A few weeks ago, Professor Valerie Bang-Jensen let me know about a great activity she’d
developed for her undergraduate education students, and I asked if she’d share
more details in a blog post. I’m so grateful that she agreed.
Thank you, Valerie, for this wonderful way of introducing the
5 Kinds of Nonfiction classification system to adults and using it as a
steppingstone to additional learning.
I love a challenge, so when my
junior and senior college students confess that they aren’t fans of nonfiction,
it’s on!
Most of the undergraduate students entering
our program feel confident in their ability to identify and discuss sub-genres
of fiction. They can quickly and easily share that “fables have lessons and
feature animals,” “fairytales use a motif of three,” and “science
fiction allows us to ask what if.” But they tend to see nonfiction as a
genre with little differentiation. I know that during my content-area literacy
course, the students will learn a lot about this genre, and if I am successful,
many will fall in love with it.
Immersion in Nonfiction
I begin the
course by doing what my friend author/educator Ralph Fletcher advises: I marinate students
in nonfiction. I share a diverse assortment of books on one topic (such as
birds), so students see that a single subject can be explored and presented in many
different ways. As students peruse the books, I secretly note their exclamations of
surprise and chuckles of delight. I consider it a success when they can’t
resist quietly sharing with one another.
sure each student has explored at least two books for comparison’s sake, we
list all the elements they noticed. They often mention such familiar features
as a table of contents and index. They also note fun facts and other back
matter elements, even if they don’t yet know the proper terminology for them.
Words like “headings,” “captions,” “photos,” and “diagrams” pepper their
comments.
I encourage them to think about how the authors of the books make
decisions as they write. At this point, they’re intrigued and primed to
read the first few chapters of 5 Kinds of
Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children’s Books by Melissa Stewart and Marlene Correia for our next
class.
Key Characteristics Sorting Activity
In the Appendix of 5 Kinds of
Nonfiction, there are Category Feature Cards that list the key
characteristics of each nonfiction category—active, browsable, traditional,
expository literature, and narrative. To help my students review their assigned
reading, I divide the class into groups and give each team an envelope full of
colorful paper strips that contain phrases from the Feature Cards.
Their mission is to sort the colored
strips into the 5 categories, referring back to the bird books and 5 Kinds
of Nonfiction if they want to check their decisions. This activity elicits
a lot of thoughtful conversations, confirming that the students are beginning
to see that not all nonfiction is alike.
Here’s how a student named Jenna
describes why she liked the activity:
This helped me distinguish between
the different types of nonfiction books in a unique way. At times, after
reading a lot of information, it is hard for me to remember what I read or
condense that information, so physically laying out the strips helped me grasp
the information better. It also allowed me to bounce ideas off peers, which
clarified uncertainties and gave me the opportunity to share my thoughts out
loud with others to further our understanding.
One group of students improved on my
directions. Once they had sorted the strips into the 5 kinds, they placed the
all the strips for one category on top of a bird book that fit the criteria for
that category. This allowed them to make very deliberate and physical
connections between the characteristics of each category and the children’s
books that exhibited those characteristics.
The sorting activity also enabled students
to see that some characteristics overlap two or more categories. For example, “clear,
straightforward language” is a trait of both active and traditional nonfiction.
Using the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction
classification system as a lens for viewing a wide range of titles helped
students articulate why it makes sense to have a narrative biography
about John James Audubon, but an active field guide for bird
identification. They began to see how they might help their future elementary
students approach different kinds of nonfiction. It also provided a tool for
choosing children’s books that can serve as mentor texts for young writers.
As my student Maggie observed:
Our activity today helped me to
understand how a large topic, such as birds, can be written about in multiple
different nonfiction ways. When I was younger, we were only taught that there
was one type of nonfiction. Having so many of the books in front of me today
and being able to place them into the 5 kinds of nonfiction guided me to see
the similarities and differences of the types.
Students Apply Their New Knowledge
To build on my students’ new understanding, I invite them to fall in love with
a nonfiction author, through an author study. With guidance, they pick an
author who might be a good match for their intended grade level for student
teaching and immerse themselves in that specific author’s body of work.
When the students present their
findings in a fast-paced PechaKucha format replete with images, they
confidently state which kinds of nonfiction “their” author uses as well as any
other signature craft moves that help us recognize a book by that author when
we see one. The photos below show presentations featuring the books of authors George
Ancona (top) and Kate Messner (bottom).
Their presentations include teaching
suggestions, which are informed by learning about and applying the
characteristics of the 5 Kinds of Nonfiction. By the midpoint of the semester,
the class has become nonfiction aficionados, and learning about the 5KNF
classification system has been transformative in their professional literacy
knowledge.
Here’s what a student named Sydney
wrote about her own learning:
I feel more confident in identifying these types and understanding when and
for whom books from each category would be appropriate.
Valerie Bang-Jensen is Professor of Education at Saint Michael’s
College in Vermont. Her latest book, Literacy Moves Outdoors: Learning
Approaches in Any Environment (Heinemann) will be available in spring,
2023.
Most Popular Posts
Resignation
Re-thinking “E” Is for Everyone
We Need Diverse Nonfiction
The 5 Kinds of Nonfiction
Behind the Books: Does Story Appeal to Everyone?
10 STEM Picture Books
Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Melissa Stewart
Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep by Deborah Heiligman
Is It Fiction or Nonfiction? A Twitterchat
5 Kinds of Nonfiction, Book Lists
Topics
One Response
This is a great way to dive into nonfiction in a college course. When I took a children's lit course from our local community college a few years ago, I think I was the only one interested in a close analysis of how modern nonfiction books were put together.