Comparing Genres and Cultural Text Forms, and Reading for a Purpose

Remember from Grade 5

In Grade 5 you described genres such as myth, legend, memoir, biography, editorial and free verse, and cultural text forms such as Anansi stories and tanka. You chose texts by diverse creators for a purpose.

In Grade 6 you will go one step further: you will analyze and compare genres side by side, explain exactly how their features create meaning, and meet two more cultural text forms.

Hook: Six texts about the northern lights

All six short texts below are about the northern lights (the aurora borealis). They were written for this website. As you read, ask: What kind of text is this? Which clues tell me? What is it trying to do to me as a reader?

Text A: The Sky Weaver

Every winter night, the Sky Weaver climbed the tallest spruce on the ridge and spun her loom of starlight. Mira watched from her frosted window as green threads unrolled across the dark. "Teach me," Mira whispered. To her astonishment, a single glowing thread drifted down and wrapped around her finger, warm as a mitten.

Text B: Station Aurora

In the year 2091, the research station orbited 400 kilometres above Nunavik. Dr. Amara Osei tapped her wrist screen, and the solar-wind sensor flashed red. "A storm is coming," she told the crew. "Shields up in ten minutes." Below them, the northern lights rippled like a curtain, and the station's new particle catcher hummed as it began to collect the Sun's energy.

Text C: Northern Lights Dazzle Pine Hollow

PINE HOLLOW — Hundreds of residents stood on frozen driveways on Tuesday night to watch bright green and pink northern lights dance over the town.

The aurora appeared at about 10 p.m. and lasted nearly two hours. "I've lived here 40 years and never seen it this bright," said resident Gloria Martin.

Northern lights happen when tiny charged particles from the Sun crash into gases high in Earth's atmosphere, making them glow. (This news report and the town are made up for this lesson. The science is real.)

Text D: from a speech at the Pine Hollow Library Astronomy Night

Good evening, everyone, and thank you for coming out on such a cold night! Tonight, I want to ask you one question: When did you last look up? Our town has some of the darkest skies in the region. Our children have seen the northern lights from their own backyards. Let's protect that. Let's keep our skies dark, and let's keep looking up!

Text E: Patience (a ghazal)

The cold bites our cheeks as we wait on the hill for the sky. Grandpa says patience is a gift that we give to the sky.

A ribbon of green unrolls, slow as a cat waking up. We forget our frozen toes and lend our eyes to the sky.

At home my sister sleeps; I will tell her at breakfast how the whole hill held its breath and listened to the sky.

Text F: Look Up (spoken word, meant to be performed)

Look up. No, really. Put the phone down. Look up. Because the sky is doing something that no screen can do, it's painting in green, it's painting in pink, it's painting for me, and it's painting for you. So look up.

Comparing the genres

• Text A is fantasy. A magical being (the Sky Weaver) and an impossible event (a thread of light drifts down) make it fantasy. Fantasy helps readers feel wonder.
• Text B is science fiction. It is set in the future (2091) with technology that does not exist yet (a particle catcher). It builds on real science (solar wind causes auroras). Science fiction makes readers ask What if?
• Text C is a news report. It has a headline, a dateline (PINE HOLLOW —), answers who, what, when, where, why in the first paragraphs, and uses a quotation from a witness. It uses facts, not opinions, to inform.
• Text D is a speech. It greets the audience (Good evening, everyone), asks a question, uses we/our/let's to include listeners, and ends with a memorable call to action (keep looking up!). Speeches are written for the ear.
• Text E is a ghazal. It is made of couplets, and each couplet ends with the same refrain (the sky). The repetition makes the poem feel like a circle you keep coming back to.
• Text F is spoken word poetry. It talks directly to the listener, uses short lines, repetition (Look up, it's painting) and rhyme (do/you) so it sounds powerful performed aloud.

Cultural text forms

Cultural text forms come from a particular culture's ways of sharing ideas.

• The ghazal (say GUZZ-ul) comes from Arabic poetry and became especially loved in Persian and Urdu poetry. Famous ghazal poets include Hafez, who wrote in Persian, and Ghalib, who wrote in Urdu. A ghazal is made of couplets. Each couplet can stand on its own, but they are linked by a refrain, a word or phrase repeated at the end of the second line of each couplet. Ghazals often express longing or love. Today, poets write ghazals in many languages, including English.
• Spoken word poetry is written to be performed. It grows from very old traditions of sharing poetry aloud, and it is also closely connected to hip-hop and to poetry slams in many communities. The poet's voice, pauses, rhythm and gestures are part of the meaning, so reading it silently is only half the experience.

The features of each form match its purpose: the ghazal's refrain lets a feeling return again and again, and spoken word's repetition and rhythm help a listening audience follow and feel the message.

Choosing texts for a purpose

Good readers start with Why am I reading? and then choose texts that fit. In Grade 6, explain your choice with two reasons: what the genre offers, and what the creator offers.

For example:

• To understand a historical event: a non-fiction history book for facts, plus historical fiction or a memoir to feel what it was like.
• To learn how something works for science: a report with diagrams, or a reliable science website.
• To make up my mind on an issue: editorials and speeches from different sides, plus a neutral news report.
• To enjoy and imagine: fantasy, science fiction, mysteries, graphic novels.
• To understand a community's experience: texts by creators from that community.

Choosing creators from diverse backgrounds (cultures, languages, abilities, ages, places) gives you more perspectives and a truer picture of the world.