Imprint
Heinemann
Author(s)
Kylene Beers, Robert E. Probst
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Imprint
Heinemann
Author(s)
Kylene Beers, Robert E. Probst
By Kylene Beers, Former Senior Reading Researcher to the Comer School Development Program at Yale University and 2008-2009 President of NCTE, Robert E. Probst, Georgia State University, Professor Emeritus of English Education
Like Notice & Note did for literary texts, Reading Nonfiction introduces signposts that support the close reading of informational texts. Because we read nonfiction for different purposes and with a different point of view than literature, Kylene and Bob also share three essential questions that the nonfiction signposts each lead to, ultimately supporting an informed, mature, sophisticated reading of nonfiction texts. All in the service of helping kids challenge the texts they read, change their own minds about a subject, and even change the minds of others.
Kylene Beers
Kylene Beers, Ed.D., is a former middle school teacher who has turned her commitment to adolescent literacy and struggling readers into the major focus of her research, writing, speaking, and teaching. She author of the best-selling When Kids Can’t Read/What Teachers Can Do, co-editor (with Bob Probst and Linda Rief) of Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice, and co-author (with Bob Probst) of Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading, all published by Heinemann. She taught in the College of Education at the University of Houston, served as Senior Reading Researcher at the Comer School Development Program at Yale University, and most recently acted as the Senior Reading Advisor to Secondary Schools for the Reading and Writing Project at Teachers College.
Kylene has published numerous articles in state and national journals, served as editor of the national literacy journal, Voices from the Middle, and was the 2008-2009 President of the National Council of Teachers of English. She is an invited speaker at state, national, and international conferences and works with teachers in elementary, middle, and high schools across the US. Kylene has served as a consultant to the National Governor’s Association and was the 2011 recipient of the Conference on English Leadership outstanding leader award.
Robert E. Probst
Robert E. Probst, author of Response and Analysis, (Heinemann, 2004) is a respected authority on the teaching of literature. Bob’s focus on engagement and literary analysis helps teachers learn the strategies to help readers approach a text with more confidence and greater skill.
Professor Emeritus of English Education at Georgia State University, Bob’s publications include numerous articles in English Journal, Voices from the Middle, and professional texts including Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice (Heinemann, 2007), and the forthcoming Heinemann book Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading (with Kylene Beers). He presents at national conventions including the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the Association of Supervisors and Curriculum Developers (ASCD), and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). He has served NCTE in various leadership roles including the Conference on English Leadership Board of Directors, the Commission on Reading, column editor of the NCTE journal Voices from the Middle, and is the 2007 recipient of the CEL Outstanding Leadership Award.
Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note Stances, Signposts, and Strategies
Download a Sample Chapter (PDF)
We Begin Again 1
P a r t I
Issues to Consider 10
1 Defining Nonfiction 17
2 Developmental Demands 23
3 Democratic Requirements 30
4 Research Findings 34
5 Invitations and Intrusions 39
6 Rigor and Relevance 42
7 Complexity and Readability 47
8 Classroom Conversations 56
9 Disciplinary Literacy 66
1 0 Challenge and Change 72
P a r t I I
The Importance of stance 76
1 What Surprised Me? 81
2 What Did the Author Think I Already Knew? 91
3 What Challenged, Changed,
or Confirmed What I Already Knew? 100
Classroom Close-Up: Experimenting with the
Three Questions in a Sixth-Grade Classroom 108
P a r t I I I
The power of signposts 112
1 Contrasts and Contradictions 123
2 Extreme or Absolute Language 136
3 Numbers and Stats 148
4 Quoted Words 158
5 Word Gaps 168
P a r t I V The role of strategies 180
1 Possible Sentences 185
2 KWL 2.0 193
3 Somebody Wanted but So 201
4 Syntax Surgery 209
Classroom Close-Up:
The Syntax of Science Texts 217
5 Sketch to Stretch 221
6 Genre Reformulation 230
7 Poster 240
C O N C L U S I O N
And Now You Begin 247
Appendix A Surveys 250
1 Teaching Nonfiction, Grades 4–12 251
2 Let’s Talk About It Survey 256
Appendix B Teaching Texts 258
1 “Hard at Work” 259
2 “Vampires Prey on Panama” 261
3 “The Dung Beetle as a Weapon Against
Global Warming” 263
4 “Garana’s Story” 265
5 Excerpt from George Washington’s Secret Six 268
6 Excerpt from Everything You Need to Know
about American History Homework 269
7 Excerpt from Up Before Daybreak 270
8 Model Passages for Teaching Syntax Surgery 271
9 Model Passages for Sketch to Stretch 272
Appendix C Teaching Resources and Booklists 273
1 Magazines Most Often Used 274
2 Websites Most Often Used 275
3 Thirty of Our Favorite Nonfiction Books 276
Compiled by Mary Lee Hahn and Franki Sibberson
4 Forty of My Favorite Nonfiction Picture Books 277
Compiled by Teri Lesesne
5 Signal Words 279
6 Thumbnails of Online Templates 281
Acknowledgments and Thanks 283
References 285
Trade Books and Articles for Kids 291
Index 295