I have watched my husband teach this with eighth grade and seventh grade. What we both noticed was that the kids have been conditioned to label isolated sentences as fact or opinion because they have been taught, in isolation, to identify key phrases. However, in the context of well written persuasion in which writers are artful at presenting opinion as fact or in the combination of fact and opinion in a single sentence, they are lost. If we are teaching in isolation it seems to me we are missing the reason for knowing. Let us not be manipulated!
Lori Jackson M.Ed.Reading Specialist Broken Bow, NE EMAILING FOR THE GREATER GOOD Join me > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 20:29:45 -0700 > Subject: [MOSAIC] teaching fact and opinion > > Recently I was observing in a fourth grade classroom during guided reading. > The teacher was teaching fact and opinion. This is the second classroom > where I have observed the teaching of this skill. Both teachers' > instructional objective was to have students identify fact and opinion in the > text. I have come to the conclusion that fact and opinion is a harder skill > to teach than one might first believe. This has been on my mind for the last > few days. I would like the members of this list serve to give me some > feedback. > > The first teacher struggled with teaching fact and opinion because she was > using fiction and released responsibility too soon. The second teacher did a > better job because non-fiction text was used. Yet I felt that too much of > the instructional time was spent in identifying opinions that weren't > important to understanding the text. I'm wondering if part of the struggle > with teaching fact and opinion is that the instruction isn't tied to the > author's purpose (Persuade, Inform, Entertain). The author's purpose of the > three non-fiction texts was to inform the reader about different facets of > Chinese history. The first two texts really didn't have any opinions in it > that added to the understanding of the topic. The teacher spent a lot of > time trying to give those minor opinions the same weight as the facts. The > third story, on the other hand, was a much better text for teaching fact and > opinion because there was a issue with different opinions that was explained > in the text. > > My new thinking for teaching fact and opinion is to tie it to author's > purpose. The author's purpose will determine how the skill will be taught. > If the author's purpose is to inform, the bulk of the reading will be facts > unless an issue with differing viewpoints is explained. > > Choosing a text in which the author's purpose is to persuade may be a better > choice for teaching fact and opinion. The text will have facts in it, even > though they may be one-sided. The opinions should be easier to identify and > will be important to the understanding of the text. Finding a letter to the > editor or studying the editorial page may be a better text to use. > > I'm less clear about fact and opinion when the author's purpose it to > entertain (fiction). I think the facts would be tied to the story map and > the opinions may be what the characters say about other characters or the > events. The character's opinions may also be the factor that explains a > characters actions. > > How do you teach fact and opinion? I think that asking students to identify > a fact or an opinion may be the first step, but there is much more involved. > Maybe the key is to choose a text that has an opinion that is important to > the text. > > Thank you for your thoughts! > > Barb > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
