Length
30-60 minutes
Curriculum Standards
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.1
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.2.D
Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic.
Materials
Warm-up
- Start the lesson by asking your students to identify as many different types of writing as they can. Some examples could be newspapers, comic books, novels, scripts, biographies, recipes and so on.
- Write down the examples on the board as your students give them.
- Explain that you would like to group the types of writing into two logical groups. Ask students to suggest which types of writing belong together. Draw large circles on the board and re-write the types of writing into the circles to group them as the students suggest.
- Discuss the reasoning behind the grouping.
- Tell your students that today's lesson also groups types of writing, but today you will be grouping them by factuality. One group will be labeled fiction and the other nonfiction.
Instruction
- Tell your students that they will be creating an outline from the information given in two videos. The videos are about nonfiction and fiction works of writing.
- Instruct your students to start with two main sections of their outline: Nonfiction and Fiction.
- Begin the 'What is Nonfiction?' video pausing at time marker 1:50. Discuss:
- Can anyone give a concise summary of nonfiction works?
- What salient information was given in this section that would be important to add to an outline?
- Allow time for students to add to their outlines before moving on.
- Continue the video pausing at time marker 4:16. Discuss:
- What important information should be added to your outline from this section?
- What type of nonfiction writing do you read most often?
- Does nonfiction writing have to be true? (Discuss the difference between opinion and fiction.)
- Finish the video asking students to listen carefully to the 'Lesson Summary' and check their outlines for any missing important information given during the summary.
- Begin the 'What is Fiction?' video pausing at time marker 1:15 for students to add information to their outlines. Allow time for a few volunteers to tell the class what they added to their own outlines.
- Continue the video pausing at time marker 3:42 to discuss:
- What are the three types of fiction works? (Instruct your students to write these down in their outlines.)
- What important facts about each should be added to your outlines?
- Have you ever read a novella? Which do you enjoy more, novellas or novels?
- Continue the video pausing at time marker 5:19 to discuss what should be added to the outline in regards to literary fiction and genre fiction.
- Before finishing the video, remind students to use the 'Lesson Summary' section to check over their own outlines and ensure they have not missed any important aspects of the video.
- Handout the transcripts of the video lessons.
- Allow students time to review the transcripts and their outlines before taking the quizzes.
- Hand out the lesson quizzes. Go over each question and answer with the class after they have finished it.
Activity
Part 1 - Writing Statements
Materials
- Notes from the lesson.
- Two slips of paper each.
Instructions
- Instruct students to use the information from the videos to write one statement on each slip of paper. One statement must be nonfiction and the other fiction.
- Remind students to consider the types of each kind of writing when they choose their statements to write.
- Collect all of the statements.
Part 2 - Identify
Instructions
- If you have room for students to be up and active, have students stand and move their desks to the sides of the room. Assign one side of the room the 'fiction' side and the other side of the room 'nonfiction'.
- Ask a volunteer to reach into the bowl, pull out one slip of paper and read it. Everyone else runs to the appropriate side of the room to identify the statement as either fiction or nonfiction.
- If you do not have room for students to move around, instruct students to stand for fiction statements and squat for nonfiction statements.
Extension
- After each statement is read, ask for a volunteer to tell how the statement might be changed to make it fit the other category. For example, if the statement is ''This is a classroom.'' it would be nonfiction. To change it to fiction, the volunteer might say ''This classroom is filled with aliens.''
Narrative Nonfiction: Definition & Books
Literary Fiction: Definition & Examples
