Nonfiction Read Alouds

[Pages:9]Nonfiction Read Alouds:

The Why of and How To

Marlyn Press Estelle Henenbers

Deborah Getman

Abstract

The importance of interactive read alouds has been understood for many years. This article summarizes the generally positive research on nonfiction read alouds. In addition, it describe the use of nonfiction read alouds in several classes showing how the teachers used them to teach both literacy and content area skills and materials. The article ends with some suggestions as to how to improve the use of nonfiction read alouds in the classroom. These suggestions should be applicable to many types of classroom settings and with many types of materials and content area subjects.

Keywords: Read alouds, Nonfiction, Literacy instruction, Classroom instruction

T he principal visits a class where the teacher reads to students. The teacher introduces the text providing background on topic, structure, vocabulary, and setting a purpose for reading. Students predict. The teacher reads as students verify predictions, clarify points, and answer questions. In another class, the teacher reads a text students could not read themselves. She supplies background information and connects prior knowledge to new. Typical fiction read alouds? No! Here, much literacy instruction uses interactive, nonfiction read alouds as a means of instruction. This article discusses research on fiction and nonfiction read alouds, describes classes using nonfiction read alouds, and makes suggestions for using nonfiction read alouds.

A widely held belief is reading aloud to children builds knowledge required for reading success (Anderson, Heibert,

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Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985 ; Trelease, 2006), develops vocabulary and comprehension (Krashen, 2004), and provides models of good readers (Moen, 2004). Research conducted on interactive fiction and nonfiction read alouds, at various levels, documents this success (Press, 2007 & 2008; Press, Henenberg & Getman, 2009). Listening skills are more advanced than reading skills until the middle grades so reading to children opens up new experiences, subjects, and ideas they would not have access to (Coiro, 2003); develops interest and motivation; illustrates content area concepts; and contributes to personal growth and social response (Albright & Arial, 2005).

Language skills are fostered through read alouds. Toddlers mimic language patterns heard when read to (Coiro, 2003). Interactive reading produces gains in oral language development for language delayed children from low-income environments (Allor & McCathren, 2003). Reading aloud helps second

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language learners develop English fluency, word meanings, oral language and thinking skills (Hickman, McCabe & Vaughn, 2004; Kelly, 2004).

Children not read to may find book reading routines puzzling and boring. They may appear off task, respond to stories in unconventional ways, find answering literal questions of little importance and make comments only tangentially related to the text. Children who have been read to understand the written word is a source of knowledge, and have such school related behaviors as listening quietly, understanding story structure, taking turns speaking, answering obvious questions and raising one's hand (Meier, 2003).

Oral language uses context including intonation, gestures, facial expression, and so on for meaning. Written language does not have this context (Beck & McKeown, 2001). There must be specification for readers to determine the context from the words themselves and interactive reading bridges oral and written language (Sulzby, 1985).

Much reading is nonfiction. Boys often like facts presented in nonfiction more than they enjoy a story (Gear, 2009). Nonfiction texts may be short pieces that do not have to be read from cover to cover. Nonfiction capitalizes on children's interests and leads them to be engaged readers (Yopp & Yopp, 2000). Learning to read and reading to learn go hand in hand (Richgels, 2002). Nonfiction develops knowledge and vocabulary of topics children may never encounter (Moss, 1995). It helps children understand and use the distinct purposes for reading, and the types of comprehension strategies needed for each (Harvey, 1998).

Nonfiction structure is less familiar to children than the structure of fiction (Moss, 1995) and there is a decline in reading comprehension called the fourth-grade slump

Nonfiction is often structured around a main idea that must be determined to make sense of the information.

(Caccamise & Snyder, 2009) which occurs simultaneously with the introduction of expository text in classrooms. Nonfiction is often structured around a main idea that must be determined to make sense of the information. The text is organized into description, explanation, cause/effect, problem /solution, sequence, and compare and contrast (Harvey, 1998). Nonfiction read alouds develop this knowledge (Albright & Ariail, 2005). Nonfiction texts have features not found in fiction such as generic noun construction, unfamiliar uses of the verbs "to have" and "to be," opening and closing statements, technical vocabulary and topical themes children may not understand (Yopp & Yopp, 2000).

Print features in nonfiction alerts readers to important information. Such features as fonts, text structures clue words, graphics and text organizers are generally not found in fiction

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Think alouds are the

"detailed process of making our thinking public by showing

students how we construct meaning. Teachers share inner conversations about how they comprehend

and model strategies used to make meaning" (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007).

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and must be taught. Picture books provide experiences where meaning comes from both the written word and the visual image (Serafini, 2008). These texts assist students when reading multi-modal materials and enable children make judgments about text meaning and quality.

