Lesson 7: Reading Nonfiction

Purpose

This unit will help you see that reading nonfiction stories can be just as exciting and interesting as reading imaginary tales. You will use the skills of clarifying, questioning, highlighting, and visualizing.

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What You Will Learn

At the end of this unit, you should be able to do the following:

1. Identify the use of time-order sequence to help keep track of events and build suspense.
2. Summarize to help understand and keep track of what you read.
3. Identify cause and effect.
4. Identify how factual information can be presented in the form of a story.
5. Correctly use pronouns in writing.
6. Define new vocabulary words.
7. Correctly use contractions.

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Reading Assignment

The discussion will instruct you when to complete each reading assignment.

Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing

• Unit 6: Reading Nonfiction, pages 95–112

Writers Express

• Pronouns, pages 421–424
• Sentence Problems: Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement, page 117
• Apostrophe: In Contractions, page 384

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Discussion

Reading Nonfiction

Although it may require different strategies to read a narrative nonfiction story, you may find it just as hard to put down as a fiction story. In narrative nonfiction, an author writes about real events in a “story” form. Narrative nonfiction has the same elements as fiction (plot, setting, characters, etc.) and adds the element of truth. You will continue to use the active reading strategies you have been learning and practicing to identify the elements and techniques that nonfiction authors use to make these stories come to life for readers.

In this lesson, you will learn about sequence of events, cause and effect, and nonfiction writing techniques. You will also learn to adjust your reading rate and direct your thinking toward specific techniques used with nonfiction text. The stories will also give you some background information for the novel you will read for lesson 8.

Nonfiction writing is “true.” In other words, stories that are considered nonfiction are based on real people, places, and events. In narrative nonfiction, the writing sometimes sounds very much like fiction writing, because the author uses the same techniques of descriptive words, dialogue, and plot to tell a story. To be an active reader, you will need to use the techniques of clarifying, questioning, highlighting, and visualizing that you learned during your study of fiction.

In nonfiction text, you may notice certain text features. These are things like illustrations, photos, charts, graphs, bold-faced text, key words, and notes included by the author to give you background information or explain new vocabulary. Be on the lookout for these text features whenever you read nonfiction. Although they are more prevalent in informational nonfiction than in narrative nonfiction, you will find them in both types of writing.

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Read and Practice

Sequence: First, Next, and Last

Begin by reading the unit overview on page 95 and the top of page 96 in the Daybook. There are several types of sequencing (sometimes called ordering). Although we will be working mainly with time-order sequencing, it is valuable to know the other types. Some common forms of sequencing are listed below:

• Chronological (time-order): You see a form of this type of sequencing used in how-to directions, like a recipe.
• Most important to least important (or vice-versa): The author decides which information is most important and places it in a specific order for effect.
• Spatial: This type of ordering is used most often when describing things. It might be head-to-toe, top-to-bottom, inside-to-outside, etc.
• Cause/effect: Authors use this type of ordering when they want the reader to recognize the relationship between ideas or events.
• Comparison: Comparisons allow an author to analyze and evaluate two or more concepts.

In this unit, you will be looking mainly at chronological (time-order) and cause and effect ordering.

Adding to your working vocabulary helps you become a better reader, writer, and speaker. On pages 96–98, there are several words that may be new to you:

• ovation
• drape
• lunged
• spurs
• motto

Be careful to look for these words in their contexts (how they are used in the sentence). For example, in this story “drape” is being used as a verb, not a noun. Check a dictionary to be sure of any words that you cannot figure out by using context clues. You can have your parent/teacher quiz you over the words before you check your answers. You should also jot down in your journal any other words that are new to you.

As you read pages 95–98 and complete the activities, ask yourself these questions.

1. What are the main events in the sequence (how things happen)?
2. What were the key events that determined whether Lincoln would be shot?

Sometimes making a timeline can be an effective way to remember how events happen. You and your parent/teacher might make a timeline of the events in this story. Since they are presented chronologically, it should be fairly easy.

Sometimes an author might mix up events or include flashback. Flashback occurs when an author goes back in time to include an important event. An author might want to present this event out of order for emphasis or to avoid dealing with all the events between the flashback time and the events in the story. However, that specific event might be important to help the reader understand why a character behaves a certain way, says a certain thing, or has chosen a certain path in life. Authors must be careful to present flashbacks in a way that makes sense to the reader to avoid confusion.

On page 98, you are asked to track five key events on a chart. You will recognize the “peak event” as the climax. Since narrative nonfiction tells a story, it will often have many of the same literary elements as the fictional stories you studied earlier.

Summarizing: In Your Own Words

The story of Lincoln’s assassination continues in this section (pages 99–102). You will use the skill of summarizing to help keep track of what you are reading. When you write down key events, you are often summarizing. It is very much like taking notes and then writing from those notes.

You will also be looking for the peak (most important event or climax) of this part of the story. After you have identified the peak of this section, locate the climax of the whole story. Would it be the event you identified in the first part of the story or the event you identified from the second half of the story? Remember that the climax is usually tied to the main conflict of the story.

