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Using and Evaluating Nonfiction about the Past
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From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 11:14:01 -0600
I found Monica Edinger's description of how she used a variety of nonfiction titles as well as other resources to teacher her 4th grade students about the Middle Passage fascinating. This is the kind of thinking and activity that we know is going on in classrooms all of the time. Clearly, the power of books to make events from the past real to children, and even to humanize what might otherwise be a disconnect between events and eras and the impact on individual lives, is invaluable.
Let's hear from more of you on how you are responding to the need for children to learn about the past, the inevitable misconceptions they sometimes have, and their hungry questions. What books are you using for what purposes in the classrooms?
Librarians, what books are you making sure you let classroom teachers, parents and children themselves know about as questions come up about events in history, or as planning begins for teaching thematic units?
Finally, as adults we know that history is anything but boring and it's great when we can share that knowledge through our own enthusiasm for wonderful informational books about the past with children and young adults. But what are we looking for, and responding to, when we say a book of information is good, or outstanding, or excellent? What do you look for in the writing, or "storytelling" if you will? What do you look at beyond the writing, such as evidence of research and supporting documentation? Are there books you think of as standards of excellence?
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education UW-Madison 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Tue 14 Nov 2000 11:14:01 AM CST
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 11:14:01 -0600
I found Monica Edinger's description of how she used a variety of nonfiction titles as well as other resources to teacher her 4th grade students about the Middle Passage fascinating. This is the kind of thinking and activity that we know is going on in classrooms all of the time. Clearly, the power of books to make events from the past real to children, and even to humanize what might otherwise be a disconnect between events and eras and the impact on individual lives, is invaluable.
Let's hear from more of you on how you are responding to the need for children to learn about the past, the inevitable misconceptions they sometimes have, and their hungry questions. What books are you using for what purposes in the classrooms?
Librarians, what books are you making sure you let classroom teachers, parents and children themselves know about as questions come up about events in history, or as planning begins for teaching thematic units?
Finally, as adults we know that history is anything but boring and it's great when we can share that knowledge through our own enthusiasm for wonderful informational books about the past with children and young adults. But what are we looking for, and responding to, when we say a book of information is good, or outstanding, or excellent? What do you look for in the writing, or "storytelling" if you will? What do you look at beyond the writing, such as evidence of research and supporting documentation? Are there books you think of as standards of excellence?
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education UW-Madison 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Tue 14 Nov 2000 11:14:01 AM CST
