Rethinking picture books: harnessing the power of nonfiction for older readers

1. Rethinking
Picture Books
Harnessing the Power of Nonfiction
for Older Students
Presented by:
Beth Shaum
Kellee Moye
Jennifer Vincent
Audrey Vernick

2. The statistic we’ve all seen:
Common Core recommends the following
distribution of literary vs. informational
reading:
● 50% literary and 50% informational by 4th grade
● 45% literary and 55% informational by 8th grade
● 30% literary and 70% informational by 12th grade

3. “Visit the official CCSS website, or listen to
the rhetoric of those who have come to
be closely associated with Common Core,
and you’ll hear over and over the grave
concern that students need to be able to
read more complex texts.”
● Pathways to the Common Core by
Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth, and
Christopher Lehman, p. 32
So why picture books then?

4. Myths about picture books
● All picture books are written for little
kids.
● “Big kids” don’t like “little kid” picture
books.
● Using picture books with older
students equates to struggling
readers.
● Big kids won’t read picture books
because they don’t want to get caught
reading something below their level.

5. The Wall by Peter Sis

6. Picture Books for Higher Order
Thinking Skills and Reading
Strategies
Kellee Moye
Middle School Reading
Coach/Teacher, Orlando, FL
@KelleeMoye
http://www.unleashingreaders.com

7. Why Picture Books?
● Gives visual support for struggling readers and
visual learners.
● Brevity allows for lessons and discussions in one
class period.
● A safe place to start encouraging students to take
risks in their reading and writing lives.
● Picture book does not automatically equate to
simplicity; simple can also be complex

8. Not Just for Struggling
Readers
● Using a text the students will understand, but
pushing an idea that is tougher will make it so that
the class/reader understands the more rigorous
idea better.
● Other times, picture books actually have text and
ideas that the students do not understand, but
through discussion and the visual aid of pictures
they can reach the complex idea.

9. Theories That Support Using
Picture Books
● Scaffolding/Gradual Release of
Responsibility (I Do, We do, You do)
○ Buehl (2005) stated, the GRR model “emphasizes
instruction that mentors students into becoming capable
thinkers and learners when handling the tasks with
which they have not yet developed expertise.”
● Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal
Development
○ Using guidance, a learner can be taken
what they can do unaided to a
task/thought process.
from
rigorous

10. Overcoming the Fear
● Need to first get past the teacher fear.
● Then get students used to seeing them again.
● Once these two steps are done, picture books
become a successful part of curriculum.
● I use all types of picture books:
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
To teach standards
To teach genres
To teach kindness
To teach a love of reading
To make connections
To start discussions
To make students think
As mentor texts
As companion texts

11. Middle schoolers can love
picture books!

12. Example:
● Jane Yolen’s “Unsolved
Mysteries from History”
series
○ Inquiry (CCRA.W.9)
○ Vocabulary (CCRA.R.4)
○ Informational vs.
Narrative nonfiction
○ Research (CCRA.W.1,
CCRA.W.7)
○ Debate (CCRA.R.8)
○ http://www.
unleashingreaders.
com/?p=1800
CCRA.W/R.# = College and Career Readiness Anchor (dot) Reading/Writing (dot) Anchor #
http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/R http://www.corestandards.org/ELALiteracy/CCRA/W

13. Example:
● Sit-In: How Four Friends
Stood Up by Sitting Down
and others by Andrea Davis
Pinkney
○ Figurative language (CCRA.
R.4)
○ Artistic style (CCRA.R.7)
○ Text features
○ http://www.
teachmentortexts.
com/2012/11/andreadavis-pinkney-and-brianpinkney.html

14. Example:
● Harlem by Walter Dean Myers
○ Imagery (CCRA.R.4)
○ Rhythm
○ Mood (CCRA.R.4)
○ Voice (CCRA.R.4)
○ Metaphor (CCRA.R.4)
○ Visual Interpretation
(CCRA.R.7)
■ https://sites.google.
com/a/uw.
edu/harlemvia/
○ http://www.
unleashingreaders.com/?
p=2129

15. More Examples:
●
●
●
Who Stole Mona Lisa? by Ruthie Knapp
○ Point of view and perspective (CCRA.R.
6)
○ http://www.unleashingreaders.
com/?p=1396
Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya
○ Making connections (with Endangered
by Eliot Schrefer) (CCRA.R.9)
○ http://www.unleashingreaders.
com/?p=2125
History News: The Greek News by Anton
Powell and Philip Steele
○ Inquiry (CCRA.W.9)
○ Vocabulary (CCRA.R.4)
○ Newspapers (CCRA.R.7)
○ Text Features
○ http://www.unleashingreaders.
com/?p=1861

