A New Page in NonFiction
Engaging Our Students with Informational Texts
Colette L. Huxford, Library Media Specialist
Shenandoah High School & Middle School
http://www.shenandoah.k12.in.us
chuxford@shenandoah.k12.in.us
RN1: Read and comprehend a variety of
nonfiction independently & proficiently.
 RN2:Extract and construct meaning from
nonfiction texts using a range of
comprehension skills.
 RN3: Build understanding of nonfiction
text, using knowledge of structural
organization and author’s purpose and
message.
 RN4: Build understanding of nonfiction
texts by evaluating specific claims &
synthesizing & connecting ideas.
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Indiana College & Career
Readiness Standards
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Let’s be honest, many of us are not nonfiction fans. We like stories.
Our students pick up on this. (The faces
we make; our body language; we never
recommend them, etc.)
May have had some justification in the
past, but things have improved.
And let’s face it, Informational Text is here
to stay.
Actually, we need it!
We need an attitude adjustment!
The Facts
“Your passion is contagious.” Penny Kittle
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It’s how we learn new things:
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Is organic farming really safer?
Do I want a wind turbine in my backyard?
What will I see in Ireland?
What is a Polar Vortex?
How do I take care of my new puppy?
“We are surrounded by text whose primary
purpose is to convey information about the
natural or social world.” Nell Duke, The Case for
Informational Text
Rationale
“He wanted to know, so he wanted to read.” Penny Kittle
So… working on our attitude. What is the
best non-fiction/informational text you
have read lately?
 Turn to someone nearby and share.
 5 volunteers to share with the group.
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Time to Share
“The number one reason kids cited for not reading more? They
can’t find books they want to read.” Nancie Atwell
Nell Duke Offers 4 Specific Suggestions
 Increase Access
 Increase Time
 Teach Reading Strategies
 Authentic Purpose
How We Can Help
“Students are greedy readers when the book is just right.”
Penny Kittle
Increasing Access
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Junior Library Guild
Young Hoosier Book Award
Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book
Award
Read Aloud Books
Scholastic Book Club Orders & Book Fairs
Kirkus Reviews– free from the Pacers!
Growing Minds from Baker & Taylor
Follett Picks from Follett
Good Reads
If you seek them, they will be found!
Where Are They Hiding?
… “making sure every student has a book to take home to read is
the single most important issue in our quest to develop young
readers.” Kelly Gallagher
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You either love it, or hate it.
Research has shown that these tests do
not necessarily improve comprehension.
However it is a way to collect data & it is
here to stay for many of us.
So, use it!
As you and your students find non-fiction
books, write your own tests. Have them
help you!
Accelerated Reader
“There is something powerful about surrounding kids with
interesting books.” Kelly Gallagher
One of the best ways to increase student
access to books is to tell them about
them!
 I am always surprised when all I have to
do is pick a book off the shelf and start
talking about it; teens grab them out of
my hands.
 The library collection can be a big, scary
place to our students. They don’t know it
like we do!
 We are their best road map.
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Book Talks
“Some books are boring!” Donalyn Miller
When I go to give Book Talks, I like to
look at several things in my construction.
Annotations from YHBA & Rosie.
Amazon– Summaries & Reviews
Book Itself.
 I then put all of that together and rough
draft what I think I want to say.
 On an index card
Key Words
My Summary
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Constructing Book Talks
“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make
reading one his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”
Richard McKenna
Book Trailers- Make them yourself!
 Summer Blog/School Year Blog- As you
read, have a page on your library’s site
that students can visit. I call mine Book
Talk.
 Non-Fiction Feature– Add this to your
opening page. You will need to update it
at least monthly if not weekly.
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Other Ideas to Increase Access
“I am a reader, a flashlight-under-the-covers, carries-a-bookeverywhere-I-go, don’t-look-at-my-Amazon-bill reader.” Donalyn
Miller
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Figure out what students are fascinated
with and connect to that!
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Heaven/Angels
Holocaust
War/Conflict
Tragedy/Abuse/Abductions
Animals
Which leads us to….
So Simple, We Miss It
“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for
reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” Atwood H.
Townsend
Hook ‘em w/what they want-Fiction- then
show them something to continue the
discovery!
 Think of popular titles, then find a way to
give them more!
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Book Connections:
Pair Fiction w/Non-Fiction
“Teenagers want to read- if we let them.” Penny Kittle
Shine- Lauren Myracle
October Mourning: A Song for Matthew
Shepard- Leslea Newman
An article on Matthew Shepard.
