Implementing the Nonfiction CCSS

Earlier in the year I posted about a topic that I've spent sometime thinking about: kids thinking like disciplinarians.  This topic has intrigued me for a while now because it gets at the heart of curiosity, learning, reading and writing with a purpose and finding a life's passion.  When we teach kids, as best we can from a classroom setting, how historians, scientists, mathematicians and others inquire, we open up them up to the possibilities for their own lives...beyond money....beyond making a living....to find a calling and make a difference.  With computers and projects and other technology, we are able to bring more of this world to our students than ever before.  My fear is that these tools will become one more way to make kids passive learners.  I'm more interested in helping them learn to love the questioning and thinking that these folks do.  My inquiry as a teacher: "How do I help kids and teachers see the thinking of these professionals?"

Last week I read a great article by Zarnowski and Turkel entitled, "Nonfiction Literature that Highlights Inquiry:  How Real People Solve Real Problems."  In their article they highlight some of the recently published nonfiction for children that goes beyond sharing information.  These books offer us a trip with the researchers through their thinking, problems, collaborations and problem solving.  They call these books "the literature of inquiry."

"Subject matter learning is not merely about learning the stuff of disciplines, it is also about the processes and practices by which the stuff is produced." p. 31

I was pleased to see that they recommended a number of books that I've mentioned in the blog before and a few new ones.  Here's a few now on my Amazon wish list and will be purchased when the budget allows.  :-)  These books feature "people who are dedicated, enthusiastic, passionate learners...they cultivate puzzlement."  Wouldn't it be wonderful to hear our students described as these kinds of adults in 20 years!

Lastly, the authors suggest that as we explore these books about real people solving real problems with our students, that we keep anchoring back to these big questions:

• Who is doing the investigating?
• What is the problem?
• What is the process of investigation?
• What are the results?  Are they convincing?

One last article to read from the Harvard Graduate School of Education Newsletter on questioning. 

http://www.hepg.org/hel/article/507

Enjoy!

Angie