Underline specific parts of text that cause confusion.

My favorite strategy is “Sketch to Stretch.” Visualization is often a problem during reading, so students do three things: The seven strategies are limited for a reason, so that students will learn to use these tools more. The authors also write that “Strategies are those scaffolds we share with kids to make the invisible thinking process visible.” What a perfect explanation of a strategy. The authors have written a complete and detailed explanation with examples from various experiences. Chapters on signposts will need to be slowly digested in pieces. The graphic images interspersed throughout the chapters are practical hints for application in the classroom.

Word Gaps – author uses words or phrases students recognize they don’t know.

Quoted Words – author quotes others, directly, with what we call a Voice of Authority or Personal Perspective, or citing Others’ Words.

Numbers and Stats – author uses number or words that show amounts or statistical information to show comparisons in order to prove a point or help create an image.

Extreme or Absolute Language – author uses language that leaves no doubt about a situation or event that exaggerates or overstates a case.

Contrasts and Contradictions – when the author presents something that contrasts or contradicts what the reader is likely to know, think or have experienced, or shows a difference between two or more situations, events or perspectives.

The authors contend that “Signposts make the reading of nonfiction more meaningful, more personal.” Each of the five signposts they have identified is arranged with anchor questions, charts, author side comments, and clear steps for teaching and modeling. The authors continue: “We are required to read beyond the four corners we are required to let nonfiction intrude we are required to wonder what it means on the page, in our lives, and in the world.” 5 Signposts can help

Beers and Probst challenge the reader to enter the text “recognizing that the author is not offering the truth, but one vision of the truth.” In my own classes this challenge will lead me to bring a new perspective when we are reading nonfiction. Students have been typically taught that non-fiction means “not fake.” I have made that same mistake in my own classroom. “Non-fiction is the body of work in which the author purports to tell us about the real world, a real experience, a real person, an idea, or a belief.” I was caught off guard initially at the Beers-Probst definition of non-fiction. “When districts tell us that they couldn’t use this text because it would be ‘too easy’ and they must ‘raise the rigor,’ we remind them that rigor is about relevance and not about a Lexile score.” Schools often strive for rigor and at times base it on the level of Lexile. The next time someone requires that you use a Lexile number to match a child with a book, encourage a conversation about the efficacy of this as a sole measure.” “Reducing text complexity to a formula based on sentence length and word frequency isn’t the solution. To support their position, the authors discuss in depth factors connected with readability, complexity and rigor. Text selection for students is so often driven by numbers or letters based on a test. How refreshing to read this in Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note Stances, Signposts, and Strategies by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Students’ reading choices should not be limited by a number, a letter or a color code.

Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note Stances, Signposts, and Strategies

Close reading signposts