It is also good to use literary non-fiction books. Children will often think everything in the "story" is fact, when some is the author's opinion embedded in the text. Jan
On 11/8/09 8:11 PM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > Oooh, cool question, Barb. I can't imagine teaching fact/opinion with > fiction--does that even make sense? Was it historical fiction and they were > looking for the historical parts? When I've taught this with nonfiction, I've > always used very obvious opinions to begin with (check some Seymour Simon > books--his opinions are clearly stated). My next step is to read text where > opinion is not clearly stated so that we must infer the author's opinion. Both > of these discussions get us into the text. But I also like your idea of making > kids go back (often the opinion is at the very end) and figure out the > importance of the opinion to the facts presented. > Judy > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ron Borchert" <[email protected]> > To: "Mosaic" <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, November 8, 2009 7:29:45 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific > 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. > > _______________________________________________ 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.