The authors observed classes in two Brooklyn, New York schools. In both, nonfiction read alouds were used as part of literacy instruction. The schools and educators allowed the use of their names. The authors looked at how teachers used nonfiction to teach literacy skills, and how students learned and used strategies presented.

Two teaching techniques used in the classes were observed. Think alouds are the "detailed process of making our thinking public by showing students how we construct meaning. Teachers share inner conversations about how they comprehend and model strategies used to make meaning" (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007). Turn and talk occurs when teachers stop, ask a question and have students share ideas with each other by turning and talking to the student next to them.

First observed was a fourth-grade class with 26 students at PS 207. The teacher was Ms. Barbara Gonzalez. The text was The Mary Celeste: An Unsolved Mystery (Yolen & Stemple, 1999). Read alouds help children develop questioning techniques. When students ask questions and search for answers they monitor comprehension and interact with text to construct meaning (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007). The lesson's aims were to help children use text features, develop vocabulary, connect with the text and understand text structure. Questioning here involved predicting, inferring, connecting and looking for "big" ideas (Harvey & Goudvis, 2005).

Ms. Gonzalez read the title and modeled the question, "What is the mystery in the text?" She used sticky notes to

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The lesson started with, "What do you think of reading a passage and answering questions about it?" The answer was, "It's boring."

model questioning, and think alouds to demonstrate strategies. Text features such as vocabulary listings, side-bars and picture captions were discussed to gain a better understanding of the text. Students asked and answered more of their own questions. At several points the students "turned and talked" to determine big questions about the text. They read aloud parts that answered questions, but realized that some questions were not answered. By the end of the book, students understood there were six possible theories of what happened to the ship, The Mary Celeste, but no definite answer. This was the mystery. The follow-up activity was to write a letter describing a possible seventh theory as to what happened to the ship.

An observation of a fourth-grade inclusion class with Antonia Cracchiola, general education teacher, and Julie Courgis, special education teacher, was next. The aim was making connections to improve comprehension. The lesson started with, "What do you think of reading a passage and answering questions about it?" The answer was, "It's boring." Students were asked, "What strategy helps us remember what we read?" Students discussed reading log responses and jotting down ideas; acknowledging underlining was not the best way to remember information. Ms. Cracchiola read an article on girls' education from the Comprehension Tool Kit (Harvey & Goudvis, 2005). She provided background and distributed copies of the article which students read silently as the teacher read aloud.

The class discussed genre, text features, and graphics of nonfiction literature. A second, related article was read to the class. The teachers modeled jotting down reactions, questions students should ask themselves, and connecting new knowledge to prior schema.

For the third article, students were divided into ability groups using articles on the same topic, at different levels. Students "turned and talked" to arouse prior knowledge and make predictions. They monitored comprehension by jotting down ideas and filled in a chart with the columns: "I think (facts)" and "I wonder (questioning)". Each group read and discussed the article. Some groups read aloud, others silently. The next day groups would share information and reflections with the class, describe strategies used and state why strategies were chosen.

The third class, a fifth-grade gifted class, was taught by Vanessa Morgan. The objective was determining word meanings from context where readers take what is known and gather clues in the text to find the definition (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007). Both students and teacher had copies of a text about the Titanic. The equation "background knowledge plus text clues = inference" (Harvey & Goudvis, 2005) was presented. In small groups, students "turned and talked" about background knowledge of The Titanic. Ms. Morgan read while students used picture and context clues and background knowledge to figure

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By helping students use what they knew and making connections with information in the text, the basis for

understanding new content was set.

out word meanings. Ms. Morgan helped students define and clarify unknown words during the first part of the lesson. Later students worked in groups using context clues to find the correct meaning.

Next was a sixth-grade social studies lesson introducing ancient Mesopotamia. The teacher, Ms. Kimberly Simek, helped children predict what Mesopotamia would be like by making connections with what was learned about ancient Egypt. Ms. Simek read "Waters of Life" from Ancient Civilization: The Illustrated Guide to Belief, Mythology, and Art (Woolf, 2007) to the class. A map of Mesopotamia was displayed and the importance of water to the region discussed. Ms. Simik read a part of "The Enuma Elish: Myth of Apsu and Tiamet" (Woolf, 2007). Students made text-to-world connections about Mesopotamia taking notes as the teacher read to them to determine the area's natural resources and their connection with Mesopotamian development. Students predicted what life would be like in Mesopotamia.

Ms. Simek demonstrated, through think alouds, the strategies of monitoring comprehension and putting ideas together. She stopped reading at points to clarify and expand ideas. By helping students use what they knew and making connections with information in the text, the basis for understanding new content was set. This lesson introduced the

students to content-area words they could not decode and/or understand without this background.

