PIE the Reading Strategy

Strategy #1 - P.I.E.

WHAT IS IT?
P.I.E. is a pre-reading strategy that stands for Persuade, Inform or  Entertain.  This gives students a reason to read - as they read for content, they need to discover what is the purpose of the text.  Is it to persuade, inform, or entertain the reader?

WHAT THE STUDENTS READ? 
Students read an entire informational page of text about Samuel Slater - the Father of the American Revolution.

PROCEDURE
Before reading, I introduced PIE to the students with an anticipatory question - "What do PIE and reading have in common?"  The students discussed in their small groups some possible connections and then they shared with the class some possible answers.

I explained the PIE strategy and we began reading.  Also, I reminded students they need to decide if Slater was a traitor and an American hero.  So, they had another purpose for reading this assignment.

I read most of the text to the students as they silently read with me.  I checked for understanding every so often, stopping and asking questions.

After we completed the reading, students discussed in their small groups the purpose of the text, then students shared as a class possible answers.
Then, students completed a reading guide over the same text; answer fill-in the black and open-ended questions.

Finally, we checked for understanding and students shared their thoughts about Slater being a traitor or an American hero in small groups.

REFLECTION
The students correctly identified this text as being informational.  When asked to justify their answers, some students identified the vocabulary used (neutral) and/or how the author simply presented the information to the students.

As students were walking out of class, I overheard one student say to another that "Today's class was FUN!" To which I wonder, did this strategy really make that much of an impact?

Finally, upon reflection of the kind of text I use in my class (US History), I discovered I use mostly informational text.  So, what might happen if I used more persuading texts?  Or, better yet, more entertaining texts such as song lyrics, poems, or funny stories in my class?  Might this engage students more?