As you read this section, you will need to know the following vocabulary words:

• consciousness
• hovered
• diagonally
• contracted

Check a dictionary to help you with pronunciation of any word that is hard for you to pronounce or have your parent/teacher pronounce the word for you. Once you have found the definition for each word, check your answers.

Self-Check: As you complete the activities, think about how you can tell that people cared about Lincoln based on their actions during the events. Then write your own summary of the event by reporting on the death of President Lincoln. Remember that a summary contains only the key events. You are not “rewriting” the story. Although you will write in your own words, this type of writing should have a formal tone and use formal language. You would not want to use casual words such as “stuff” or general words such as “a lot.” After you are finished, check your answers.

Examining Cause and Effect

In this activity based on an excerpt from A River Ran Wild (pages 103–107), you will take a look at cause and effect. This is an important concept in understanding not only language arts but also social studies and science. Reading nonfiction requires that you look at events and then ask yourself what caused them to happen. In the time-order sequencing used in the story of Lincoln’s assassination, the cause came before the effect in chronological order.

In this story about the Nashua River, there will be some words that may be new to you. Once you have determined their definitions, check your answers.

• quench
• dwellings
• generations
• trespass
• current
• vision

As you read this story, make notes about the different events. Using the skill of highlighting can help you to identify the cause and effect relationship. You could highlight events in one color and then highlight the causes for those events in another color. If you are taking notes in your journal, use the two-column note taking strategy. In one column, list the events, and in the other, list their causes. That way you can easily see how they relate to each other.

You may recognize that the chart on page 106 is actually very much like your two-column note taking. When you complete the drawing on page 107, you might consider doing a “storyboard.” This is sort of like a cartoon in which you place the events in the order they occurred. Scriptwriters for movies and TV start out with a storyboard when they plan their scenes.

Cause and effect is important in many types of writing, from commercials to news articles. Here are some questions to consider and discuss with your parent/teacher:

• Could an effect also become a cause?
• Might one effect have more than one cause?
• Would it be possible to have something seem to cause an effect, but not actually end up being the true cause?
• Can you think of events in your own life that you could divide into cause and effect?

Narrative Nonfiction: Fiction Based on Fact

Narrative nonfiction combines many of the elements of both nonfiction and fiction to present information in an interesting way. As a reader, it is important to be able to pick out the factual information from the fictional elements that have been added, such as dialogue, description, etc. Narrative nonfiction is different from historical fiction, because it is about real people and events. Historical fiction usually places fictional people and events into an historical setting.

This part of the lesson (pages 108–112) is important to the novel study you will do in lesson 8. You will practice identifying fictional and nonfictional elements in “At-mun,” a narrative about an African prince brought to America as a slave.

On pages 108–112, there are some words to be sure you understand. Once you have determined their definitions, check your answers.

• impaired
• trousers
• specimen
• defects

Activity: While you are reading, make a list of things that are factual and things that you think are fictional. A character’s inner thoughts are usually made up, although they may seem real. It would be difficult for anyone to know what someone else was thinking at a particular time, unless that person wrote it down. One test of whether something is fact or fiction is to ask yourself, “Can this be proven?” You are not concerned at this point whether or not something is true or false, only whether it can be proven. Facts can be proven correct or incorrect; opinions cannot.

You can use two-column note taking again, making one column “fact” and the other column “fiction.” You can use the Fact or Fiction Chart, if you find that helpful. If you are writing in your book, you could highlight facts with one color highlighter and fictional elements with another color highlighter.

Activity: On page 111, you will summarize the beginning, middle, and end of the story (narrative). That is always a good guideline for doing a summary. You may use both fiction and facts in your summary.

Activity: On page 112, you will use your inferring skills to identify At-mun’s thoughts and feelings. This is what an author of narrative nonfiction does as he or she writes. This is what connects the story to the reader and gives it a “narrative” quality rather than a “textbook” quality.

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Self-Check Answers

• ovation: enthusiastic applause
• drape: to cover loosely
• lunged: moved forward suddenly
• spurs: sharp wheels strapped to a boot
• motto: words or a phrase with special meaning

• consciousness: awareness
• hovered: to remain close
• diagonally: divided across the diagonal
• contracted: drawn up tightly

You can tell how people felt about President Lincoln by events such as the length of time the surgeons worked to save him, people crying, the Secretary of War’s quote, etc.

In your summary of the events, you should have included the two peak events and any other major events. You should not have included minor events such as placing the body on a four-poster bed. Although this is an interesting piece of information, it is not particularly important. Summarizing requires that you be able to distinguish between what is important and what is only interesting.

