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Re: Nonfiction
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From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 15:58:58 -0400 (EDT)
Dean:
There are three aspects to CC: the standards; implementation; assessment (of students, then, at some time -- which varies by state -- of teachers, admins, librarians which can be tied to student performance on tests). I find the standards wonderful, the implementation highly varied, and the assessments -- of students and teachers -- most subject to question. I see a great deal of thought, care, and attention in schools -- and a much higher profile for NF. There are, of course, stumbles -- I saw one recent summer reading list that took care to add NF, but only Op-Eds and the like, because they wanted students to be exposed to differing views. That is short sighted. A summer list should be engaging, even as it serves curricular ends. I see all of this as the necessary working out of a vast and challenging upgrade to K-12.
I remain a cautious optimist.
Marc
-----Original Message----- From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd_at_ensworth.com> To: Subscribers of ccbc-net <ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu> Sent: Wed, Jun 4, 2014 3:05 pm Subject: [ccbc-net] Nonfiction
I have always loved nonfiction--as a reader, teacher, reviewer, and committee member (Sibert recently), and I've always included nonfiction in my 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade English classes and in my classroom library. SInce there's more and more great nonfiction being written and published, even more is making its way into my classroom. HITLER YOUTH has been a staple in my 8th-grade class, which does a substantial Holocaust unit. Something about it is appealing to students of that age. For one thing, it is beautifully made--heavy paper, well-selected photographs, spacious layout. Many kids like the feel of the book, the smell of the new book, and most students don't want to mark up this book as they might other class books. It deals with a big topic from the angle of young people caught up in the Holocaust. And the chapters are short and "meaty." It does not read like a novel, though; each chapter presents a theme--what attracted kids to the Hitler Youth movement, what made Hitler a leader people wanted to follow, how were young people manipulated by their leaders, etc. Students write reports about "Heroes of the Holocaust," and they select chapters from Milton Meltzer's RESCUE and Doreen Rappaport's recent BEYOND COURAGE to learn more before they write. These are both outstanding works of nonfiction, offering different points of view to the project. Working in a private school, I don't have to be concerned with Common Core standards, but I am always interested in high standards in the literature I select and in the discussions and writing activities I develop.
Next year, Steve Sheinkin will be a visiting author at my school, so I'm adding his BOMB, PORT CHICAGO 50, and LINCOLN'S GRAVE ROBBERS to my curricula in 8th, 7th, and 6th grades.
This year, with my 7th-graders, I put together a civil rights mini-unit. We read Kekla Magoon's novels THE ROCK AND THE RIVER and FIRE IN THE STREETS. The latter had not been my plan, but the class liked THE ROCK AND THE RIVER so much that they asked to read the companion novel. Then we read Ann Bausum's FREEDOM RIDERS as a nonfiction complement (and because it takes place partly in Nashville, where I teach). Betsy Partridge's MARCHING FOR FREEDOM has been a part of our curriculum ever since it came out.
If I teach sixth grade next year, I'll put together a unit with Christopher Paul Curtis's ELIJAH OF BUXTON, Russell Freedman's LINCOLN & DOUGLASS (since Frederick Douglass plays a key role in ELIJAH), and Sheinkin's LINCOLN'S GRAVE ROBBERS, connecting with Lincoln in the Freedman book. Always looking for those connections!
So, those are some of the ways nonfiction has become a natural fit in my classroom. Granted, I worked in a school where teachers have the resources and the freedom to develop such units. But teachers still need the knowledge of the literature and the willingness to go beyond prefab materials and rote learning. And, as much as boys are supposed to be bigger readers of nonfiction, I have not really seen that in the students I teach. It still often takes an informed teacher or librarian to introduce the right books to students, books they might not gravitate to on their own. . Teachers then become connecting links between books and students.
When Common Core was just on the horizon, I remember discussing it with Marc Aronson, and I remember how optimistic Marc was about the prospect of getting more excellent nonfiction in the classroom. But all of the news lately seems to be about the testing side of Common Core, so my question to you Marc is: Are you still optimistic that Common Core will focus on the right things--the literature and higher levels of discussion and that it will succeed in schools? (But I don't want to sidetrack this discussion of nonfiction too much by becoming about Common Core.)