16. More Examples:
The Boy Who Loved Math: The
Improbable Life of Paul Erdos by
Deborah Heiligman
○ Vocabulary (CCRA.R.4)
○ Inquiry (CCRA.W.9)
○ Making Connection (math)
○ http://www.
unleashingreaders.com/?
p=1633
● Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa
Moss
○ Compare and Contrast
(CCRA.R.9)
○ Setting
○ Tone (CCRA.R.4)
○ http://www.
unleashingreaders.com/?
●

17. Mentor Texts to Bridge Reading and
Writing for English Language Learners
and Students with Special Needs
Jen Vincent, NBCT
Coordinator of Instructional Technology
Elgin, IL
@mentortexts
http://www.teachmentortexts.com

18. Principles of Second
Language Acquisition
●
Taking into account developmental stages of language acquisition
●
Focus predominantly on meaning
●
Also focus on form
●
Development of formulaic expressions and rule-based competence
●
Development of implicit and explicit knowledge
●
Extensive second language input
●
Opportunities for output
●
The opportunity to interact in the second language
●
Taking into account individual differences in learners
●
Assessment examines free as well as controlled production
http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/instructed2ndlang.html

19. Needs of ELL Students
●
“Only when learners are engaged in decoding and encoding messages
in the context of actual acts of communication are the conditions
created for acquisition to take place”
●
“Communicative competence (Hymes, 1971) in a second language is
facilitated by using the language as a medium for learning content
rather than by studying it as a separate & distinct subject area”
●
“To develop true fluency in a second language, learners must have
opportunities to engage in real communication” (DeKeyser, 1998).
●
“Engaging in activities focused on creating meaning is intrinsically
motivating for learners.”
http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/instructed2ndlang.html

20. Strategies for ELL Students
● Vocabulary and
language
development
● Guided interaction
● Metacognition
● Authentic
assessment
● Explicit instruction
● Meaning-based
context and universal
themes
● Modeling, graphic
organizers, and visuals
● Multiple modalities
● Socialcultural
implications
http://www.amle.
org/BrowsebyTopic/WhatsNew/WNDet/TabId/270/ArtMID/888/ArticleID/350/DifferentiatingInstruction-for-ELLs.aspx
https://uteach.utexas.edu/sites/default/files/files/SixKeyStrategiesELL.pdf

21. Needs of Students with
Special Needs
● Consistency and intensity of instruction
● Individualization of academic content and pacing
● Interactive/collaborative learning
● Recognition of different learning styles/needs
● Reflects changing world we live in
● Purposeful
http://futureofchildren.org/publications/journals/article/index.xml?
journalid=57&articleid=337&sectionid=2249

22. Strategies for
Students with Special Needs
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Problem-solving model
Metacognitive awareness
Self-regulatory strategies
Differentiated learning
Embedded strategy instruction
Explicit and extensive strategy instruction
Feedback tailored to student needs and abilities
Continuous introduction of new strategies
http://nichcy.org/research/ee/learning-strategies
http://www.humboldt.edu/celt/topics/meeting_the_needs_of_students_with_disabilities/

23. WHY Picture Books?
●
●
●
●
●
Engaging
Visual support
Manageable length
Rich language and vocabulary
Complex ideas

24. Benefits of Using PBs
for ELLs and St w Special Needs
●
●
●
●
●
Learning within context
Guided interaction
Reciprocal learning
Connections to their lives
Harness metacognition

25. How Reading
Transfers to Writing
●
●
●
●
●
Reading like a writer
Noticing patterns
Recognizing author’s craft
Mentor texts as models
Student practice
http://www.writeguy.net/
http://ralphfletcher.com/rf/

26. Informational Mentor Texts
●

27. Biographical Mentor Texts

28. Mentor Texts for Background
Knowledge

29. Using Picture Books as Mentor
Texts for Writing Instruction
Beth Shaum
Middle school ELA teacher
Canton, MI
NCTE social media coordinator
Twitter: @BethShaum
Email: bshaum@ncte.org

30. Modeling Quality Nonfiction Writing through
Picture Books
Audrey Vernick
Picture Book Author
Ocean, NJ
● Brothers at Bat:
Modeling QualityThe True Story of an Amazing AllNonfiction Writing
Brother Baseball Team
● She Picture Books
through Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story
● Bark and Tim: A True Story of Friendship

31. Why mentor texts?
“Most disciplines expect that novices
learn from experts, whether they’re
beginner tennis players watching
professional tennis players or art
students copying master paintings.
Similarly, writers learn by emulation.”
-Georgia Heard

