Nonfiction can be taught through project assignments, discussions, text studies, and presentations. Students should choose texts according to their interests, but also read the same text as a class. Teaching methods should include debates, in-depth studies, and examining elements and types of nonfiction. Students should be responsible for learning and understanding information and may be required to write their own nonfiction examples.
There are many ways to teach nonfiction, including project assignments, discussions, in-depth text studies, and presentations. There should be a balance between allowing students to select their own texts according to their interests and having entire classes read the same text. The study of non-fiction is important because people need to be able to research information both in school and in real life.
One way to teach nonfiction is to assign projects. Students may be allowed to choose challenging non-fiction texts that interest them individually. While these projects can take many different forms, the general guidelines are that they should read carefully, answer probing questions, create a visual or hands-on project, and present their work to their classmates. During presentations, teachers and classmates should be able to ask questions to ensure students have read and understood the text and relate it to their own lives and beliefs.
Debates are another way that nonfiction can be taught. Students can choose a topic of interest to them, read and research the topic, and come to class prepared to discuss the topic with their classmates. Works well with topics that have multiple sides, like the death penalty or appropriate punishments for drug use. Students should be required to read texts that support multiple sides of the issue to be discussed so they can strengthen their arguments. During the discussions, as in all methods, students should refer to the text and make their own synthesis of the information.
Non-fiction instruction can also be accomplished by having all students in a class read the same text at the same time and both in and out of class, depending on the age of the students and the difficulty level of the class. At the beginning of the units, students can be given objectives and questions to guide their reading. As the classes develop the text, students can discuss several important points in groups and with the whole class; they can also highlight important elements of the text and non-fiction in general. Students may also be required to find other non-fiction sources to deepen their understanding of various concepts and events from the text. They may also participate in seminar discussions where higher level questions are asked about the text and must support their answers with logic and passages from the text.
In teaching nonfiction, it is important to examine the various elements of nonfiction – such as biases, narrative structure, and purpose – as well as the different types of nonfiction – such as biographies, autobiographies, informational texts, and articles from newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. Students can look at examples of the elements through in-depth studies of the text and different types of these texts together. They can also find their own examples to bring and present to the class.
The elements and types of nonfiction can be taught and reinforced using any of the previously mentioned methods. The more students have a responsibility to learn information, understand it, and do something with what they’ve read, the further they will come out of their non-fiction study. Students may also be required to write and share their own nonfiction examples, such as journal entries or autobiographical sketches.
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