Notice and Note question 2

This question dealt with the changing role of fiction in the Common Core: that is, that we are to teach much more nonfiction than than we previously have in our classes.  This is something I've been wrestling with myself, since there are so many things we may want to teach through either fiction or nonfiction, that some students gravitate toward nonfiction naturally and it would be equally unnatural to force them to read fiction as it is to force some students to read only nonfiction. In our school we have divided the trimesters into teaching literary fiction standards (trimester 1), literary nonfiction standards (trimester 2), and informational nonfiction standards (trimester 3). Considering the sheer amount of standards, strategies, and skills out there, I feel absolutely rushed to finish in just one trimester my fiction teaching. Granted, I can definitely teach many of the fiction standards with literary nonfiction, but I don't have the library of high quality, varied, and multilevel literary nonfiction that I do of fiction. And as a tangent, I want to say that there are many many many low quality fiction stories out there that I wouldn't consider teaching to my kids, so I'm not just wanting fiction for the sake of fiction.

I just don't want to throw the bathwater and baby out together in the quest for getting kids to understand nonfiction, which I feel is happening when we don't have the amount of high quality nonfiction, when nonfiction doesn't do the same job that fiction does. "With fiction," according to this chapter in Notice and Note, "we continue to think about what it means to be human (17)." We learn more through nonfiction but be more through fiction (17). And to top it all off, there is research showing that fiction transforms us to be more empathetic by learning about ourselves, others, and how we relate (18).

This chapter resonated with me and my deep love of reading, both fiction and nonfiction, and made me realize the roles each has in my life. I read fiction for specific purposes and nonfiction for other purposes, although both are for entertainment, most of the time. I no longer am forced to read fiction simply because a teacher told me I have to, and most nonfiction relates to my own interests, even when it's hard to understand. But still I read both regularly. I feel a different hunger in my mind as I'm contemplating what to do next: watch tv so I can also knit? Watch a movie so I can have a shared experience with my family? Read a book so I can be still and quiet alone? Read a book to calm down before bed? Read a magazine because I'm sitting waiting at the doctor's office? Listen to documentaries or news in the car? I guess I lump in reading with keeping me occupied just like I would tv or radio, and my needs change depending on situation and mood. I feel like bringing this conversation to my students and acknowledging the different feelings we have at different times, and maybe giving them a different idea of what to do when they want alone time or they're bored.  I feel like I need to keep fiction close to my side as I teach the remaining informational standards to my students this year, to keep me authentic!