32. Why mentor texts?
“Nobody is born with a style or
voice. We don’t come out of the
womb knowing who we are. In
the beginning, we learn by
pretending to be our heroes.
We learn by copying.”
- Austin Kleon

33. Why mentor texts?
“I emulated Buddy Holly,
Little Richard, Jerry Lee
Lewis, Elvis. We all did.”
- Paul McCartney

34. Picture books as a catalyst
for research

35. Picture books find the story
in hiSTORY

36. Great Books as Inspiration
● Reading a great nonfiction picture book sparks a
desire to write great nonfiction, to take close-up
looks at history from unique angles.
● Reading about previously unknown people and
experiences opens doors to thinking about the
stories that are all around us. What have our
parents done? Who are our neighbors? What stories
do they have?
● Power in oral histories. Kids as interviewers-developing those skills

37. Taking Research off
the Beaten Path
● Finding the story in history requires allowance for
exploration, for an initial stage of pure messiness-digging around, experimenting, making bad choices
before coming across a subject that sparks
enthusiasm.
● Shift from using timeline as the main point to a
starting point.
● Taking research beyond books to primary sources.

38. Primary Sources
● There’s a palpable excitement of discovery writers
feel when they’re taking unpaved roads and
finding untapped primary sources.
● Taps into the magic of nonfiction.
● Consider their own lives in terms of
the primary sources they leave
behind--social media, scrapbook,
journal--what conclusions would
biographer draw about them?

39. Nonfiction as
Story Element
Editors worried no one would care
about a family no one had heard of.
No name recognition, no incredible
breakthrough.
Asked if I would fictionalize story,
create more drama.
The truth serves as its own element-readers react to both the story and
the truth of it as they read.

40. Examples of literary tools generally
associated with fiction/literature
Engaging beginnings and well-crafted endings
Metaphor and simile
Rich, sensory language
Voice
Non-chronological explorations

41. Picture books help us understand a
writer’s motivations

42. Picture books allow us to try out other
voices to help us find our own
This is Just to Say
by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

46. This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

47. Picture books can show that ALL
writers break the “rules” of grammar.

48. Picture books can teach students what
it really means to “restate your thesis.”

49. Picture books can inspire young writers to
tell stories from new and unique angles

50. Picture books can support
cross-curricular connections

51. How do you find the right
mentor text?
Get a library card and
become a voluminous
reader of books

52. How do you find the right
mentor text?
● Make a simple change to
how you read
○ As a teacher of writing,
become mindful of craft.
○ Always read with a
notebook or some postit flags on your book
mark. You never know
when you’ll come across
something you can use

53. How do you find the right
mentor text?
● Constantly ask yourself as you’re
reading: How can I use this with my
students?
○ Is it something they can easily emulate?
○ Can it teach them an element of craft such as:
■ varying sentence lengths
■ the conventions (or unconventional use) of
language
■ literary concepts
■ grabbing leads
■ resonating endings

54. How do you find the right
mentor text?
Comb through nonfiction award lists:
● NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
● Association for Library Services (ALSC) to Children
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
● Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)
Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
● National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12
● National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Notable
Trade Books for Young People

55. How do you find the right
mentor texts?
● Follow teachers on Goodreads and
Pinterest
○ Goodreads: can sort to-read, currently
reading, and read books onto shelves
○ Pinterest: Pin ideas on boards with different
themes. Some boards I follow/curate: mentor
texts, book trailers, book reviews, article of
the week, etc.)

58. How do you find the right
mentor text?
Start using Twitter for
professional development
○ Regular, ongoing hashtags:
#bookaday
#nerdybookclub
○ Twitter chats:
#titletalk
#nctechat
#rwworkshop

60. How do you find the right
mentor texts?
Read teacher/librarian blogs:
● Teach Mentor Texts
● Unleashing Readers
● Kid Lit Frenzy
○ Common Core in Real Libraries
○ Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesdays
● Nonfiction Detectives
● Great Kid Books
● 100 Scope Notes
● Reading, Teaching, Learning
● The Late Bloomer’s Book Blog
● There’s A Book For That

61. Other resources for using
mentor texts
Mentor Author, Mentor Texts by Ralph Fletcher
Write Beside Them by Penny Kittle
Write Like This by Kelly Gallagher
Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson
Ten Things Every Writer Needs to Know by Jeff
Anderson
Finding the Heart of Nonfiction by Georgia Heard

62. Download our presentation
and follow us on Twitter
http://www.slideshare.net/KelleeMoye
http://www.slideshare.net/beths0103
Twitter:
Beth: @BethShaum
Kellee: @kelleemoye
Jen: @mentortexts
Audrey: @yourbuffalo