Notice and Note Book Study Part 1

Today is the first day of our online book study on Notice and Note by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst.

The first big question posed by the book is "Is Reading Still Reading?"
I think that reading has changed over the years only in that we read so many different formats now. When I was in school, we only read from textbooks and novels. Students today read books, magazines, web sites, graphic novels, and many do so on digital devices. Some of these formats require very different skills in order to process the texts. We as teachers have to embrace these formats and make sure we equip our students with the tools to be successful with these types of texts.

The second big question is "What is the Role of Fiction?"
There is certainly a push by the new standards adopted by many states for students to read more expository text and less narrative. We certainly see that push on state tests. I know that I most often choose narrative text to read for pleasure. There is such fun to lose myself in a good story. And with such a variety of characters and problems in fiction, I know that I could always find a book to appeal to even the most reluctant reader. We also start new readers out in fiction because the sense of story is so powerful

Yet, it is extremely important to teach how to understand nonfiction. Our students will need those skills to be productive in life beyond the ELA classroom. When I first started teaching, it was so hard to find age appropriate nonfiction for my classroom. But I knew that I had to provide materials to hit those kids (usually, but not always, the boys) who were so interested in nonfiction. I brought in maps, menus, magazines, instruction books, and so forth to fill the void. Now there are so many publishers offering wonderful books at all levels to appeal to any reader. And the newer narrative nonfiction provides the best of both worlds.

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