Reading Tip: Reading fiction helps build empathy in students!
A hot topic in literacy nowadays is the use of fiction v. nonfiction texts in the classroom. New standards often include more nonfiction reading to prepare students for a future where that will be necessary. However, fiction provides something for students that nonfiction cannot replicate. Fiction gives students insight into the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of characters who may be similar to them (therefore validating students’ own thoughts and feelings) and of characters who may be very different from them (giving students a broader view of what life can be like). Nonfiction reading is certainly important, and it is crucial that we give students the tools they need to be better nonfiction readers (paraphrasing, questioning, inferring, summarizing, and synthesizing, among others), but it is also important that we expose students to writing that will broaden the world they live in.
If you’d like to learn more about the psychology and neuroscience behind this concept, a good article can be found here.