Connections
“Teachers must create a love for books that will drive students
to reach for them every school year.” Penny Kittle
Between Shades of Gray- Ruta Sepetys
Surviving the Angel of Death- Eva Kor
Nazi Hunters- Neal Bascomb
Connections
“One of the great things about books is that each reader brings
a unique set of experiences to reading that impacts the way we
think bout the book.” Penny Kittle
Everybody Sees The Ants- A.S. King
Dear Bully- Megan Hall & Carrie Jones
Please Stop Laughing At Me- Jodee Blanco
Connections
“I believe once we love books, it lasts. And once we know love,
we pass it on.” Penny Kittle
Freaks Like Us- Susan Vaught
Devil in the Details: Scenes from an
Obsessive Girlhood- Jennifer Traig
Connections
“I want every student to sit with a book and expect good
things.” Penny Kittle
A Wreath for Emmett Till- Marilyn Nelson
Simeon’s Story: An Eyewitness Account of
the Kidnapping of Emmett Till- Simeon
Wright
Connections
“We can’t wait for someone else to teach out students to love books.
We are the miracle workers. Teaching is still about hope and when
we lose sight of that… we should walk away.” Penny Kittle
Hurricane Song- Paul Volponi
Hurricane Season: A Coach, His Team, and Their
Triumph in the Time of Katrina- Neal Thompson
The Hurricanes: One High School Team’s
Homecoming After Katrina- Jere Longman
Connections
“Students must believe that they can read and that reading is
worth learning how to do well.” Donalyn Miller
Refugees- Catherine Stine
Kabul Beauty School- Deborah Rodriquez
Kids of Kabul:Living Bravely Through a
Never-Ending War- Deborah Ellis
Connections
“Students need the wisdom of books now more than ever.” Kelly
Gallagher
Be a resource for your teachers.
 You can create these things!
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◦ Brilliant Biographies List
◦ Notable or Noteworthy Non-Fiction List
◦ Career & College Ready Standards & NonFiction Brochures
Be A Resource
“I must believe that my students are readers– or will be readers– so
that they can believe it.” Donalyn Miller
Increasing Time
“Research shows that the highest achieving
students are those who devote leisure time to
reading… Recently, the largest-ever
international study of reading found that the
single most important predictor of academic
success is the amount of time children spend
reading books, more important even than
economic or social status. And one of the few
predictors of high achievement in math and
science is the amount of time children devote
to pleasure reading.” (p130)
Nancie Atwell
The Reading Zone
Time & Test Scores!!!
“Anyone’s achievement, male or female, is driven by interest.” Nancie
Atwell
“Every measure that looks at pleasure reading
and its effects on student performance on
standardized tests of reading ability– and
science and math– tells us the major predictor
of academic success is the amount of time
that a student spends reading.” (p.107) Nancie
Atwell, The Reading Zone
“Students who read the most for fun scored
the highest on standardized reading tests.” (p
35) Kelly Gallagher, Readicide
More Evidence
“… the enthusiasm of a trusted adult can make the difference.”
Margaret Meek
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For many students the only time they read is
in school. (How Sad!!)
This time is shrinking and shrinking as we
focus on more and more test prep.
Study after study shows SSR- Silent
Sustained Reading- and FVR- Free Voluntary
Reading work.
Our schools have to turn in a school
improvement plan every year. Get on that
committee and suggest adding reading time.
Then get ready to defend it!!
If you don’t ask, you will never receive!
Never Enough Time
…”any place can be the right place for reading.” Donalyn Miller
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Donalyn Miller is a big proponent of
stealing time to read. And she’s right!
Think about all the time we waste:
taking attendance
library time
standing in line– lunch, pictures
5 minutes/2 minutes at end of hour
as a bell ringer
Good readers do this; we do this; let’s
explicitly teach our students to do this!!
Stolen Moments
“Readers steal time to read.” Donalyn Miller
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Does not always have to be a whole
book!
Internet articles, magazine articles,
chapters, blogs.
Our tests are usually short articles.
Great for Excerpts: Beyond Courage,
Paths to Peace, 50 American Heroes,
Girls Like Us, That Mad Game.
A list of these in your packet.
Have students practice reading these and
responding to them in writing.
More Ways to Save Time: Excerpts
…”the more time students spend reading each day, the more
ingrained it becomes as a daily habit.” Donalyn Miller
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For the past two years, I have had my
Library Media students read “Slivers of
Purple Paper” from Dear Bully.
The Story– The impact of words.
They write about it. Then we do it!
Chinese Take Out Boxes & Colored Slips of
Paper.
◦ 2 comments per person.
