacher, I offer Mr. Gladwell?s story to students struggling with expository writing as evidence that they need not labor alone. There are models out there ? if only they?ll read them.

Mr. Gladwell?s tale provides a good lesson for English teachers across the country as they begin to implement the Common Core State Standards, a set of national benchmarks, adopted by nearly every state, for the skills public school students should master in language arts and mathematics in grades K-12.
The standards won?t take effect until 2014, but many public school systems have begun adjusting their curriculums to satisfy the new mandates. Depending on your point of view, the now contentious guidelines prescribe a healthy ? or lethal ? dose of nonfiction.

For example, the Common Core dictates that by fourth grade, public school students devote half of their reading time in class to historical documents, scientific tracts, maps and other ?informational texts? ? like recipes and train schedules. Per the guidelines, 70 percent of the 12th grade curriculum will consist of nonfiction titles. Alarmed English teachers worry we?re about to toss Shakespeare so students can study, in the words of one former educator, ?memos, technical manuals and menus.?

Questions | For discussion and reading comprehension:

1. What does Ms. Mosle illustrate in her opening anecdote?
2. What are the advantages to teaching and reading nonfiction?
3. Why are English teachers concerned about the new nonfiction requirements?
4. What do you think education researcher Diane Ravitch means by writing, ?I can?t imagine a well-developed mind that has not read novels, poems and short stories.?
5. What is narrative nonfiction? Can you think of any examples?
6. Overall, what is Ms. Mosle arguing about the role of nonfiction in schools? What sentences make that clear?

RELATED RESOURCES

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Activity | Note: Given the lengthy warm-up, some teachers may choose at this point to go straight to the writing exercise in which students state and support their own point of view on the topic. For classes that would like to consider other points of view and have a discussion or debate, we provide the following.

Tell students they will engage in a circle-within-a-circle discussion around the question at the heart of this article: ?What Should Children Read??

Before they begin to prepare for the discussion, project or distribute the Common Core anchor standards for reading literature and informational texts and ask students to look at the specifics for their grade level. Ask them note what seem to be the most important expectations for student readers at their grade level and to keep these in mind as they explore the discussion questions.

Give students this list of discussion questions with related readings (all nonfiction) and ask them to read and take notes in preparation for a discussion. You might assign groups or pairs of students to each question, and then jigsaw them to create an inner circle for discussion.

1. Does an increased emphasis on reading nonfiction threaten the place of fiction, poetry and drama in English classrooms? Some English teachers think so. According to the English newspaper The Telegraph, ?American literature classics are to be replaced by insulation manuals and plant inventories in United States classrooms by 2014.? Is this true? If so, is it a good idea? To decide for yourself, look at this post critiquing the focus on nonfiction by The Concord Review?s Will Fitzhugh; the Room for Debate post ?Reading More But Learning Less??; the Washington Post?s ?Fiction vs. Nonfiction Smackdown?; and National Review?s?Goodbye, Liberal Arts?? You can also read what two architects of the Common Core have to say in response about the role of fiction in E.L.A. classrooms, and what advice education researcher Diane Ravitch offers them about revising the 70 percent/30 percent requirements of the standards.
2. What does reading fiction teach us that reading nonfiction does not?

Fiction is generally the centerpiece of English language arts curriculums, and with reason. Fiction is good for you?for example, it can help you become more empathetic, and neuroscience says it?s good for our brains. What would happen if we removed a significant amount of literature from the classroom and replaced it with nonfiction? Why?

3. What does reading nonfiction teach us that fiction can?t? In her article, Sara Mosle makes a strong case that reading nonfiction can help students become better writers. Another study found that reading nonfiction also enhances reading skills. What other advantages can you think of for reading nonfiction texts in the classroom?
4. How can schools find engaging reading ? both fiction and nonfiction ? to engage all students in meeting the Common Core Standards?

How can schools go about finding pieces that connect to all students? lives so that students care about reading and learning from them? Should schools ensure that growing populations of minorities, like Latinos, are well represented in the books students read? Are there classics that should be taken off your school?s reading list to make room for more contemporary favorites? And, finally, how might schools make classics (many of which, fiction or not, are part of the Common Core) less stodgy and more relevant?

