Reading and Writing Literary Genres - Softcover

Buss, Kathleen; Karnowski, Lee

9780872072572: Reading and Writing Literary Genres

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0872072576 ISBN 13: 9780872072572

Publisher: Intl Literacy Assn, 2008

This excellent resource will show teachers of grades 3 through 6 how to help children connect reading and writing while exploring new worlds of literature. Believing that reading and writing work together to encourage the construction of meaning, the authors urge teachers to expose students to a variety of literature and use writing to respond to it. They reject the traditional grouping of literature into broad categories of fiction and nonfiction, and instead present a classroom-tested interactive model that calls for teaching a variety of literary genres, including realistic fiction, mysteries, folk tales, pourquoi stories and fables, fantasy, and biographies. The book’s background information will familiarize you with each genre, and you’ll find a variety of teaching strategies and activities to help students write their own genre stories and even expand into other areas.

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From the Back Cover:

Reading and writing are complementary rather than separate content areas because both have the same goal: construction meaning. For this reason, students should be exposed to a variety of literature and should be encouraged to use writing to respond to literature. In time, students will learn to be better writers because of what they read, and they will learn to read like writers.

In Reading and Writing Literary Genres, the authors present an interactive model that uses quality children's literature as the foundation for teaching reading and writing. Instead of grouping literature into broad categories of fiction and non-fiction, this book gives practitioners an opportunity to teach and apply a variety of different genres of literature and their unique elements.

Four main genres-fiction, traditional literature, fantasy, and non-fiction-are divided into seven chapters: Teaching Realistic Fiction; Teaching Mysteries; Teaching Traditional Folktales; Teaching Pourquoi Stories and Fables; Teaching Modern Folktales; Teaching Fantasy; and Teaching Bibliographies.

Each chapter has three main sections. The Background Information for Teachers section introduces each genre by giving a brief history of its stories, describing its literary elements, and providing examples of stories that fit its characteristics. The second section, Teaching the Genre, suggests teaching strategies that will lead students to understand the elements and to eventually write their own genre stories. The Extensions section provides activities that will encourage students to go beyond reading and writing in the genres and progress to further research and development. Finally, the extensive Bibliography at the end of the book recommends titles for teachers and students to read.

Reading and Writing Literary Genres is an excellent resource for teachers of grades 3 to 6 who want to introduce students to the vast array of literature available to them. The strategies and suggested readings modeled in this book will urge students to make the reading-writing connection while exploring exciting new worlds of literature.

About the Author:

Kathleen Buss is a Professor of Reading and Language Arts in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA.

Lee Karnowski is a Professor of Reading and Language Arts in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, River Falls, Wisconsin, USA.

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