EngEd-275 – Week 11 Blog Post – Nicole Kavajecz
The genre of a text can be determined by various attributes that the author/s use, and are broken into three broad categories: stories, informational books (non-fiction), and poetry (Tompkins, Smith, Campbell, & Green, 2019, p 294). There are many subgenres within each category. Further, authors choose specific text structures to organize their writings, and varied text features to convey the effect they wish. Teachers should explain the different text features to their students, as the ability to identify and understand these ways of writing help with comprehension through fluency.
“Stories are narratives about characters trying to overcome problems” (Tompkins, Smith, Campbell, & Green, 2019, p 294). The format of stories come in picture and chapter book varieties. Folklore is a subcategory of story which began hundreds of years ago and have been passed down through generations. For centuries these stories were not written down, but are very important to each culture. Fables are brief and point out a moral, such as The Tortoise and the Hare (Combs, 2014). Folktales have a hero whom demonstrates virtues that win over evil. Myths are ideas set forth by ancient peoples to explain the way things are, or why something happens. Legends are centered around courageous journeys of ordinary beings struggling against adversity.
Another subcategory of stories is Fantasy, which are imaginative and create new worlds within their pages. Modern Literacy Tales are similar to folktales but set in modern times or written by recent authors, such as The Ugly Duckling (Tompkins, Smith, Campbell, & Green, 2019, p 295). Fantastic Stories are imaginative, usually the contents are mostly about things not related to our natural world, and create a non-realistic world within itself. Science Fiction tell about things that could be possible in the future or far in the past involving science. High Fantasy includes a quest as well as a battle between good and evil. Molding Minds suggest that fantasy seeks to break the rules of what we know, while still containing some familiar elements so there is a small frame of reference (2015).
Realistic Fiction is a subcategory that are life-like and believable (Tompkins, Smith, Campbell, & Green, 2019, p 295). Contemporary Stories portray current ways of living, and the characters solve their own problems (The Geeky Library Lady, 2016). Historical Stories are realistic and set in the past. Most often they contain some historically accurate details, but not directly correlated with factually specific sets.
The Elements of Story Structure are plot, characters, setting, point of view, and theme (Tompkins, Smith, Campbell, & Green, 2019, p 295). Plot is the events that transpire which move the story along. Conflict is an important part of the plot, and shows up in 4 different forms or some combination of them: between character and nature, character and society, between characters, or within a character. The main characters, as well as supportive characters play their part in the plot through dialogue, actions, monologue, appearance, and are always people or personified animals. These events take place in the setting of the story, generally thought of as the location, which has four dimensions: location, weather, time period, and time. The point of view from which the story is told impacts the reader’s understanding of everything in the story. First-person viewpoint is the perspective of one character. Omniscient viewpoint means the author essentially creates a all-knowing narration for the reader to experience the story through. Limited Omniscient viewpoint is told in third-person, and allows the reader to experience one character’s thoughts and feelings but not everything. Objective viewpoint engages readers in a way in which they read what is physically viewable, and do not know what the characters think or feel unless it is expressed in dialogue. Theme is what the story means or the moral.
Narrative devices are how authors make their stories meaningful and interesting for the reader (Tompkins, Smith, Campbell, & Green, 2019, p 304). Dialogue is a conversation between characters. Flashback is used when a character has a memory important to the story. Foreshadowing is providing clues towards future events within the story. Imagery is arguably the most common used narrative device, and includes descriptive words or phrases to ‘paint’ pictures with text for the reader. Suspense creates intense uncertainty within the plot. Symbolism is an item that is used to represent something else. Tone is the overall feeling of the story, mood of the characters, and ranges from funny to angry to sad and all ranges in between.
Text factors of Nonfiction books are important for reference and simplicity of use (Tompkins, Smith, Campbell, & Green, 2019, p 307). Titles, subtitles, table of contents, order of information, vocabulary lists, and graphic images are some of the ways these books streamline the information for their audience (The Bespectacled Librarian, 2015). Expository text structures are organized in very specific ways (Tompkins, Smith, Campbell, & Green, 2019, p 308). Description, sequence, comparison, cause/effect, and problem/solution are the most common structures for expository texts.
Poetry text factors are easy to recognize because “the text looks different than a page from a story or a nonfiction book” (Tompkins, Smith, Campbell, & Green, 2019, p 311). Presented in many varieties of formats, consistently teachers use poetry to teach fluency and comprehension within their classrooms. Picture book versions of single poems can be intriguing for all ages, and readers often ‘hear’ the voices of the characters throughout the story. Teachers should pay special attention to the vocal inflection used when reading to the youngest students as well as the advanced to be sure they are encouraging the hearing of different characters’ voices. Verse novels are stories told through poems. Examples include “Out of the Dust” by Karen Hesse and “Locomotion” by Jacqueline Woodson. Poetic forms come in a variety of packages, but by far the most common is rhymed verse. Acrostics include a key word written vertically on the paper, then write a sentence or phrase that starts with each letter. Apology poems are often used sarcastically when an “I’m sorry” is due but not necessarily meant. Bilingual poems encourage students to insert one or more words from another language into their work. Color poems are written using a color to start each line. Concrete poems convey meaning and imagery. Found poems are created by clipping and editing key phrases from sources the students would find. Haiku is a Japanese form “that contains 17 syllables, arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables” (Tompkins, Smith, Campbell, & Green, 2019, p 315). List poems is a collection of words and phrases about a certain topic (usually the title, but not always). Odes celebrate ordinary objects by identifying or appreciating the extraordinary elements of said objects. Poems for Two Voices is an interesting and valuable style which involves two readers, alternating aloud reading through the text.
Assessing text factors and comprehension involves 4 steps (Tompkins, Smith, Campbell, & Green, 2019, p 320). Step 1 is planning. Teachers take calculated and deliberate actions when choosing what they will teach and when. Step 2 is monitoring, and involves teachers observing student progress and adjusting as necessary. Step 3 is evaluating, where teachers provide activities for the students to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts and information. The final step 4 is reflecting. Teachers discuss with students at conferences for them to reflect upon their learning as well as the teacher reflects with them in order to consider how effective the instruction was. This provides valuable insight into adjustments the teacher can make in the future.
References
Tompkins, G. E., Smith, C., Campbell, R., & Green, D. (2019). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (Seventh ed.). Melbourne, VIC: Pearson Australia.
Combs, Sarah. (12 December 2014). Myths, Fables, and Folktales. YouTube. Retrieved on 10 April 2021 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9S1kNcoHm4.
Molding Minds. (12 December 2015). Fiction Book Genres – What is Fantasy. YouTube. Retrieved on 10 April 2021 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_cqszvdTqk.
The Geeky Library Lady. (18 December 2016). Realistic Fiction. YouTube. Retrieved on 10 April 2021 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf20ymch-ZU.
The Bespectacled Librarian. (6 December 2015). Nonfiction Text Features. YouTube. Retrieved on 10 April 2021 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mAl9QMJJTo.
