Sunday, August 30, 2009

FICTION OR NONFICTION: GENRE DOES MATTER

Do you talk to a male friend the way you talk with a female friend? No way! Nor should you read a science textbook the way you read a novel. Let’s say you arrive at school and start scanning the crowd for a familiar face. How you begin a conversation will depend on whom you decide to talk to. For example, if you spot a male friend, you may choose to talk about sport scores, current news events, or tell jokes. On the other hand, if you spot a female friend, you may choose to talk about friends, fashion or a TV show. The gender of the person often determines your expectations of how the conversation will go. Your knowledge of gender differences helps you adjust your topics to match expectations.

Believe it or not, these same rules apply when you read. Reading uses a slightly different “G” word. The word is genre. Different genres contain different elements of information. Mature readers adjust their mental behaviors just like you adjust your topics of conversation.

BREAKING IT DOWN

Genre (pronounced zhahn-ruh) is a French term meaning kind or type. Genre standardizes a set of expectations and eliminates confusion by placing texts into different groups depending on the elements of information used by the author.

A fiction text is considered fake and requires the reader to use the characters, setting and conflicts to make meaning. The author’s message tends to teach the reader about life through a recurring theme. The purpose of reading from the fiction genre is for enjoyment and pleasure. Examples of fiction include humor, mystery, romance and science fiction novels.

A nonfiction text is considered not fake and requires the reader to determine the author’s purpose, learn new vocabulary words and make connections between the main ideas and supporting details. The purpose of reading from the nonfiction genre is to learn information. You must always read nonfiction texts with caution by identifying the author’s point of view and the sources used. Not everything written down is to be believed. Examples of nonfiction include textbooks, newspapers, cookbooks and biographies.

Poetry is the last type of genre. Even though poetry could be fiction or nonfiction, the author expects to have a completely different conversation with you. The author wants you to notice the rhyme, sensory images and figurative language within the poem. The purpose of reading from the poetry genre could be for enjoyment or to learn. Examples of poetry include free verse, couplets, haiku, and sonnets.

Mature readers know the importance of having a variety of experiences with different genres. Each experience aids in establishing expectations and learning structures, which increase the fluency of metal tasks used for comprehension. Just as gender guided your topics for discussion, genre guides your mind for selecting the important information to match the specific genre elements. Before you begin to read, FLIRT with the text by asking yourself, “What genre am I going to read?”

TIME CHECK – Does your mind need a break? Stand up, walk around, get a drink and then come right back. You have two minutes.


CUT IT OUT:
Reading a science textbook is not the same as reading a novel.
Mature readers know the importance of identifying genre before they read. Different genres place different demands on the way their mind interacts with the text. A science textbook is nonfiction, which means you will need to read slowly and stop often to take notes. A novel is fiction, which means you will be able to read quickly and stop between chapters. If you expect to remember what you read, you must know how the genre guides these mental behaviors.


Fiction texts are like listening to your iPod. You can sing all the words because you are familiar with the play list. On the other hand, nonfiction is like listening to talk radio. Each moment is new and unfamiliar. Poetry is like learning words to a new song. The more you replay the song, the easier it is to grasp the meaning and remember the words.

Fiction texts consist of similar elements. Once you have read one mystery novel, you know how to read any mystery novel. Expect to read fiction with a fast and even pace. Skipping unknown words and descriptive paragraphs usually don’t affect the overall meaning of the story. However, you must read the text in order from page one until the end.

Nonfiction texts are packed with new concepts and supporting ideas. Each new concept is broken into small chunks called, “sections.” (See Look at Text Features). This is to help your mind think through and find connections between the main ideas and supporting details. Expect to read nonfiction with an uneven pace. Some sections you will be able to read quickly, some slowly and some you can skip all together. And never skip unknown words as most are needed to build meaning. (see DRIVE for a detailed account of nonfiction reading behaviors).

Poetry can be as complicated as a New York Times crossword puzzle. Don’t be deceived by the small amount of text. Expect to read a poem several times and be prepared to make mental images to help comprehend the author’s message.

Just as gender guideS your topics for discussion, genre guides your mind for selecting the right mental behaviors.

TIME CHECK – Does your mind need a break? Stand up, walk around, get a drink and then come right back. You have two minutes.

REALITY CHECK
It’s time to determine the genre of your books. Check out the front and back cover of the book. Look inside for a table of contents, index, and glossary. If the book lists chapter titles but doesn’t have an index or glossary, chances are the book is fiction. If the book’s chapters are broken into smaller sections with headings, pictures, and bold words, the book is probably nonfiction. Remember, reading is easy once you know how to approach the text.

The next time you pick up a text, take time to determine if it is fiction, nonfiction or poetry so your mind can begin to establish a mental plan of behaviors, strategies and expectations. When you FLIRT before you read, you let the genre guide your mind to successful, focused and purposeful conversations with the author.

35 comments:

  1. I never knew that you have to read different genres differently. I always just read it to get it done. I'll have to try these things while reading different genres.

    Logan Gurreri

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, i never really knew how in depth genres can really go and that there are different way to read different kinds of genres. Now that i know, im sure it will help me decide how to read math text and english text.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Never realized how differnt you should read between fiction, non fiction, biography, and poetry. I guess you learn something new everyday.

