1.

1 Identify Dominant Literacy Conventions of a Particular Genre

Introduction
As adults, if you’ve spent any time reading fiction, you may have realized that you have your favorites. It is

important for students to also be able to describe what they like and then find what they want to read. They can gain

more power over the books they select when they can tell the genre that they like to the librarian or the bookstore

clerk.

Modeling
I begin to tell them about the different genres by drawing a tree chart with fiction and nonfiction on the top.

Underneath fiction, I section it out to 6 different genres. I choose these because students have read these types of

books or have friends or siblings that have. There are more specific genres out there but most 4th graders will have

very little experience with those.

1. Fantasy: story with elements that could not be real such as magic and fairies.
2. Historical Fiction: story written about real historical moments with most like fictional events or characters
3. Realistic Fiction: story written with fictional characters but events that could happen in real life
4. Science Fiction: fiction that is based on or heavily uses science as part of its plot.
5. Mystery: story with a question that has clues that resolve the question or issue at the end of the book.
6. Traditional Literature: fables, fairy tales, mythology

Practice
I have a stack of books that I have read with them as a class or a stack of books that I know they would be familiar

with, even if they never read them personally, such as Harry Potter.

My students have a small lap white board that they can write on and share. If they didn’t have these boards, I might

print and cut out word cards with each of the genres on it for them to hold up during this next activity.

I ask them to think about the elements of this book and refer to the list of genres to figure out which one it is. I tell

them to write the genre down and then I ask the students to share out what they think it is. I also call on a student to

explain their thinking. Basically, saying that Harry Potter is a fantasy book because it is all about magic and things

that, as far as we know, can never happen.

We go through a few more books examples. I end with one that can fit into 2 genres, The Percy Jackson
Series. I explain that parts of the book are fantasy and other parts are mythology (Traditional Literature). I
use it as example that sometimes it will be hard to figure it out or to just pick one. If the book really feels
like it is 2 genre types then they can indicate that.
I send students to their desk with a check list to check off what types of books they have been reading
based on their reading logs.

Share
I ask students to share any patterns they noticed. Are there any students who only read fantasy books, realistic

fiction, mysteries, etc.? I ask these questions to help students become more reflective of the type of reading they are doing.

They may realize that they only read one type of book and be encouraged to read a new genre.

I explain that from now on, they will indicate the genre of the book they are reading on their reading log and they

may try to read a book from each genre. This is another way to encourage students to notice what kind of books they

are reading and to begin to read other genres.

1.2 Compare and Contrast how the Elements are used in the Different Genres