One summer afternoon my daughter asked me to review a
comprehension kit. We talked about the purpose of the kit, how and when to use
it, and why it is important to have kit. After our conversation I asked her,
“Why do we teach genre?” She responded
with, “I don’t know, why?” Here is where I used the tough love of a mother; I
told her that if she didn’t know why she is teaching something then she should
not be teaching it. I asked her to think
on it and give me a call later. As I was getting into my car she said, “So they
can understand”. I responded with, “That
is a weak answer”. This has been a common response when I've asked teachers this very question.
I too have pondered on why we teach what we teach. Many years ago I was leaving a school after conducting a
presentation on comprehension and I asked myself a similar question, “Why do we
teacher character, setting, problem, and solution?” I went home and started
reading and thinking about it. Here is what I have concluded.
Different genres have a different story structure. For
example, narrative text has character, setting, problem, and solution; whereas
fairy tales’ structure includes once upon a time, good vs. evil, and magic.
Readers depend on the genre’s structure to predict, anticipate, ask questions,
summarize, etc. By knowing the structure of the genre, one is more prepared to
use their reading strategies to get to deep understanding as well as it
provides them with a tool to interact with the story.
To support student learning consider:
·
Creating a bulletin board with the student
illustrating the structures of genre’s read.
·
Asking questions that rely on them to use the
structure to answer.
·
Having students predict based on the genre
structure.
·
Have students identify the genre based on the
structure.
·
Discuss and model for students how the genre
structure supports deep understanding.
Structure provides a map (conceptual understanding) for new
learning. You may even consider teaching the structures of genre as a
scaffolding technique.
Sonya Louviere