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN
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Received on Wed 04 Jun 2014 02:59:16 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 15:58:58 -0400 (EDT)
Dean:
There are three aspects to CC: the standards; implementation; assessment (of students, then, at some time -- which varies by state -- of teachers, admins, librarians which can be tied to student performance on tests). I find the standards wonderful, the implementation highly varied, and the assessments -- of students and teachers -- most subject to question. I see a great deal of thought, care, and attention in schools -- and a much higher profile for NF. There are, of course, stumbles -- I saw one recent summer reading list that took care to add NF, but only Op-Eds and the like, because they wanted students to be exposed to differing views. That is short sighted. A summer list should be engaging, even as it serves curricular ends. I see all of this as the necessary working out of a vast and challenging upgrade to K-12.
I remain a cautious optimist.
Marc
-----Original Message----- From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd_at_ensworth.com> To: Subscribers of ccbc-net <ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu> Sent: Wed, Jun 4, 2014 3:05 pm Subject: [ccbc-net] Nonfiction
I have always loved nonfiction--as a reader, teacher, reviewer, and committee member (Sibert recently), and I've always included nonfiction in my 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade English classes and in my classroom library. SInce there's more and more great nonfiction being written and published, even more is making its way into my classroom. HITLER YOUTH has been a staple in my 8th-grade class, which does a substantial Holocaust unit. Something about it is appealing to students of that age. For one thing, it is beautifully made--heavy paper, well-selected photographs, spacious layout. Many kids like the feel of the book, the smell of the new book, and most students don't want to mark up this book as they might other class books. It deals with a big topic from the angle of young people caught up in the Holocaust. And the chapters are short and "meaty." It does not read like a novel, though; each chapter presents a theme--what attracted kids to the Hitler Youth movement, what made Hitler a leader people wanted to follow, how were young people manipulated by their leaders, etc. Students write reports about "Heroes of the Holocaust," and they select chapters from Milton Meltzer's RESCUE and Doreen Rappaport's recent BEYOND COURAGE to learn more before they write. These are both outstanding works of nonfiction, offering different points of view to the project. Working in a private school, I don't have to be concerned with Common Core standards, but I am always interested in high standards in the literature I select and in the discussions and writing activities I develop.
Next year, Steve Sheinkin will be a visiting author at my school, so I'm adding his BOMB, PORT CHICAGO 50, and LINCOLN'S GRAVE ROBBERS to my curricula in 8th, 7th, and 6th grades.
This year, with my 7th-graders, I put together a civil rights mini-unit. We read Kekla Magoon's novels THE ROCK AND THE RIVER and FIRE IN THE STREETS. The latter had not been my plan, but the class liked THE ROCK AND THE RIVER so much that they asked to read the companion novel. Then we read Ann Bausum's FREEDOM RIDERS as a nonfiction complement (and because it takes place partly in Nashville, where I teach). Betsy Partridge's MARCHING FOR FREEDOM has been a part of our curriculum ever since it came out.
If I teach sixth grade next year, I'll put together a unit with Christopher Paul Curtis's ELIJAH OF BUXTON, Russell Freedman's LINCOLN & DOUGLASS (since Frederick Douglass plays a key role in ELIJAH), and Sheinkin's LINCOLN'S GRAVE ROBBERS, connecting with Lincoln in the Freedman book. Always looking for those connections!
So, those are some of the ways nonfiction has become a natural fit in my classroom. Granted, I worked in a school where teachers have the resources and the freedom to develop such units. But teachers still need the knowledge of the literature and the willingness to go beyond prefab materials and rote learning. And, as much as boys are supposed to be bigger readers of nonfiction, I have not really seen that in the students I teach. It still often takes an informed teacher or librarian to introduce the right books to students, books they might not gravitate to on their own. . Teachers then become connecting links between books and students.
When Common Core was just on the horizon, I remember discussing it with Marc Aronson, and I remember how optimistic Marc was about the prospect of getting more excellent nonfiction in the classroom. But all of the news lately seems to be about the testing side of Common Core, so my question to you Marc is: Are you still optimistic that Common Core will focus on the right things--the literature and higher levels of discussion and that it will succeed in schools? (But I don't want to sidetrack this discussion of nonfiction too much by becoming about Common Core.)
Dean Schneider Ensworth School Nashville, TN
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Received on Wed 04 Jun 2014 02:59:16 PM CDT
