The Importance of Fiction

Teaching reading using fiction is truly my favorite part of the school day. There are days when reading class feels magical and the level of thinking and participation are what teachers dream of.

Kelly Gallagher, author of In the Best Interest of Students shares that the thinking involved in reading literary works is different than when reading other disciplines. Students learn to become creative thinkers, explore the possibilities, connect, find solutions, and desire vision. How fantastic is that?

Goals 5-7 in The Reading Strategies Book are dedicated to reading comprehension using fiction. Can I say these are my favorite chapters?!

Serravallo includes tons of "oldies but goodies"  and new strategies that any teacher should have in their repertoire.  AND Serravallo has put them all together in this recipe book style. There are 28 strategies on plot alone. Gasp!

One that I will definitely use is Plotting Flashback on a Timeline. My students have a tendency to overlook flashbacks in their reading and recognize the importance it has to a story and characters development.

Come back to school (EEK) you can try it out too :)
 Strategy: Flashback

1.  Students plot events on a timeline 
2.  They notice when time changes to a memory 
3. Ask them: What does the flashback tell us about the character? 
4. Ask them:Where will we place that on your timeline?

Coming Up: A strategy (new to me) that will help my students self-monitor their own learning. Plus Friday Fiction...YAY!