Books & Resources for Teaching Genre Identification

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From Unit Plan: Fiction vs. Nonfiction

These are the books I use to research literary elements of fiction and nonfiction and for writing assessments for the culminating activity.

Professional Books

Teaching Comprehension Strategies All Readers Need by Nicole Outsen and Stephanie Yulga
What a wonderful resource for teaching fiction and nonfiction! This book is full of mini-lessons that encourage higher-order thinking skills as students infer traits of the genres instead of just copying down the teacher's traits from the board. This is a must-have for all middle-level Language Arts teachers.

Classroom Tip: By using the lesson on identifying the elements of fiction, my students were able to create a deeper understanding of texts.

Teaching Students to Read Nonfiction by Alice Boynton and Wiley Blevins
The newest trend in professional books is the inclusion of transparencies to go with the prescribed lessons. This book has it all! The color transparencies really add a touch of authenticity to your lesson.

Classroom Tip: Use the first transparency and lesson to teach the difference in text structures to your students. This is an easy way for the learning to "stick" as students should have no problem categorizing nonfiction into one of the four types of structures.

Read-Aloud Anthology by Janet Allen and Patrick Daley
This anthology includes stories, poems, speeches, magazine articles, memoirs, and more! What a great resource for guiding students through the process of applying what they've learned about fiction and nonfiction as you read the passage and have the students identify the genre. Such an anthology would be a useful tool in ANY content area.

Classroom Tip: Pick 2 or 3 read alouds for your students. After completing your reading, ask students to classify the text as fiction or nonfiction. Require students to support their opinions with the elements of fiction or nonfiction text structures used in the passage.

Reading Milestones: Signs of Progress in Your Emergent Reader
See signs of progress in your beginning reader. Identify key reading skills. Recognize reading milestones in phonics, spelling, writing, and more.

Teaching Comprehension with Jeff Wilhelm
Understand and implement action strategies for reading comprehension. Here, you'll find support and research-based instruction guidelines for helping older readers tackle more difficult texts.

Bridging the Summer Reading Gap
A break from books can mean big losses for at-risk readers, but schools can help keep pages turning and minds sharp.

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