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Cole, A. D. (2003). Knee to knee, eye to eye: circling in on comprehension. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Stead, T. (2014). Nurturing the Inquiring Mind Through the Nonfiction Read-Aloud. The Reading Teacher, 67(7), 488-495.

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"With nonfiction literature they already had prior knowledge to contribute and weren't passively waiting to hear a story unfold" (Stead, 2014, p. 488). 

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"With nonfiction literature they already had prior knowledge to contribute and weren't passively waiting to hear a story unfold" (Stead, 2014, p. 488). 

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"To understand and control informational texts, students need to first hear such texts.  The daily read-aloud provides the perfect platform to achieve this goal" (Stead, 2014, p. 489).

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"To understand and control informational texts, students need to first hear such texts.  The daily read-aloud provides the perfect platform to achieve this goal" (Stead, 2014, p. 489).

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Beyond just reading these texts, we need to really put ourselves and our energy into already engaging nonfiction texts, adding drama and passion when appropriate to demonstrate that we as readers get excited about reading nonfiction texts and learning new things!

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Seek out RICH, GRIPPING, and ENGAGING non-fiction texts

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Seek out RICH, GRIPPING, and ENGAGING non-fiction texts

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We need to read to our students from rich, hooking, wonder-inducing non-fiction texts (not dry, dull recitations of facts).  Look for non-fiction texts with literary merit that invite readers in and beckon us to read more (Stead, 2014)! Consider diverse nonfiction texts from magazines and newspaper articles to websites and brochures! Keep a CLASS LOG of top-notch non-fiction read-alouds and ask students for their input on the books.  Stead (2014) suggests resources from Dorfman & Capelli's Nonfiction Mentor Texts or  www.goodreads.com/

shelf/show/kids-non-fiction as starting points for engaging nonfiction read-aloud texts. Consider building your own "class library" of articles on various topics/themes for students to access on different reading levels.  Consider re-writing dull, dry non-fiction to increase literary merit and read-aloud prowess.

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Read mentor nonfiction texts that model how to argue, persuade, instruct, and respond.  

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Read mentor nonfiction texts that model how to argue, persuade, instruct, and respond.  

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Strong nonfiction mentor texts help students better understand the literary and linguistic structure of various forms of nonfiction to strengthen their reading comprehension and writing skill for a variety of purposes (Stead, 2014).
"The exposure to a different text type had given her students the confidence and skills necessary to craft pieces beyond simple descriptions" (Stead, 2014, p. 491). REMEMBER that students need exposure and models of diverse forms and purposes for writing so they can grow as readers and writers.

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"If reading (nonfiction texts) to our students is always driven by content studies that are occurring in the classroom, then our students will quickly become disengaged" (Stead, 2014, p. 491). 

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"If reading (nonfiction texts) to our students is always driven by content studies that are occurring in the classroom, then our students will quickly become disengaged" (Stead, 2014, p. 491). 

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We need to masterfully locate and incorporate engaging nonfiction texts into class read-alouds that relate to topics students find motivating and compelling.  Make these favored nonfiction texts available in the class library so that students have the opportunity to re-read and explore in their spare time.  Use "BOOK SPOTLIGHTS" for nonfiction texts as well as for fiction texts when giving students previews of what is available in the class library!

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A nugget of non-fiction goes a long way for discussion! 

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A nugget of non-fiction goes a long way for discussion! 

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No need to overwhelm students with an entire nonfiction book/passage... smaller chunks of nonfiction texts can often be read out of context and discussed with comprehension. Allow students to make connections and apply their background knowledge to morsels of non-fiction instead of waiting until the end of an entire reading to discuss. Stead (2014) encourages teachers to ALWAYS let their students stop and jot and turn and talk during nonfiction read-alouds to enhance comprehension and connections and capture thinking while reading.

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"We need to infuse talk into the read-aloud and give our students time to reflect, wonder, and question" (Stead, 2014, p. 492). 

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"We need to infuse talk into the read-aloud and give our students time to reflect, wonder, and question" (Stead, 2014, p. 492). 

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"Reading and writing floats on a sea of talk." - James Britton, 1970

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"Reading and writing floats on a sea of talk." - James Britton, 1970

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R.A.N. Strategy for engaging with Nonfiction Texts 

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R.A.N. Strategy for engaging with Nonfiction Texts 

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Reading & Analyzing Nonfiction (R.A.N.) Strategy (Stead, 2014).
*** Do not overuse R.A.N., rather strategically choose to invite students to use it when reading nonfiction texts for which they may already have some background knowledge.

1. What I Think I Know - allows for approximations of prior knowledge pre-reading about a given topic.  Ask students to record and chart their best few facts. ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE, PRE-reading.

2. Confirmed - builds feeling of success as students listen for information that they already knew.  Compare what they put in the "What I Think I Know" column with what the author shares. CONFIRM PRIOR KNOWLEDGE, DURING reading.

3. We Don't Think This Anymore - aka, "We've Changed Our Minds"... clear up any misconceptions or facts the author shares that are different than students' prior knowledge about the topic.  Invite students to "rethink" what they originally thought was correct. RETHINK PRIOR KNOWLEDGE, DURING reading .

4. Exciting New Information -  consider new information presented that students' found particularly interesting to deepen content understandings.  Revisit/re-read the text to allow students to record new findings.  FIND NEW INFORMATION YOU FIND INTERESTING, DURING reading & RE-reading.

5. Wonderings - invite students into student-led inquiry to read additional texts and engage in research to answer their questions after reading the text.  ASK QUESTIONS BASED ON NEW INFORMATION, POST-Reading.

