Non-Narrative Non-Fiction

Non-narrative non-fiction works take a variety of formats. In her work, Writing Across the Curriculum: All Teachers Teach Writing, Shelley Peterson discusses the nature of non-narrative non-fiction works and the formats that they may take. Non-narrative non-fiction often takes one of three forms, according to their function: forms that persuade, forms that inform or explain, and forms that instruct of direct. Non-narrative works have numerous benefits in the learning process. Utilizing these works have a variety of purposes that can help students in their drive to improve their writing. Examples of non-narrative non-fiction include summaries, book reviews, blogs, recipes, posters, etc. The one format that stood out most to myself was the use of recipes and how they could be applied to a number of different subject matters. As cooking is one of my own favorite pastimes I challenged myself to come up with ways in which I could apply recipes in my own future English classroom. One activity I felt would be beneficial was using recipes to teach the various forms of writing that appear in the typical English classroom. In small groups, students could look at a variety of different recipes. Through collaboration, students would identify the main components of a recipe, ie, title, instructions, measurements, etc. To further extend this activity and make connections to course relevant material, students could then create recipes of their own. These recipes, however, would not be for food, but for various writing formats. For example, a student could create a recipe for the perfect literary essay. The recipe could include, ½ cup of introduction, 2 cups of supporting evidence, a strong dash of thesis, 1 tablespoon of creativity, etc. The same could be done for other writing formats: epic poems, newspaper articles, scientific reports, etc. This activity would not only allow students to be creative with their work, but would also promote a greater understanding of the features involved in common forms of writing.  Taking a student-centered approach could create an environment where students are eager to learn, participate, and collaborate with their peers. By assigning different students a variety of formats, the entire class could create a “cookbook” of writing formats. Students could then refer back to these recipes to ensure they have included all necessary elements when completing a variety of assignments.