• quench: to alleviate (“quench your thirst”)
• dwellings: houses or shelters
• generations: a group of people of the same time period (“three generations in a family”)
• trespass: invade (“trespass on private property”)
• current: moving water’s direction (“an ocean current”)
• vision: a view for something planned (“a principal’s vision for the school”)

• impaired: diminished in strength
• trousers: pants or slacks
• specimen: an item or part typical of a group
• defects: imperfections

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Skill Lessons

Pronouns

Repeating words—this is the most frustrating thing for a young writer! When readers read the same words over and over, they get bored. By substituting words for the nouns you use in your writing, you are developing communication techniques that are more interesting for your listeners or readers and more advanced for you, the communicator.

Pronouns are words that can replace nouns you have already used. There are singular pronouns that take the place of singular nouns, and plural pronouns that take the place of plural nouns. Page 422 in Writers Express lists some common pronouns.

Remember the lesson in which you learned about subjects of sentences? You might want to go back and review that lesson a little bit before you begin this section. Subjects are the people, places, or things that your sentences are about. Sometimes subjects are one word, but they can be more than one word. Subject pronouns are words that act as the subjects in sentences. Page 423 in Writers Express shows examples of subject pronouns.

Below are some practice sentences. In the blank(s) in the second sentence of each pair, write a pronoun that can restate the subject of the first sentence. Once you have written your pronouns, check your answers.

1. Louise Nevelson is an archeologist. works in Egypt.
2. Tom was asked to write a report about whales. finished it.
3. The armadillo started to waddle across the highway. was halted by the heavy traffic, so returned to the brush.

If you repeated the underlined subject of the first sentence as the subject of the second sentence, your writing would sound strange and awkward. You would sound like you were from another planet, because we are used to hearing pronouns used to keep sentences from becoming repetitive. On the other hand, if you also replace the subject underlined in the first sentence with a pronoun, readers will get really confused. There has to be a noun for the following pronoun to refer back to.

Pages 117 and 421 in Writers Express tell you that the word you are replacing with a pronoun is called its antecedent. You need to remind readers of the antecedent, so that they know what is happening and to whom. The antecedent must also agree with its pronoun. If I wrote, “The student is studying classical violin,” then I must follow up with something that agrees with “the student.” I would write, “He must practice every day for two hours.” If I wrote, “They must practice every day for two hours,” the singular noun in the first sentence (“the student”) would not agree with the plural pronoun (“they”). That’s why it is important to determine whether a noun is singular or plural and use the correct pronoun to replace it.

Pages 421–424 list some other types of pronouns and their use, including object pronouns and possessive pronouns. Review these pages before going on to the self-check below.

After reviewing page 423 in Writers Express, write three sentences of your own as examples of object and possessive pronouns. You use these sentences all the time, so this is not really new to you. However, you must be sure to think about whether you are using singular or plural pronouns. Use the sentences that are given as examples as a pattern for writing your own sentences. Share your work with your parent/teacher.

Contractions

Subject pronouns and the verbs they can be combined with are shown in the table below. If you want to combine these parts of speech into one word, the combination is called a contraction. Contractions are used so that speech sounds more natural and less formal. Contractions are “shortcuts” in the world of language. Everyone loves a shortcut every once in a while. Here are some examples of pronoun contractions:

Get the idea? In order to show where the missing letters are, you must use an apostrophe (’). This tells the reader that the writer left out a letter (or letters). Page 384 in Writers Express shows you some common contractions, including many pronoun contractions.

Write the contractions for the following words. Share your work with your parent/teacher, then check your answers.

Look back at the summary about President Lincoln you wrote for page 102 in your Daybook. Underline all the pronouns you used. Check to be sure that you used the correct pronoun for its antecedent. Did you use any contractions? Replace any contractions you used with the words they are a shortcut for. If you didn’t use any contractions, see if you can make one or two substitution shortcuts. What happens to the “sound” of your writing when you use contractions? What happens when you substitute the two words for a contraction?

You probably found that when you substituted a contraction, the writing took on a more casual, conversational tone. When you use the real words in place of a contraction, the writing sounds more formal, doesn’t it? If this were supposed to be an “official report,” would you want it to sound casual or formal? You can vary your writing style to fit the purpose just by using pronouns and contractions!

You should now complete the lesson 7 progress evaluation.

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Self-Check Answers

1. She works in Egypt.
2. He finished it.
3. It was halted by traffic, so it returned to the brush.

1. I’m
2. we’ll
3. you’d
4. they’d
5. she’s
6. it’s
7. we’re

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Progress Evaluation

You should now complete the lesson 7 progress evaluation. Be sure to reread the general requirements for progress evaluations from the overview.

This progress evaluation consists of 25 multiple-choice questions worth 1 point each for a total possible of 25 points. Remember to mark your answers on a printed copy of the progress evaluation preview so you have a record of them. (Select “Lesson 7” to preview this progress evaluation.) When you finish filling in and checking your answers on a copy of the progress evaluation preview, click on “Submit a Lesson” in the Utilities box below for the actual lesson submission page.

Note: Progress evaluations must be submitted in sequence, and you cannot submit more than three progress evaluations in a seven-day period.

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