Love - Real Reasons to Read Informational Texts

As the shift in reading has moved toward informational texts, we all seem to have to find a way to entice students to want and love to read those informational texts. Buy why would they want to read them if they have no interest in them, especially if someone tells them they have to read them! But with a special lesson called "Heart, Head, Hands, and Feet" students will want to read informational texts and learn from them!




How many of us have heard the story of Jane Goodall? She went out to study the chimpanzees not because someone told her she had to but because she had the passion to go out and learn about it. That is where we want our students to be as lifelong learners, so the"Heart, Head, Hands,and Feet" lesson will help our students find that passion in what they are reading.

Purpose

This lesson helps students see connections between their actions today and in the future. It also helps students to read informational texts more closely. All of this leads to helping students as they become lifelong learners and find their own passions for what they want to read. 

Implications

After the lesson, students will begin searching for their own passions. Once they start reading about others and how they learned what they felt was their passion, students will become engrossed in looking for books that ignite their own passions. They will look for different nonfiction books about a topic they love and read them. Once they read what they love, they in turn learn to read more closely. And then we are right where they need to be as readers of nonfiction.

Intentions

How does this lesson help with our intentions as a teacher and learner?

Alignment 

This lesson helps us to show our students that they need to move beyond their own experiences and into a world of so much more. Their perspective changes, helping them to find their own passions as lifelong learners.

Balance

The standards say "teach more nonfiction", but we don't always want to. This lesson makes nonfiction real for our readers causing them to read closely without even knowing it. It's a win-win for everyone!

Sustainability

This lesson allows students to find a passion for reading in all different genres. It also helps in different subject areas for students when they transfer it to their independent thinking and reading. Exactly what we want!

Joy

And what joy these students get as they read about something they are passionate about! And the joy we have as teachers as we see our students enjoying what they read and learning from it. The best part is that we don't have to tell them to read it! What joy!

This lesson seems so simple, yet effective. I can't wait to use it with students in my school this year!

If you want to start with the introduction, stop by this post for a deeper understanding of how the book works. Stop by tomorrow as we are introduced to another lesson to create lifelong learners.

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