English Language Arts and Reading.7.8.A

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The student is expected to

demonstrate knowledge of literary genres such as realistic fiction, adventure stories, historical fiction, mysteries, humor, myths, fantasy, and science fiction;

multiple genres TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres. The student recognizes and analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts.

Brainstorm with the class to create a literary genre list that includes realistic fiction, adventure stories, historical fiction, mysteries, humor, myths, fantasy, and science fiction. Task small groups of students with using the literary genre list to sort a stack of books into groups according to the primary genre of each book. Provide students with a checklist of features to look for in each book to determine genre. Additionally, have them write a brief summary of some of the books that illustrates genre-specific characteristics. Then, elicit a class discussion about why each book belongs in its respective genre group.

The checklist might include the following:

  • Cover
  • Introduction
  • Appendix
  • Table of contents
  • Citation list or references
  • Photos and illustrations
  • Graphs, timelines, charts
     

Further Explanation

This assessment provides an opportunity for the teacher to observe students as they discuss genre characteristics to determine their level of understanding of the characteristics, structures, and purposes specific to a particular genre. Students must be familiar enough with genre characteristics to determine the genre of a book. Understanding the genre of a text is essential to comprehension.

a subdivision of fiction that includes stories told as an event or a series of events that are interesting or out of the ordinary course of the protagonist’s life
All writing is classified as a particular genre, or type of work. For example, a story with fictional characters but based on past events is classified as historical fiction. Likewise, a suspenseful story with unexplained events is classified as a mystery. Students must be familiar enough with genre characteristics (e.g., dialogue, claim, or setting) to determine which genre they are reading. Understanding the genre of a piece of writing is essential to students’ comprehension of that text.
a subgenre of fiction that includes stories told with unrealistic, mythical, magical, or supernatural elements in the plot, characterization, theme, and/or setting
a literary genre that has a comic quality intended to induce amusement or laughter
a traditional story that provides an explanation for a cultural belief or a mystery of nature
a subgenre of fiction consisting of stories that present believable settings and situations that could actually occur and in which fictional characters react similarly to real people
a subgenre of fiction based on real or imaginary technology and science which impacts the plot of the story

Research

Dallacqua, A. L. (2012). Exploring literary devices in graphic novels. Language Arts, 89(6), 365–378. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/LA/0896-jul2012/LA0896Exploring.pdf

Summary: In this article, the researcher suggests that students can use literary devices as a way to make meaning of text. The article demonstrates how graphic novels can be used to implement multimodal and visual instructional strategies that increase the reading comprehension of students.