From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2012 17:24:38 -0400 (EDT)

Thanks to Rosanne for opening the door to NF poetry -- Joyce Sidman of cour se comes to mind, and in a very different voice Alice Provensen's classic T he Buck Stops Here, and to Monica for bringing up NF read alouds; I'm puzzl ed, though, by Monica's need to rank K v L in her bookshelf. The point is n ot to select one style of NF but, rather, for all of us to recognize and in vestigate the many voices and approaches NF takes -- continuously exploring to find the right match of book, reader, and classroom need. Different set tings, different ages, different young people will lead to different prefer ences. I am not a classroom teacher, so my contacts with 4th graders are di fferent from Monica's, but if we are going to trade anecdotes, I've found 4 th graders to be some of the most receptive to L books, since, in reading a bout a journey of exploration they see where they can go. Indeed it was a 4 th grade girl who asked me the best question I've ever been asked -- she li stened so carefully to one L story t hat she stepped beyond the bounds of th e book, and continued the investigative journey.

Marc Aronson
Received on Sun 11 Mar 2012 05:24:38 PM CDT