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Warning Sign? From fear to action
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From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:04:41 -0400 (EDT)
That sentence gave me shivers as well, but I am a congenital optimist, so h ere's my take.
Dr. Mary Ann Cappiello has been taking the lead on this issue, and here is what she has been suggesting: 1) if you look at the CC now, the suggested r eadings in the elementary years are rather good -- a rich selection of NF b ooks we all know and within tolerances would be likely to suggest ourselves (if not quite as current as one would hope); but as you look in the middle and high school section, trade NF disappears and there is just a smatteri ng of famous primary sources -- canonical laws, speeches, and excerpts. Bad news: zero books written for young readers. Good news: the absence is so m arked that clearly the CC folks simply know nothing of this literature. Thu s Dr. Cappiello has been urging publishers -- but I would add organizations such as the CCBC -- to advocate, to make those creating the standards awar e of the growing and lively shelf of literary NF created for middle and hig h school students. Don't mourn, advocate.
2) There is a second form of advocacy we also need to begin: right now the CC assessments are being crafted by two consortia. Once again, we (authors, publishers, experts on reading and literature for K-12) need to be advocat es -- making the text makers aware of what we have to offer.
3) The fact that textbook and other houses hope to make $ on CC does not me an one needs to be cynical. After all, trade book houses did very well in t he heyday of Whole Language. The question is not -- cui bono -- but, rather , what is the opportunity here and how can we seize it.
Marc Aronson
Received on Wed 14 Mar 2012 11:04:41 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:04:41 -0400 (EDT)
That sentence gave me shivers as well, but I am a congenital optimist, so h ere's my take.
Dr. Mary Ann Cappiello has been taking the lead on this issue, and here is what she has been suggesting: 1) if you look at the CC now, the suggested r eadings in the elementary years are rather good -- a rich selection of NF b ooks we all know and within tolerances would be likely to suggest ourselves (if not quite as current as one would hope); but as you look in the middle and high school section, trade NF disappears and there is just a smatteri ng of famous primary sources -- canonical laws, speeches, and excerpts. Bad news: zero books written for young readers. Good news: the absence is so m arked that clearly the CC folks simply know nothing of this literature. Thu s Dr. Cappiello has been urging publishers -- but I would add organizations such as the CCBC -- to advocate, to make those creating the standards awar e of the growing and lively shelf of literary NF created for middle and hig h school students. Don't mourn, advocate.
2) There is a second form of advocacy we also need to begin: right now the CC assessments are being crafted by two consortia. Once again, we (authors, publishers, experts on reading and literature for K-12) need to be advocat es -- making the text makers aware of what we have to offer.
3) The fact that textbook and other houses hope to make $ on CC does not me an one needs to be cynical. After all, trade book houses did very well in t he heyday of Whole Language. The question is not -- cui bono -- but, rather , what is the opportunity here and how can we seize it.
Marc Aronson
Received on Wed 14 Mar 2012 11:04:41 AM CDT