◦ Anonymous
◦ Be Kind!
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My 2nd year students get all excited.
Comments like, “I pulled mine out from last
year just last week!”
Dear Bully Activity
“What the reader brings to the page is often more important than
the ability to read the words on the page.” Kelly Gallagher
Current Controversies, At Issue, Opposing
Viewpoints Series– a list of what I brought
today.
 Think of topics that get our students’
attention or tie in to the curriculum they
are studying.
 Once again, have students respond in
writing. More on this later.
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Chapters
“Outside of school we never read without a purpose or a reason.”
Sunday Cummins
Teaching Reading
Strategies
Part of the reason why students don’t like
non-fiction texts is because they don’t
know how to read them.
 Let’s explore some strategies that could
help with that.
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Reading Strategies
“Students feel more empowered when they know more about what
the text will be about…” Sunday Cummins
“Writing about what we have just read is a
powerful tool for deepening our
understanding of a text.” (p. 33) Sunday
Cummins, Close Reading of Informational
Text.
“Students too frequently write mindlessly
about what they have read, just simply
regurgitating the same words used in the
text.” (p.33)
Writing About Reading
“Reading is in harm’s way and needs a heroine.” Terri Lesesne
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I love to have my students write about
what they read.
Maybe it’s because that is how I make
sense of things, but I think it can help our
students too.
Read, Close & Write
Writing About Reading Response Prompts
Collin’s Type 1 & Type 2 writings
Feature these on the library’s webpage
Check It Out!
Writing to Deeper Meaning
“Writing about what we have just read is a powerful tool for
deepening our understanding of a text.” Sunday Cummins
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If I understand the structure of the book, my
expectations are set, and it helps me know
how to read the book.
Most of us are strong readers, so this may be
something we do without realizing what we
are doing.
We need to investigate these structures and
be deliberate about helping our students
learn to do this.
Teach students to ask this question. How is
this book set-up?
Understand authors often use more than 1
type of structure in a text.
Text Structure
“Reading makes everything easier.” Penny Kittle
We take the time and find ways to teach
these formats.
 Then to make these immediate & easily
accessible to our students, we can create
something like this: a text structure
bookmark.
 I like bookmarks. Students never have
enough. It’s small. It’s in their hands. It’s
relatively cheap to produce!
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Text Structure Application
…”it is a moral imperative that we provide a setting in which tons of
reading occurs.” Kelly Gallagher
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These are so easy to gloss over, but we
shouldn’t!
Charts, maps, tables, graphs, photos,
timelines, captions, boxed comments.
You can learn a lot just from these.
And it is an excellent way to teach our
students how to preview, predict & set
purpose.
Reference Lesson I do with my Library
Media Students.
Bookmark
Text Features
“Too many students feel reading is hopeless (although they call it
boring), and we’ve given them no reason to think otherwise.” Penny
Kittle
Authentic Purpose
We need to give our students reasons to
read.
 We do better when we have a reason for
reading. We don’t usually even pick up a
book unless we have a purpose.
 Today, even, you read informational text
before you came, the program, to decide
if you wanted to attend.
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Finding Purpose
“Authentic interest is generated when students are given the
opportunity to delve deeply into an interesting idea.” Kelly Gallagher
Fiction is easy- pleasure, escape,
entertainment.
 Non-fiction/Informational Text– often we
are looking to learn, to find information.
Let’s be blunt and point this out to
students.
 Beginning a new unit is a perfect time to
help create a reason, a purpose.
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Why? Why? Why?
…”our students are in desperate need of large doses of authentic
reading– the kinds of reading we, as adults, do in newspapers,
magazines, blogs, and website.” Kelly Gallagher
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This is also called Previewing or Framing.
There are things we do without thinking.
We need to make these explicit for our
students.
For example, when we begin a new book,
we usually set up our expectations.
We examine the cover, the title, the book
jacket, the CIP.
Preview & Predict Bookmark
Setting Expectations
“If we want kids to become better readers, they have to read a
lot more than they are currently reading.” Kelly Gallagher
What’s Next?
“Read it yourself! If you get excited, you students will catch it!”
Colette Huxford
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“Never lose sight that our highest priority is
to raise students who become lifelong
readers. What our students read in school is
important; what they read the rest of their
lives is more important.” Kelly Gallagher
“We must connect students to books that
force them to pay attention, to think and
wonder, to imagine and believe, and then to
read for the rest of their lives.” Penny Kittle
Greatest compliment we could ever hear…
“You suggested it, so I am [reading it].”
A student’s comment to Penny Kittle.
Closing Quotes