Comparing Craft and Structure in Nonfiction and Fiction

Objectives

Students will learn about the similarities and differences between fiction and nonfiction text structures. Students will:

demonstrate their knowledge of fiction and nonfiction text structures.
apply their knowledge of text structures by creating a Venn diagram.
summarize and synthesize information learned in lessons about fiction and nonfiction text structures.

Essential Questions

How do strategic readers create meaning from informational and literary text?
How does interaction with text provoke thinking and response?

Vocabulary

Fiction: Any story that is the product of imagination rather than a documentation of fact. Characters and events in such narratives may be based in real life, but their ultimate form and configuration are creations of the author.
Genre: A category used to classify literary works, usually by form, technique, or content (e.g., prose, poetry).
Literary Elements: The essential techniques used in literature (e.g., characterization, setting, plot, theme).
Literary Nonfiction: Text that includes literary elements and devices usually associated with fiction to report on actual persons, places, or events. Examples include nature and travel writing, biography, memoir, and essay.
Nonfiction: Prose writing that is not fictional; designed primarily to explain, argue, instruct, or describe rather than entertain. For the most part, its emphasis is factual.
Craft: An author’s skill in writing a text.
Text Structure: The author’s method of organizing a text.

Literary Structure: An organizational structure found in fiction or literary nonfiction (e.g., character, plot, setting, theme).

Nonfiction Structure: An organizational structure found in nonfiction (e.g., chronology, question/answer, cause/effect, problem/solution).

Duration

45–90 minutes/1–2 class periods

Prerequisite Skills

Prerequisite Skills haven't been entered into the lesson plan.

Materials

Use the books from Lessons 1 and 2 again in this lesson. Note: other books may be substituted for the suggested resources to provide a range of reading and level of text complexity.
chart paper

Related Unit and Lesson Plans

Related Materials & Resources

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Formative Assessment

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- During the lesson, keep the focus on comparing fiction and nonfiction text structures. Observe students while they are working and note students who may have difficulty identifying text structures.
- Use the following checklist to evaluate students’ understanding:
  - Student describes similarities between fiction and nonfiction text structures.
  - Student describes differences between fiction and nonfiction text structures.

Suggested Instructional Supports

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Active Engagement, Explicit Instruction

W:	Help students activate their prior knowledge about fiction and nonfiction text structures by reviewing information from previous lessons and recording students’ knowledge of these text structures on a Venn diagram.
H:	Have students use fiction texts and nonfiction texts to help them recall the text structures of the genres previously studied.
E:	Have students provide answers from their individual Venn diagrams to create a class Venn diagram showing the similarities and differences between fiction and nonfiction text structures.
R:	Have students extend their understanding of text structures and synthesize the information they learned about text structures.
E:	Use students’ Venn diagrams to determine whether students understand the similarities and differences between fiction and nonfiction text structures.
T:	Use texts at a variety of levels of complexity and provide opportunities for students to work with partners to recall and synthesize information previously learned about text structures.
O:	The learning activities in this lesson provide for large-group instruction and discussion, small-group exploration, partner interaction, and individual application of the concepts.

Instructional Procedures

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Focus Question: How does understanding of craft and structure help readers interpret information in nonfiction and fiction texts?

Say, “Today we are going to examine how fiction and nonfiction text structures are similar and how they are different.”

Make a Venn diagram on the board/interactive whiteboard and have students draw the same on a sheet of paper. Use the headings “Fiction Text Structures” and “Nonfiction Text Structures.”

Say, “How are fiction and nonfiction alike?” (Both provide information to the reader. Both have a specific purpose. Both have a structure.)

Say, “With a partner, discuss what you know about the differences between fiction and nonfiction text structures and record your responses on the appropriate side of your Venn diagram.”

Invite students to review the fiction and nonfiction texts to help remind them of the different text structures used.

Guide students to recall the following information:

Fiction Text Structures
- The author’s purpose is to entertain, to stimulate imagination, or to create humor.
- The organizational pattern is developed through the plot of the story as the action flows from one event to the next.
- Literary elements include character, plot, setting, and theme.
Nonfiction Text Structures
- The author’s purpose may be to inform, to persuade, or to teach a lesson.
- Informational text features include titles and headings, tables of contents, glossaries, charts, graphs, photographs and captions, and timelines.
- Literary nonfiction text elements include character, plot, setting, and theme.
- Organizational patterns of informational texts include cause/effect, problem/solution, question/answer, comparison, and chronology.
- Organizational patterns of literary nonfiction text are developed through the plot of the story as the action flows from one event to the next.
Say, “Look at the class Venn diagram we have created. On a sheet of paper, write a paragraph summarizing similarities and differences between fiction and nonfiction text structures.”

Reinforce that fiction and nonfiction texts are similar because they both have organizational patterns that help the reader interpret information.

Guide students to understand the differences in the way fiction and nonfiction are organized. For example, fictional texts include a plot in which the action flows from one event to another; nonfiction texts divide information into various topics, which helps the reader comprehend the connections between ideas.

Extension:
- Have students use the paragraph they wrote in which they identified similarities and differences between fiction and nonfiction text structures. Then have students find examples in texts to support their answers.
- For students who need additional opportunities for learning, guide them to compare fiction and nonfiction text structures by using lower-level informational texts with less complexity.

Comparing Craft and Structure in Nonfiction and Fiction

Lesson Plan