***Make individual-sized R.A.N. charts for students and also have a laminated or electronic class-sized R.A.N. chart for sticky note, whole-class collaboration during read-alouds.

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R.A.N. Nonfiction Strategy (Stead, 2014). - Poster (US) by Allison

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R.A.N. Strategy Reading & Analyzing Nonfiction (Stead, 2014) What I Think I Know Exciting New Information We Don't Think This Anymore Wonderings Confirmed What pieces of your prior knowledge al...

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"This category takes students beyond simple retention of literal facts and encourages them to question, infer, and actively seek out new information" (Stead, 2014, p. 493).  Encourage students to ask questions about facts using lead words of WHO, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, DID and invite students to form hypothesis about their wonderings! Consider moving students into deeper levels of questioning, beyond LEVEL 1 (answer can be found in the text) and LEVEL 2 (obvious answers that are easily inferred, even if not explicitly stated in the text) into LEVEL 3 questions (answers are not in the text or easily inferred and require further inquiry and research!) (Stead, 2014).

In order for students to move toward deeper wonderings, they need to reflect on the information they heard/read and decide what information was omitted that they want to know more about. Part of this involves assigning significance. Students need multiple exposures and to see this questioning process and hypothesis formation modeled!

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"We do not want to develop students who read nonfiction just for function, or for school success, but students who read nonfiction for enjoyment, to be fascinated, to discover." - Nell Duke. 

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"We do not want to develop students who read nonfiction just for function, or for school success, but students who read nonfiction for enjoyment, to be fascinated, to discover." - Nell Duke. 

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There are many characters in fiction texts that model this love of nonfiction and can spark a love for facts and wonderings about the world we live in such as Julian from Kathryn Erskine's The Incredible Magic of Being and Jackson from Crenshaw, by Katherine Applegate.  We should always be providing engaging nonfiction texts that correlate with the fiction and narratives that we read to inspire students to dig deeper and make connections across texts and genres.  We also need to model this wonder about our world and enthusiastic research and reading of non-fiction texts in our own readerly lives.  We should bring in non-fiction texts that reveal our own wonderings and enthusiasms and share with students about the wonderful things we wonder throughout the school days and in our after-school hours to model on-going inquiry in our lives!

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Tiny Notes about Nuggets help Fuel Discussion! 

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Tiny Notes about Nuggets help Fuel Discussion! 

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Encourage students to take small, short-hand notes (leaving tracks of their thinking) using minimal words/ symbols to help spark their memory about parts of the text they want to talk about when they get to their triads. Consider providing students with space in their journal for spark notes, sticky notes, or blank spark notes bookmarks to give students designated space to capture their thoughts and ideas while listening during the read-aloud (Cole, 2003). Modeling for students how to leave tracks while thinking is an important part of monitoring comprehension during reading. Sticky notes can then be collected to inform instruction and periodically used as an inside look to students' responses.

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Using Triads to Support Comprehension & Discussion!

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Using Triads to Support Comprehension & Discussion!

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During and after read-alouds, engage students in small group, triadic discussions (after lots of practice knee to knee and eye to eye in dyads and in circle conversations).  3 is the optimal number for small group discussion and groups can sit knee to knee and still face all members at the same time (Cole, 2003).  During these small group discussions, avoid dyads and as few quads as possible to keep the power of the triangle in tact.  Create groups ahead of time strategically and with as much diversity as possible and stick to these groups (as much as possible) for at least 2 - 3 weeks to build community and familiarity (Cole, 2003).  Cole (2003) suggests that the teacher models the triad within a group with two volunteer students to model the structure of group and "I wonder" conversations fueled by responses and digging deeper! Then, invite an all-student triad to engage in conversation (model) after the read-aloud, fishbowl for other students to note positives of their conversation structure, and after all that modeling, send students off in their own triads to discuss the non-fiction texts with "I wonder" and responses (Cole, 2003). Groups can collaborate, and out of their discussions then contribute to the final column (WONDERS) on the CLASS R.A.N. chart or on their individual charts (Stead, 2014). If students are keeping independent R.A.N. charts during the read aloud, ask them to consider the 2 - 5 columns during their triad discussions to enhance comprehension, enrich conversation, and lift the level of students' thinking (Stead, 2014; Cole, 2003).

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Best Comprehension = text-grounded and reader-connected 

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Best Comprehension = text-grounded and reader-connected 

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R.A.N. charts completed during reading and subsequent triadic discussions of the students' experiences with the R.A.N. chart when reading requires readers to keep their conversation grounded in the text and their connections to prior knowledge, which supports strong comprehension (Cole, 2003).

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CONNECTIONS to non-fiction texts... "What does this remind you of?" (Cole, 2003, p. 89)

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CONNECTIONS to non-fiction texts... "What does this remind you of?" (Cole, 2003, p. 89)

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1. Connections to my life and the world... "text-to-self" & "text-to-world" connections that involve prior knowledge

2. Connections to the author's craft... this works well in conjunction with MENTOR Texts and Non-fiction Writers.  We want to point out for students the craft moves writers use initially, imitate in our own writing, and invite writers to consider craft when reading! Always open the floor with "What did you notice?"

3. Connections to other texts... consider ALL types of texts, not just books (media, movies, ads, fiction, TV, radio, art, music, etc.)

Consider use of the Charting Text Connections activity (from Cole, 2003, p. 92) to encourage students to stretch themselves to make these three types of connections to text during their triad discussions.

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Charting Connection Types - Response Trails (Cole, 2003). - Poster (US) by Allison

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Text Connections We Have Made Cole, 2003 My Life and World Author's Craft Other Texts