Kayla Vallosia

Learning through Authentic Literature:

Using Authentic Texts to Teach Literacy Topics and Strategies
My Unit at a Glance
For this two week unit, I focused on teaching my 1st grade students about realistic fiction and the
comprehension strategy of retelling. This is important because students need to be able to
identify various genres and their specific characteristics in order to help them comprehend the
text as a whole. Their skills in retelling will also help to help them think about the texts that they
are reading at a deeper level instead of only reading texts by decoding all of the words. The
GLCEs that were used were:

R.NT.01.02 Identify and describe the basic form and purpose of a variety of narrative
genre including realistic ction, fantasy, and folktale.
R.NT.01.03 Identify problem/solution, sequence of events, and sense of story (beginning,
middle, and end).
R.CM.01.02 Retell in sequence up to three important ideas and details of familiar simple
oral and written text.

My overall unit goals for them were as follows:

1. After reading a text, students will be able to retell and summarize the important
information in the text by completing sequencing charts, using sequence cards, making
retell books, or performing a retell in front of the class.
2. Students will identify the characteristics and features of a piece of realistic fiction by
discussing them with one another in a whole class setting and by comparing books in this
genre that we have read in class.
What Was Taught
I taught my students about the genre of realistic fiction and the characteristics that define it. I
also taught them about the strategy of retelling and reinforced this strategy in their own learning.
I taught them about realistic fiction through various trade books that I used, such as Miss Nelson
is Missing, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Alexander, Who Used
to be Rich Last Sunday, and Alexander, Whos Not ( Do you hear me? I mean it!) Going to Move.
I also taught through the use of a mind map that I created with the students on the first day of the
unit of characteristics of the genre. When teaching retelling, I mainly taught through my own
modeling of retelling a story familiar to the whole class.
Assessment
I pre-assess my students by first asking a few of them what they knew about realistic fiction and
retelling. I found that most could tell me that retelling was telling a story again, but little had
any idea of what realistic fiction was. On our first day of the unit, I also asked them to
brainstorm what realistic fiction is. We broke down the word realistic to find real and
discussed what that meant as well. As formative assessments, I had students identify various

Kayla Vallosia
aspects of realistic fiction or the genre of the books that I read to them during our literacy
instruction time.
For retelling, I asked students to assist me in retelling books and had them retell books that they
are familiar with as well. These individual retelling were written out for me in their own words.
Student Learning
My students learned what realistic fiction is and how to pick it out when they see it in their
reading. They were also able to make a lot of text to self connections because of the
opportunities given to them through their reading. They were also able to define what was real
and what was made up in a story, as seen on a t-chart for the story Miss Nelson is Missing.
Realistic fiction can easily relate to their own lives because it could be real. My students also
showed me that they had learned about realistic fiction through their innovations or alternate
endings that they wrote for one of the Alexander books. Their writing showed that they were
staying true to the topic.
For retelling, I had my students retell their favorite book from guided reading, which was a book
at their level that they were familiar with. Their retells were very detailed. I did have a few
students directly copy though. I know that many of them get the concept, but still need more
practice in mastering it.
What I Learned
I have realized through this process that students seem to really learn the most when they are
given the chance to personally connect with the topic. They become so much more engaged
when it relates to their own lives. That is why I enjoy using real trade books with my students
and not just the scripted basal readers that are required in so many schools. I think that there are
more chances for students to see their own lives represented in the text with authentic books are
used.
Readings that I Used in Teaching

Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced

Approach (5th Edition) by Gail E. Tompkins
Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension
for Understanding and Engagement (2nd Edition)
by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis

Contact Information
For more information, contact
me at vallosia@gmail.com.