Using Trade Books in the Classroom

How Do I Add More Trade Books to a Literature Class?          

As a future literature teacher I will be using lots and lots of fiction trade books in my classroom and few textbooks, if any. I want to focus on using more nonfiction and other fiction genres in my classroom to enhance the fiction that will be read. The best way I can think of to use nonfiction is for background knowledge before reading a novel. There are times when knowing what was happening in society at the time a novel was written is helpful, sometimes necessary, to understand the novel. Or, other times it is helpful to see how a novel changed society after it was written. I know using other modern genres, such as comics, graphic novels and even electronic media, can show how a novel influenced these genres. Having small children I know picture books are not just for kids. I often enjoy the books I read to my kids even more than they do. We have many, many picture books in my house and I work in the children’s section in a bookstore and I do not see many that focus on literature. I can see different genres of literature or time periods that have influenced the picture books, but besides Shakespeare I see very little picture books that focus on an author or novel. I think they could be used for other purposed, but depending on the novel or topic it could be difficult to use one to enhance a lesson.

I agreed with most of the problems with textbooks discussed in chapter 11. I remember having teachers in school who rarely used the textbooks because they were so lacking and other teachers who relied solely on the textbooks. You can probably guess which classes I enjoyed more. I was struck by how blunt the authors were about the problems in relying so heavily on textbooks in classrooms when they said students come out with a superficial knowledge of many topics, but little to no in depth knowledge of any topic. They broke down the issue into four parts, inconsiderate texts, inaccuracy, inappropriate reading level and negative student reactions. I have personally had these issues with textbooks as a student. I remember saying in high school that we were swapping out one useless book for a different useless book during our time between classes.

I felt they did a good job describing why trade books are beneficial in the classroom. Trade books focus on capturing the reader instead of just giving the reader information. When the writer is passionate, the reader often becomes passionate. Since there are an abundance of books on singular topics it is easy to find books for all readers at all levels. I liked how the authors stressed that kids do not know how to read to learn because they have only been exposed to textbooks in schools. This causes kids to not want to read on their own. When exposed to trade books they become enthusiastic about a topic because the trade book is written with them in mind, for them. Pairing the nonfiction with fiction is a great suggestion. I think teachers get overwhelmed with the amount of information and feel it is too daunting of a task to introduce so many other books in the classroom. However, you don’t have to read the entire book to get information to your students, or use books at all. There are so many articles, videos, podcasts and other formats out there besides books.

The section on creating classroom libraries and text sets was difficult for me to get behind. In theory it’s a great idea, but with the budgets and focus on standardized testing it doesn’t seem realistic. It would be ideal, but I think it is more realistic to think of ways around a class library. We might have to look at electronic sources and get used to students sharing. I felt the section on SSR was similar to the section on classroom libraries. There are so many outside factors involved in making it work. The part about having the entire staff on board and administrative leadership seems far reaching. It is difficult to get every single person on board no matter how great the topic or solution is. I discovered many great ideas in the sections on read-alouds, group models, reader response strategies and the topics that followed these sections. All of these strategies are great as long as there is a clear purpose and focus for the students. I feel sometimes these are used as busy work for kids and taught without giving the kids the skills needed to be useful for them. I think the sections that discussed dramatic responses should be used as optional or a choice because those assignments can be terrifying for some students while other students would learn more using them. It is one thing to push our students to step outside their comfort zone and another to terrify them. I really enjoyed the section on idea circles. It can be used in so many different ways with different sized groups. It is a collaborative process that every student can benefit from. This is a successful model as long as there is a clear set of instructions and everyone is clear on their roles. Students do not often get the chance to write or discuss topics with their peers as the target audience. Most of the time teachers are the audience and ideas can flow freer when they feel less pressure from their peers.

 

Chapter 2 in Content Area Writing was a short chapter but had lots of information. My biggest take-away was seeing the clear differences and purposes between writing to learn and public writing. Writing to learn is focused on free thinking. There are no correct answers, no correct format, just something to get the ideas flowing so they can be formed into a structured assignment. The focus is feedback and discussion, not grading. What stood out to me was this line, “To get learning power, kids need to grapple with ideas, transform them, and put them in their own words.” This, for me, is the purpose of education.