In Mrs. Kelly's sixth-grade class, a read aloud was used as a summative activity for a social studies unit on the Holocaust, a subject best explained with adult scaffolding. Previously, Mrs. Kelly read other books about the Holocaust and students completed research projects on this topic. As teachers play a more active role during read alouds than with other strategies, it is an excellent way to help children understand difficult subjects (Morgan, 2009). Mrs. Kelly read Would You Salute? (Steele, 2005), about a half-Jewish girl who must make decisions about her identity. The lesson was aimed at helping students with their own moral choices.

Stories close to children's lives and experiences provide new ways of thinking about reading. Once they heard many stories and narratives, they connect themes, characters, and issues from one book to another. When children understand how to connect texts to their lives, they connect to the larger world and think about bigger, more expansive issues beyond their universe of home, school and neighborhood (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007,p. 92).

Mrs. Kelly paused to discuss important aspects of the text. She asked, "How would you feel?", "How did kids feel then and now?", "What would you do?" She used "turn and talk" to

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expand and clarify issues. The students responeded that they would be afraid, anxious, confused and upset by what was going on around them.

A fifth-grade language arts class taught by Ms. Donohue was observed at P.S. 170 in Brooklyn. Students read The Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons (2006). To arouse prior knowledge, students wrote descriptions of five drinks or desserts made with ice cream. A poem on ice cream was read aloud. Students discussed the author's feelings towards ice cream.

The KWL (Ogle, 1986) chart helped develop and use reading strategies. The K, "What I already Know", activates prior knowledge and motivates students. The teacher helped students share knowledge and she listed information in the K column. Student responses included such ideas as where to buy ice cream, favorite flavors, different types and recipes using ice cream. Using the "think aloud" process the teacher modeled classifying information. The "W", "What I Want to Learn", column allowed students to set a purpose for reading, generate questions, make predictions, and determine how to resolve conflicting information. The questions helped students monitor understanding and activate "fix-up" strategies if comprehension broke down. Students wanted to know how ice cream is made, what new flavors are planned, where does most ice cream come from, what is the best ice cream and what milk other than cow milk is used in ice cream. Finally, Ms. Donohue read the text and students completed the "L", "What I Learned", column which helped students answer and review questions previously asked. Students learned who invents new flavors, what types of milk are used in ice cream, and what the manufacturing process looks like.

Assessment consisted of three follow-up questions: "What fact did you learn about ice cream?"

"Why has ice cream been a favorite dessert for years?" "What flavor ice cream would you create?" The questions helped students think about their written responses. The students wrote acrostic poems creating new flavors and describe how ice cream is created.

Having the opportunity to observe these classes gave the

authors an indication of the type of nonfiction, read aloud

instruction that was possible in school. Several effective

practices are included in figure 1. The materials included both

commercially available curricula and trade books that teachers

utilized in new and different ways. Students of all ability levels

can profit from this type of instruction. The students

understood how important their understandings were and

worked hard to develop the reading strategies that would help

them learn more.

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Figure 1: Effective Classroom Practices During classroom observations, the following practices were found to be effective:

1. Know the goals, objectives, strategies and skills to be taught. What standards are being met? What aspects of literacy are being stressed?

2. Read many genres (Moen, 2004). Especially in nonfiction, print features, graphics, organization and font need to be explained and their use demonstrated.

3. Read the beginning of a long text and have students finish it. This develops interest, background knowledge and connections between the text and the student.

4. Introduce new vocabulary words and explain how to pronounce them. This is important for students with limited decoding skills and second language learners.

5. Use open-ended questions to help students to determine how they would act or feel during important events. What moral choices would they make?

6. Let students read to other students. Students who write exceptional pieces can read them to the class as examples of good pieces of nonfiction. Older students can read to younger ones.

7. Teach listening skills and note taking. 8. Many students cannot determine the main points and structure of the text. Help

them create graphic organizers for each type of text. 9. As a follow-up to read alouds, have written copies of the text available. Audio

versions of the text should be available as well so they can see and hear the text. 10. Instruction in reading graphic materials and their connection to the written material

is also suggested.

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REFERENCES Albright, K., & Ariail, M. (2005). Tapping the potential of

teacher read-alouds in middle schools. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 48(7), 582-591.

Allor, J., & McCathren, R. (2003). Developing emergent literacy skills through storybook reading. Intervention in School and Clinic, 39(2), 72-79.

Anderson, R., Hiebert, E., Scott, J., & Wilkinson, I. (1985). Becoming a nation of readers: The report of the Commission on Reading. Champaign-Urbana, IL: Center for the Study of Reading.

Beck, I., & McKeown, M. (2001). "Text talk" Capturing the benefits of read-aloud experiences for young children. The Reading Teacher, 55(1), 10-20.