    ReplyDelete
  4. As I stated before, I wasn't good in fiction. Yet I never knew that fiction books could be easily read. When I read non-fiction, however, it often takes me 2-5 min. to read each page, especially when I am taking notes. I should heed this advice when I study, however. If I do this, I know I'll do fine. I also like that the author compared the fiction genre to an iPod.

    Andrew Thompson sect. 1

    ReplyDelete
  5. i never really thought about reading different genres of books different ways. i think the next book i pick up i will try and do that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I never thought about flirting with a text book before and to focus on the genre and make a purpose to entertain the mind in order to read and comprehend better i will have to try this out, thanks.
    - Lance Conley

    ReplyDelete
  7. It never came across me that i should look at fiction or nonfiction a different way. guess i will try it next time i read a book.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ^^ forgot my name.. its jordan chronister

    ReplyDelete
  9. I always had fiction and non-fiction confused. I will try looking at different ways to read when decide to read again.

    Shane Moore- Section 2

    ReplyDelete
  10. Never in my life was I told to "flirt with a text", but the more i get to understand it the more I realize that it is exactly how reading is supposed to be done. With this technique I learn to understand more of what I'm reading and a good way to approach it.

    -Latifah Pittman

    ReplyDelete
  11. Knowing how many reading genres there are makes you understand reading a little better. Plus understand how to read them helps even more.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I never stopped to think about needing to go about reading different books differently. I treated reading book all the same no matter what they were about. Maybe thats my problem with reading.

    Katie Bricker, section 1

    ReplyDelete
  13. Whenever I pick up a book i normally make sure i know what genre i'm getting to read. Like reading The New Moon. Before reading I knew the book was fiction. But i realize now that every book i pick up i won't know before hand what type of genre it is. So I'm glad i know how to flirt lol.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I never just stopped to think to think about reading a book a diffrent way.I know ima try this the next time i read.

    ReplyDelete
  15. at the beginning, where it says that gender matters. haha honestly, I get what the message is trying to say that it does matter on the genre of book that you read and how you approach it, but for people, it really doesnt matter to me if its a guy or girl. I could walk to kent or katie and start to conversation off my saying do I have something in my teeth! haha and they both know that I probably would! lol

    ReplyDelete
  16. I completely agree with the way of approaching fiction and nonfiction. There are some books that you can just skim over, then there are books that need to be read word by word.

    Pete Floyd, Section 1

    ReplyDelete
  17. I have always had difficulty reading my math book compared to my history book. It's the genres, but in the end the message is the same regardless of the class, learning. So i read eachbook with the correct process and take in as much as i can.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have had difficult times with reading but i learn how to over come things in my experience with reading i have learned how to take my time so i can get even better with what i read.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I always have problems reading a nonfiction book due to its usually not something i am interested in. Fiction novels, especially scifi, I can remember almost word for word. Its wierd that i can remember stories that i choose to read over the ones that i have to read.

    ryan dahl

    ReplyDelete
  20. I have never heard of this but i believe it would help me. I just always read things once the whole way through to get it done.

    -Ryan Althoff

    ReplyDelete
  21. I woulnd have never known that you have to read the two differently. I does make sense though. I'm thinking if I do it, i'll be able to understand more while i'm reading.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I think understanding all the genres there are helps many people understand what they are reading. I know it helped me. However, I was never told about how to flirt with your text, that is a new technique for me.

    ReplyDelete
  23. i thought reading everythig would be the same. I didnt relize your supose to read fiction and non-fiction deiferintly.

    cortney Denlinger section 1

    ReplyDelete
  24. I found it very unique that each genre has its own type of reading. For example, non fiction books don't require you to read everysingle page up to 27 if that's the chapter you want to read. Reading even poetry isn't bad either it just takes a couple of times reading it to process the information.

    Beatrix Bartha

    ReplyDelete
  25. after reading this i realized that i had read everything up to this point the same exact way every time, regardless of the reading genre. i now know that i need to approach certain reading differently to understand them better.

    ReplyDelete
  26. One of my weaknesses when it came to reading was that I was never able to adjust to the different geners. When I read different books I always took the same style of approach and that made reading difficult and boring.

    David Crisfield

    ReplyDelete
  27. I didn't like different genres in books because I'm not interested in every genre. I'm going to have to adapt to reading different genres in different ways so I can understand the text better.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I never read different depending on what type of genre I was reading. It is something that will help.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I never knew that you need to change the way you read with differet genres, i just thought reading was reading. I also thought it was cool how it told you to take a break and come back. This was a very understand author of the article.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Yeah, this goes along with the lesson on monday. Depending on the genre, I read it differently.

    Anthany

    ReplyDelete
  31. I know for music you have different genre for different songs. For reading a textbook or novel I didn't know you would have different genre and how to approach it differently. I will try this next time.

    Het Gandhi

    ReplyDelete
  32. it's true reading fiction is like listening to your ipod and reading a nonfiction is like listening to talk radio. I'm so used to reading the stuff I know that it's more fun than having to guess what will happen next.

    Sam Swank, Section 2

    ReplyDelete
  33. I hate reading nonfiction such as a biography really boring. I usually reads thngs im interested in but i never knew reading was like listening to music. Thats real cool to see it in that persepective.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I never thought that you had to read books different ways depending on the genre. I always read them all the same way.

    Kimberly Harkanson

    ReplyDelete
  35. I didnt think you could read so many ways. I would read everything the same.

    Nourdean Bentajar

    ReplyDelete