5. Exactly what works should children read and why? For a long time, experts have been weighing in on what educated people should read, and college reading lists have been built around ideas like Harold?s Bloom?s ?western canon? For almost as long, people have challenged notions of what makes a work canonical and sought to expand the canon to make it more inclusive of women and minorities. Take a look at these lists and, if possible, the official list for your school?s English Language Arts program. Now here?s the list of what the common core authors think you should read. What do you think? What would an ideal list consist of, in your opinion?

Once students have completed the reading and had time to thoughtfully consider the discussion questions and related readings, divide them into two groups. One group becomes the inner circle, and responsible for leading and sustaining the conversation, while the second group becomes the outer circle. The outer circle is responsible for taking notes, but may also contribute to the discussion. (An outer circle member might tap one of the inner circle on the shoulder and replace him or her, or the class could set up a microblogging backchannel for comments.)

Following discussion, ask students to craft persuasive letters citing evidence from the discussion to their school?s administration to share their ideas about how to best approach implementing the Common Core reading standards.

Going Further | As Ms. Mosle notes, ?What schools really need isn?t more nonfiction but better nonfiction, especially that which provides good models for student writing. Most students could use greater familiarity with what newspaper, magazine and book editors call ?narrative nonfiction?: writing that tells a factual story, sometimes even a personal one, but also makes an argument and conveys information in vivid, effective ways.?

Show (or play) students an example of narrative nonfiction (select an essay from those Web sites curated below or from your own collection) and discuss it together. Use this piece to explore how good narrative nonfiction can both feed academic success and nourish the soul. Then, tell students that you?d like each of them to find a piece of narrative nonfiction that they think would enrich the curriculum (in English or any other discipline) by reflecting who they are and what perspective they bring to the canon (and the classroom).

Ms. Mosle mentions these places to find nonfiction:

Here are some more sources:

And here are some places to find great nonfiction (and ideas for what to do with it) on The Learning Network:

Have students choose a piece, then answer these questions: What interests you about this work? What might you gain from it that is different from what you might gain by reading a work of fiction ? even one on the same topic? What perspective does it bring that might otherwise be missing in the classroom? What do you hope to gain from reading it? Finally, students should write persuasive letters advocating for their piece?s inclusion in the curriculum.

Other ways to broaden the canon with nonfiction (reprinted from a 2010 lesson on nonfiction created before the era of the Common Core):

1. Complement curriculum in any subject with related New York Times articles to engage readers, offer models for writing and put ideas into historical or current context.
2. Students play with the idea of genre by adapting a work of nonfiction as fiction. The adaptation by Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze of Susan Orlean?s nonfiction book ?The Orchid Thief? into the fictional film ?Adaptation? is one example. Encourage students to think creatively about how to craft such an adaptation and make it work, including choosing an appropriate fiction genre. They append to their finished work a note about the differences between the genres and the artistic decisions they made.
3. Create book clubs around a theme in the curriculum, say coming of age or cultural identity, and offer students a choice of nonfiction texts to read. This can be done as a self-contained unit or in conjunction with a work of fiction related to the same theme.
4. Begin a ?book in common? program at your school. Create a rotation of disciplines and invite teachers in each to suggest a nonfiction title each year to serve as the book in common. Every member of the school community reads the book and shares a common experience. This approach helps students see that reading goes beyond English class and offers possibilities for readers whose passions might lie outside the canon.
5. Involve teachers from across the curriculum in planning summer reading experiences and creating summer reading lists to ensure they offer students nonfiction options and reflect the breadth of your school?s curriculum.

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Common Core ELA Anchor Standards, 6-12

Reading
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

Writing
1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.
5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting or trying a new approach.

Speaking and Listening
1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others? ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
2. Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively and orally.
4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.

Language
1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Source: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/fiction-or-nonfiction-considering-the-common-cores-emphasis-on-informational-text/

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