Caccamise, D., & Snyder, L. (2009). Comprehension instruction in the 21st Century. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, 35(2), 23-26.

Coiro, J. (2003). Why read aloud? Scholastic Early Childhood Today. 17(5), 8-9.

Gear, A. (2009). Nonfiction reading power. Portland, Me.: Pembroke Publishers.

Harvey, S. (1998). Nonfiction matters: Reading, writing and research in grades 3-8. York, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.

Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension for understanding and engagement. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.

Hickman, R., McCabe, A., & Vaughn, S. (2004) Storybook reading: Improving vocabulary and comprehension for English-language learners. The Reading Teacher, 57(8), 720-730.

Kelly, D. (2004). Reading aloud (out loud) in conversational English classes. The Internet TESL Journal, 10 (7). Retrieved from

Krashen, S. (2004). The Power of reading: Insights from the research, 2nd Edition. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Meier, T. (2003). Why can't she remember that? The importance of storybook reading in multilingual, multicultural classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 57(3), 242-252.

Moen, C. (2004). Ten to-do's for successful read-alouds. Book Links, 13(4) 10-14.

Morgan, H. (2009). Using read-alouds with culturally sensitive children's books: A strategy that can lead to tolerance and improved reading. Reading Improvement, 46(1), 3-8.

Moss, B. (1995). Using children's nonfiction tradebooks as read-alouds. Language Arts, 72(2), 122-125.

Ogle, D. (1986). K-W-L: A teaching model that develops active reading of exposition text. The Reading Teacher, 39(6), 564-570.

Press, M. (2007, Fall). Reading aloud to prospective teachers. State of Reading: Online Journal of the Texas State Reading Association, 13-26.

Press, M. (2008). Improving read-alouds: The big 10. WSRA Journal, 42 (2), 17-20.

Press, M., Henenberg, E., & Getman, D. (2009). Read alouds move to the middle level. Educator's Voice, 2, 36-43.

Richgels, D. (2002). Informational texts in kindergarten. The Reading Teacher, 55(6), 586-595.

Serafini, F. (2008). Approaching, navigating, and comprehending picturebooks. WSRA Journal, 4(2), 5-9.

Sulzby, E. (1985). Children's emergent reading of favorite storybooks: A developmental study. Reading Research Quarterly, 20(4), 458-481.

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Trelease, J. (2006). The Read-Aloud Handbook, 6th Edition. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Yopp, R. & Yopp, K. (2000). Sharing informational text with young children. The Reading Teacher, 53(5), 410-423.

CITED CHILDREN'S BOOKS Gibbons, G (2006). The full scoop. NY, NY: A Holiday

House Book.

Steele, D. (2005). Would you salute?. Statesville, NC: Hidden Paths Publications.

Woolf, G. (general ed.) (2007). Ancient Civilization: The illustrated guide to belief, mythology, and art. New York, New York: Barnes and Noble.

Yolen, J. & Stemple, E. (1999). The Mary Celeste: An unsolved mystery from history. New York, New York: Aladdin Paperbacks.

MATERIALS USED Harvey, S & Goudvis, A. (2005) Comprehension toolkit: Language

and lessons for active literacy Grades 3-6. Portsmith, NH: Heinemann.

Wolf, M. Cohen, R. & Bausch, L. (Development Team), (2007) Writing fundamentals: Writing units of study--Grades 45, Bohemia. NY: School Wide, Inc.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Marlyn Press is an Assistant Professor of General and Special Education at the Touro College Graduate School of Education in Brooklyn, NY. She taught for many years at several school districts in Nassau County, NY before teaching college. She has presented at many conferences and written close to 30 articles on literacy topics. You can contact Dr. Press at marlynpress@.

Estelle Henenbers is an Adjunct Professor in the same Touro College program. She also works as a literacy consultant for Fordum University in NY. She was a literacy teacher and assistant principal with the New York City Board of Education for many years. She has presented at conferences and workshops for teachers.

Deborah Getman is an Adjunct Professor at Touro College. She is a full time literacy coach with the New York City Board of Education. She has made many presentations at workshops and conferences.

AUTHORS' NOTE: We would like to thank Mary E. Bosco, Principal of PS 207, Brooklyn, NY, for allowing us to use her classrooms for our observations. Her dedication to excellence in education and research is commendable. A thank you also to the teachers of the classes we observed: Barbara Gonzalez, Antonia Cracchiola, Julie Courgis, Vanessa Morgan,Kelly and Kimberly Simek

We would also like to thank Mr. Tony Wu principal of PS 170 Brooklyn, NY for permitting us to visit his school and observing Ms. Donohue. He is dedicated to working with children of all ethnicities and striving for excellence for all students.

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