Notice and Note Post # 1

I am linking up with some great bloggers to read the book Notice and Note. (And, trying to do it from the beach in California on the iPad instead of at home in Arizona- so pardon any mistakes I make)

http://www.dilly-dabbles.com

Question 1: Is reading still reading?
There's no question that the form our reading takes is changing significantly. That has to affect the way in which we read. I notice that I read e-books differently than I read printed books. I read things on the internet differently than I read print or e-books. But, at the heart of it, reading is still the same- we are decoding symbols to make sense of the text. But, I think, the way we make meaning-our act of  understanding the text- that process- might be different for the different things we read.
We talk about how we need to read informational text in a different way than literature. And, we need to teach students how to read informational text differently. Maybe we need to take that a step further and teach how reading e-book is different than reading a printed book. Or, how we need to read things from the internet in slightly different ways than an e-book or print. We might need to teach specific strategies for reading in different forms- just like we teach the difference between genres.
I don't think reading will vanish as a skill. But I do think its form and function are changing drastically and we, as teachers, need to change with it.
Question 2: The Role of Fiction
I love the quote from this chapter, "Nonfiction lets us learn more; fiction lets us be more."  I read  a lot, and the majority of it is fiction.  The non fiction I read mostly takes the form of teacher books unless I am researching something I am teaching my students.  I am guilty, in the past, of  using more fiction in my classroom than non fiction. With common core guidelines I have been trying very hard to include more informational text into my class. I am returning to 3rd grade after teaching kindergarten for the past three years. I know the way I use informational text in 3rd grade will be different from how I used it in Kindergarten. It will be a challenge for me to adapt to these common core changes at the 3rd grade level. Bringing more nonfiction into the classroom is something I am continuing to work on...